(Open full comment) Most of this film was badly overexposed. The best I could do is bring down the highlights so the brights didn't appear as clipped. If anybody knows some of the smaller town depots shown and the CTC sidings where signals and meets are shown I'd appreciate them sharing their insights. Some of the locations I can ID: 0:00 - St. Louis Union Station 1:11 - Lenox tower 1:40 - Wood River tower 2:05 - station stop at Alton 4:24 - passing Iles tower in Springfield 4:45 - Springfield station 4:59 - Springfield yard 6:07 - Bloomington 6:59 - stopped for a hot bearing. There's a quick shot of a member of a head-end crew on the wayside phone to the dispatcher (how communication was handled before radio use was more widespread) 8:30 - Joliet 11:18 - Corwith? 11:26 - Brighton Park 12:28 - Alton Jct./21st St/South Branch Bridge 13:11 - Chicago Union Station vicinity (Harrison St. tower at 14:00) 15:24 - South Branch Bridge and Alton Jct. 16:14 - Passing the inbound "Southwest Limited" near Halsted St. 16:50 - I think that's an EL transfer at Brighton Park, but not 100% sure. 17:10 - quick shot of Corwith 17:30 - Lemont?

It was so much fun to ride Amtrak from1971 to 1978. I traveled on a variety of trains between the Northeast, South, and Midwest. It was still railroading then, with all that the that phrase includes. A variety of passenger cars, mid-car domes where you could look forward and see over the train at the right of way in front of the locomotives, club cars, baggage cars, sun lounges on the Florida trains,, parlor cars, budget roomettes, and real dining cars, bedroom sleepers, rounded-ended observation cars were still around, and head end cars, diversified consists, many times at faster speeds than the now mandated 79 mph outside the NE corridor, a variety of heritage coaches, including Santa Fe chair cars on the Montrealer between Washington and Montreal, with native-American motifs, and also in the early years, double track mainlines instead of passing sidings, not being held up for freights. I even rode railroads that stayed out of Amtrak for the first years, like the Southern Railway, dedicated to operating their Southern Crescent on-time, and with courteous conductors, an overnight schedule between New Jersey and Atlanta I even took the Florida trains until 1993 from Alexandria, VA, to Trenton, NJ, Silver Star was 18 cars long, and at DC put on 2 AEM-7 's. From DC, the 18 car Silver Star made Trenton NJ in 2 hrs 12 minutes, and yes, this was in 1993. So, the Carolinian makes it in 2 hrs 22 minutes in 2024, 30 years later, lol. Amtrak can't blame the NE corridor running times on the freight railroads. No freight trains even run on the corridor except for 2 short locals in the middle of the night. And what about all the work put into corridor improvements since 93? Shouldn't that allow for shorter travel times for non-Acela trains? Also, the Heritage lounge cars were so much fun to ride, having bigger windows, unlike the ubiquitous Amfleet cars of today, with their little windows. Of course, the freight railroads took so much away from passenger trains over the years, e.g. extending travel times between Chicago and Los Angeles by over 4 hours in 2024 than they were on the Super Chief in 1948. Anyway, thanks for the video, really enjoyed it!

At 7:35 is something we’ll never see again. The conductor is on the telephone to the operator or dispatcher to get a signal or permission by the stop signal. At 11:30 looks like Brighton Park which was all handled by a switch tender.. At 16:55 I think that’s the C&WI we are crossing with the EL train waiting. This is an amazing video. Thanks so much to whomever shot the film in 1973.

So neat when you get those great shots by leaning out the dutch doors!

This was an INCREDIBLE watch! My great-grandpa was an engineer on this route up until 1979, and this footage was taken around the time my dad was born. I had many other relatives who worked for the GM&O around this time, so this is such a special video to me!

A lot of the footage is on the south side oF I55 going into and out of Chicago plus the railyard that is long gone at 16st.and the checkered water tower at Hodgkins. The railroad bridge at 22 st and the Oil tanks and yard in Hodgkins I am very familiar with this area and travel it frequently this video brings back memories of my late teenage trainwatching days.

Nice getting a brief look inside, what had to be a refurbished Amtrak ex-Great Northern Parlor-Observation car "Port of Seattle".

What a GREAT video! My first trip as a teenager from CHI - STL was around this time. I was lucky to have just a camera. Hanging out the vestibules. Great memories.

Haunting. Nostalgic. Thank you.

I wish there was a way to "super like" this video!

Incredible footage. Classic!

Rode this before the RTG turbos took over. Somewhere between Springfield and Lincoln, we came to a stop. When I asked the conductor why, he said, "The train just came apart on us."

Great memories riding these trains during the Amtrak rainbow era -- I would date this to the summer of 1973 -- at about 6:49 in the film, it shows the train passing through Normal, with the Vernon Street underpass under construction. That's when I rode the train from St Louis to search for housing at IL State U.

3:13, position light signals, from when the B&O controlled the Chicago and Alton, before it became GM&O. Lasted until just a few years ago. UP now own the line, all welded rail and concrete ties

What a blast to the past this is. Thank you.

It's been said before " the best place to watch trains is from a train"

This was awesome to watch, love these older videos The Amtrak consist shown gives me inspiration while I build a 70s era train in HO scale

4:26 the Iles Junction tower is visible on the left. The diamond was removed around 1996 when the Norfolk Southern was relocated south of Springfield. In a few years this track alignment through Springfield will disappear entirely when the Union Pacific / Amtrak “3rd Street” line is relocated to the NS “10th Street” corridor - the new station is ready, well ahead of the rail project itself. Does anyone remember when the Iles tower was demolished?

6:10. old Front Street Station, Bloomington. GM&O on the east side, NKP and NYC on the north side. Long since replaced by a newer station in Normal, Bloomington's twin city. I agree with the train being the Abraham Lincoln, consist as I remember it.

Great video and like the music choice. Interesting that in 1973 you could still see a few forgotten steam engines rusting away in the yards. Timing of this video posting is perfect as I will be riding the Arkansas & Missouri RR passenger train in a couple of days!

06:38 Watterson Towers, (tallest dormitory in the world? , one of the tallest brutalist structures in the world) at the time of its completion in 1969. Illinois State University.

Surprising number of steam locomotives for 1973.

Outstanding!

Thanks for sharing

Old Alton train station at about 2:15 on the video. Alton school kids used to ride the old GM&O pre-Amtrak on field trips to Springfield

WOW loved seeing BN 9919 in original Paint before becoming a MARC unit then being retired years later

I have a deck of playing cards from of the gulf Mobile and Ohio my dad acquired from a train ride from Alton to new Orleans in the early 1960s

Great video! I caught the IT switcher at Wood River working Standard oil. Also, coming into Springfield was a great trip down memory lane for me.

So many Alco RS1's along the way!

Amtrak crews probably wouldn’t let you film out a window like that anymore.

I love how decrepit everything looks. And what was Amtrak thinking with that circus uniform that poor porter was wearing? Criminal! LOL That view at 14:09 of the BN E unit was magnificent.

There is a tower at 1.18 in the video that tower is is still there 50 years later .

Truly a look back in time that will never be again. Just a shame that so much of our rail network has been removed. Was really a huge mistake to let the rail infrastructure in the US literally fall apart.

Sears tower not even finished yet.

I wonder if the Santa Fe/Amtrak Train was either the Chief, The Texas Chief, or the SuperChief El Capitan.