Yes, this accident happened just south of Lichfield, IL on August 7, Aug 7 of
1947 to be exact.
There's several nice black and white photos of the accident with derailed
passenger cars and what look like open-bay coal hoppers on the CB&Q.
The CB&Q track is the Beardstown-Centralia sub. The derailed CB&Q freight
appears to be open-bay coal cars with coal load. BNSF still hauls coal on this
route, so I guess some things don't change, though BNSF doesn't have to worry
about hitting passengers trains at Litchfield since the former-IC track south
of Farmersville has long since been abandoned:). No photos of what engines were
at the lead of the IC and CB&Q consists, though the article mentions a coal
tender, which means a steam loco pulled the CB&Q freight. With the IC it could
be either a steam or diesel since they had a handful passenger diesels, though
IC didn't really dieselize freight until the mid-1950s.
http://blogs.sj-r.com/behindthecurtain/index.php/2009/08/06/trainwreck/
"An Illinois Central passenger train traveling from St. Louis to Chicago, with
a stop planned in Springfield, went through a caution signal and slammed into a
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy freight train two miles south of Litchfield this
date in 1947. Twenty-five people were injured, none seriously.
The Green Diamond, as the train was known, was traveling at 70 m.p.h. when it
ripped into the freight train at a point where the two lines cross. Two
passenger cars and a baggage car derailed and overturned. The crash occurred at
11:15 a.m.; the train was due in Springfield at noon.
The Illinois State Journal reported that the "Diamond" struck the west-bound
freight just behind the coal tender, smashing a box car, derailing the engine
and causing five coal cars to overturn. None of the train crewmen were injured."
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