The 90 Illini #62: Clayton Leonard

Everything I know about Ford and Iroquois Counties I learned from the train.

We've all driven I-57, right? Those of you from the Chicago area who went to Illinois probably know all of the exits by heart. You hit the Gilman exit, then you hit the Onarga exit, then the Buckley exit. But once I started taking the train a fair bit, I learned a lot more about the towns in that area.

Why am I telling you this? Because Clayton Leonard is from Danforth, and he went to Iroquois West High School in Gilman, and my knowledge of Gilman and Danforth comes from flying by at 80 miles per hour on the City Of New Orleans (train #58), the Saluki (#390), or the Illini (#392). Well, not Gilman. Both the Saluki and the Illini stop in Gilman. But the train they call the City of New Orleans flies right by.

And that's another thing I always tell people about train travel. If you live in Gilman, and you want to go to downtown Chicago for the day, I have no idea why you'd drive. A train comes right to the center of town at 11:05 am and 7:51 pm and takes you directly to downtown Chicago faster than you could drive. For less than it costs in gas money to drive to Chicago.

I've often said this about Carlinville, Illinois. If I needed to live anywhere south of Springfield but north of St. Louis, I would live in Carlinville. Three times per day, in both directions, there's a train directly from downtown Carlinville to both Chicago and St. Louis. And with the upgraded tracks, those trains travel 110 mph between Alton and Joliet before they have to "slow down" to 80 mph. The 5,576 people who live in Carlinville have a direct, 110 mph shuttle service to two major metropolitan areas.

And the 1,701 people in Gilman have a similar option. Those trains only go 80 mph, but twice a day they can go to Chicago or Champaign/Carbondale. For, like, $12. I think I lost my train of thought here (heh). What was I talking about?

YES. Danforth. I now recognize downtown Danforth. And downtown Gilman. And Ashkum and Clifton and Chebanse. All very small towns with "downtowns" centered around the train tracks. You can only get on the train at Gilman, but... I guess my point is that I could pass a photo quiz of small downtowns in the greater Iroquois/Ford/Kankakee County area. And that's not nothing.

(It's nothing.)