Iowa Pacific rescues restaurant relics in Illinois NEWSWIRE

LINCOLN, Ill. – Two former Illinois Central passenger cars are on the road to restoration this week. On Tuesday, two 150-ton cranes slowly lifted the first of two cars into the air and over a security fence in Lincoln, marking the start of a rebirth of the classic cars.

The two cars were part of the Lincoln Depot Restaurant, a once-popular fixture of the city that closed in the late 1990s. The restaurant was located inthe former Gulf, Mobile & Ohio station at 101 North Chicago St. in Lincoln, located about midway between Bloomington and Springfield.

The two cars are being prepared for shipment to new owner Iowa Pacific Holdings. Car No. 3351 once operated on the Panama Limited, said Justin Sobeck, Iowa Pacific’s equipment project manager, who is on-site supervising the move. “It’s a Burnside shops rebuild, once called the Capital Street,” he said.

Car No. 4202 is a former cafe lounge car that once carried the name Flossmoor.

Clay Johnson, Lincoln city administrator, said the depot and cars were purchased by the city as part of the federal high-speed rail project, with Lincoln working with the federal government, the Illinois Department of Transportation and Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the tracks alongside the station that hosts 10 daily Amtrak trains and several freight trains.

The only way to complete the project was to find a home for the two rail-cars. Johnson said, “We haven’t decided the end use of the building. The design will occur once the demolition is complete,” adding the rail cars had to be moved first.

“They are in pretty good shape, the restaurant had cut a section out of the 3351,” in order to build a dance floor between the two cars, Sobeck said. “But we found that underneath the car.” The section will be replaced during renovation.

Jim Lesiak of Over The Top Demolition, based in Seville, Ohio, a contractor hired by Iowa Pacific, used hand signals while working with two crane operators, who slowly loaded No. 3351 onto a set of wheel bogies. 

“Nothing’s impossible,” said an obviously proud Lesiak.