Diesel Locomotives

When I asked my friend, fellow Presbyterian minister, and Illinois Central historial Milton Winter if he had any IC Geep photos he could share for the website, he sent me the two photos above and the following:

I do have a couple of classic photos (attached) I took when I was a kid of Geeps down at the Cleveland depot. Both are dated May '69. Just a note about operations in Cleveland. At that time there were two scheduled freights each way between Baton Rouge and Memphis, via Vicksburg. Two ran in the daytime and two at night. Cleveland was a crew-change point. These were extremely long trains, some up to 130 cars if I remember. They would pass through town at 5 m.p.h. so as not to have to make a complete stop so the fresh crew could step on and the old crew step off. This involved both the engine and caboose, so a train could take quite a while to clear town. The tracks came through the center of town, so it was quite a headache for everybody but the railfans. There was a small yard on the south side of town. It had perhaps five tracks, and occupied about half-a-mile near the cotton compress. When there were cars to be dropped or picked up, this extended the lengthy run-through. These cars seemed always to be at the end of train. So it would creep through town, stop, then back up. There were always a locomotive or two (such as I have in my photos) at the depot that switched this little yard, as well as powered a local freight that ran north in the mornings to service a few industries north of town. They usually idled on the house track on the west side of the depot, or at the head of the lead down to the yard. They were serviced from an old locomotive coal tender, which was labeled "Diesel Fuel Oil and Sand." All the track through Cleveland has now been pulled up. I do have other photos, if you are interested, including a nice shot of the Cleveland depot, as well as track and facility shots from elsewhere in the Delta. I am so glad you are doing your website.