Crab Orchard and Egyptian RR Marion IL [photo by Walter Neal]

This short line railroad operates out of Marion IL.

 

On July 2, 1971, the Crab Orchard & Egyptian railroad was first founded and incorporated under the name of American Rail Heritage Ltd. and the new company started off by creating a vintage tourist line operation alongside Illinois Central Gulf owned trackage.

With the first revenue operations commencing on May 29, 1973, the railroad ran its very first train consisting of CO&E's newly acquired 2-4-2T #5 and three former Illinois Central Railroad commuter cars from the former IC passenger station on Market Street in downtown Marion with several sightseers in haul. Their tourist runs would go west towards the old Crab Orchard Refuge railroad junction near Ordill where the train would do a brief turn-around

and eventually make a return trip back to the passenger depot.

 

Locomotive #5 was rebuilt after its first season in service.

The saddle tank and coal bunker were removed and a tender purchased from the Illinois Central Gulf in nearby Carbondale, Illinois, was added in its place.

The rebuild resulted in a locomotive that looked more at home pulling the passenger trains, and also gave #5 additional fuel and water capacity.

 

About two years later, a second and much larger steam engine was purchased from John Thompson of Chicago, Illinois.

The locomotive was in storage in the Central Vermont Railway roundhouse in New London, Connecticut and was moved to Marion in early 1975 to further compliment the CO&E Railroad's historic roster.

This new Canadian-built locomotive was former Roberval & Saguenay 2-8-0 #17, although since it was not in operable condition, the new engine couldn't be used in immediate service until an overhaul was performed.

Despite a promising bright future, a tragic turnaround occurred on June 13, 1977, when the CO&E's first major incident took place as a fire suddenly broke out inside the old Illinois Central depot.

The building was completely gutted, leaving the building little more than an empty brick shell. The fire destroyed the railroad's main offices, which were located inside the depot, and two of the CO&E's six passenger cars used in its tourist operation; this huge loss permanently affected future tourist services

and would eventually be abolished indefinitely a year later by October 1978.

 

All was not necessarily lost after this incident when only four months later, the Illinois Central Gulf sold the CO&E Railroad its trackage and property altogether after they discontinued freight service along the entire route.

With this new advantage in hand, the railroad's first common carrier freight services would commence soon afterwards and the first revenue train was pulled behind 2-4-2 #5 on October 18, 1977.

These changes in operation immediately took off successfully as freight customers started growing rapidly with CO&E's new locally owned and operated service.

Piggyback service was also eventually added in December 1978 when a large fleet of more than 200 new flatcars and 600 highway trailers painted for the CO&E Railroad were delivered. A new engine was acquired at the same time to help switch cars around when a small Davenport 35-Ton switcher arrived on the property in 1978.

Not long afterwards, the first test run of the 2-8-0 steamer finally occurred on May 10, 1979 after an extensive four year overhaul and quickly became

the primary power of choice by July.[3]

 

As the next decade started for the Crab Orchard & Egyptian railroad, steam-powered freight service was still expanding and the railroad purchased several different freight cars of its own over the next few years; many of these included coal hoppers, covered hoppers, and 25 former Ahnapee & Western boxcars,

all of which were lettered for the CO&E with their classic pyramid logo.[6]

 

By the mid-decade in April 1985, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway in Jackson, Missouri made a deal to purchase the CO&E's 2-4-2T #5 steamer for use on their scenic tourist trains and the locomotive was eventually retired from revenue service soon afterwards to be sent to its new owner.

They eventually replaced their #5 steam engine a year later when the CO&E leased their very first diesel-powered switchers from Precision National

in August 1986, which were two former Missouri Pacific Railroad SW1200s numbered #1147 and #1136.[3] #1147 arrived on the property

on September 4, 1986, while #1136 followed the next day. The arrival of the diesels proved to be fortuitous.

 

On the afternoon of September 8, 1986, the #17 was out switching coal hoppers when the dry-pipe inside the boiler suddenly collapsed and indefinitely

put the engine out of service unless another major overhaul could be performed on it.

The CO&E Railroad's fame of pulling common carrier freight trains, including intermodal piggyback cars, with a steam locomotive finally came to

an abrupt end due to this incident. The incident also marked the end of an era for American-wide railroading in general.