The Legend of “The Dinky” Railbus: The Converted Bus is Part of the History of the Illiois Terminal Railroad
By Teri Maddox, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.
Mar. 19–The Great River Road didn’t exist in the 1930s and 1940s, so people who lived in Alton and worked in Grafton rode “the Dinky.”
It was a city bus that had been converted into a “railbus” by the Illinois Terminal Railroad. Flanged wheels allowed it to be driven on train tracks built for steam engines.
“I don’t know why it was called the Dinky,” said railroad historian Dale Jenkins, 59, of Decatur. “It was just a nickname the local people gave it.”
Jenkins will give a multimedia presentation at the Alton Museum of History and Art at 7 p.m. Tuesday, focusing on “The Railroads of Alton.” That includes early services to Grafton, Wood River, Edwardsville, East St. Louis and St. Louis. Admission is $5.
Today, many people don’t realize Edwardsville and Alton residents once had access to high-speed, electric commuter trains that took them to jobs and other activities in St. Louis.
The St. Louis & Alton Railroad operated from 1910 to 1953. Tracks loosely followed what now is Illinois 3 and crossed the Mississippi River on the McKinley Bridge.
“People could get on a (train) car in Alton and be in downtown St. Louis in about 35 minutes,” Jenkins said.
Edwardsville also had commuter trains from 1910 to 1955. That line was nicknamed “the Traction” or “the Terminal.”
Metro-east passengers deboarded at a train station at 12th and Delmar, which later became the St. Louis Globe-Democrat building.
Illinois Terminal also operated steam engines from Alton to Grafton, Wood River, Edwardsville and East St. Louis to carry freight.
“The (railroad) was started by Illinois Glass Co. in 1895,” Jenkins said. “They needed a way to get their product out of Alton.”
Before the Dinky, Illinois Terminal ran a steam-powered commuter train between Alton and Grafton to accommodate Alton residents who worked at Principia College in Elsah, Grafton’s boat factory and other businesses.
When the train arrived in Grafton, the crew manually turned around the steam engine on a turntable before heading back to Alton.
Apparently, commuter revenues barely covered expenses, including salaries of the engineer, fireman, conductor and brakeman. Illinois Terminal introduced the railbus in 1930 to save money.
“They took the rubber tires off (a bus) and put flanged wheels on it,” Jenkins said. “And then they only had to pay for one man to drive the bus. It was easy to maintain, and fuel costs were minimal.”
Jenkins is a special agent (police officer) for Norfolk Southern Railway, which includes the former Illinois Terminal. He has been interested in trains since childhood.
Jenkins and his family lived near a railroad yard in Springfield, where he stood on train tracks and tried to flag down engineers to catch rides. An Illinois Terminal special agent visited his mother and asked her to keep him home.
In 1966, Jenkins went to work as an operator-leverman for the Illinois Central Railroad. Two years later, he was hired to replace the special agent who had visited his mother.
“I investigate vandalism, theft of cargo shipments, fraud,” Jenkins said. “I’ve even done a few murders where people have killed somebody and then put them on a railroad track to make it look like they were hit by trains.”
In 1986, Jenkins helped create the Illinois Traction Society, an organization dedicated to preserving Illinois Terminal history.
The organization published a book in 2005 that Jenkins wrote. It’s called “The Illinois Terminal Railroad: The Road to Personalized Services (White River Productions, Bucklin, Mo., hardcover).
“The book weighs four pounds,” Jenkins said. “It has 328 pages. It has over 500 photos, both black-and-white and color, and something like 26 maps.”
An autographed copy can be purchased for $65 ($69.95 with postage and handling) through Jenkins at the presentation or by sending a check or money order to 264 Victoria, Decatur, IL 62522. For more information, call (217) 423-4877.
On Tuesday night, Jenkins will end his presentation with a “trip over the line.” He’ll ask audience members to pretend they’re riding a train from Alton to St. Louis and show photographs of sights along the way.
The Alton Museum of History and Art is at 2803 College Ave. (on the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine campus). For more information, call 462-2763.
Contact reporter Teri Maddox at tmaddox@bnd.com or 345-7822, ext. 26.
“The Railroads of Alton”
Who: Illinois Terminal Railroad historian Dale Jenkins.
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Where: Alton Museum of History and Art, 2803 College Ave. (on the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine campus).
Admission: $5.
Information: Call 462-2763.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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