No public access
Bloomington, IL
What’s happening at this stop
There is no public viewing at this stop: 4014 lays over overnight at Bloomington and is scheduled to depart around 8:15 a.m. before continuing on. This is not a display — there is no organized viewing area, no ticketing, and no cab access, and the working rail property here is patrolled, not open ground.
The realistic option is watching for the train passing a public crossing nearby before its early departure; timing can shift with the day's operations.
Why this stop matters
Bloomington was a company town of the Chicago & Alton Railroad. From the 1850s the Alton's shops here built and repaired locomotives and cars, employing some 2,000 people at their peak in the 1920s and standing for decades as the city's largest employer. It was in these shops, in 1859, that George Pullman rebuilt and outfitted his first sleeping car for service on the Chicago–St. Louis run — a small experiment that grew into an industry.
The Alton, the Illinois Central, and other lines made Bloomington a busy central-Illinois rail town throughout the era that produced the Big Boys.