But whilst green may be "in" today, there were a few things that were green yesterday, that are no longer green today. Since its inception, the Burlington Northern Railroad was green. Nearly everything it had, there was a good chance it was painted green. You had the feeling that if you stood in one place too long, you would be painted green. Then came the merger with the Santa Fe, and after some fanfare and lots of experimenting, green bit the dust. Oh, there is green still in the paint scheme, but it's not "green" green. It's more like drab green.
Then there was the little known C&IM, the Chicago & Illinois Midland. It never went to Chicago - it was so named because its original investors were from Chicago. But it did go green. Very green. Even more green that the BN. Solid green with a tasteful red stripe and spartan white lettering. Then in the 1980s, in a cost cutting move, it went even greener. It eliminated the red stripe. It became the greenest of the green. By this time, it owned very little in the way of rolling stock, so only engines and cabooses, and one lonely 40' boxcar used in M of W service, were painted green. But what engines they were! All EMD, there were switchers, SD9s, SD18s, and SD38-2s.
And, then there were the rarest green engines of all: their two RS1325s. Numbered 30 and 31, they plied C&IMs heavy rail in both heavy coal train service mixed with the SDs, or as the sole power used for local service.
Today we see the 31 hauling a few grain hoppers and a green caboose from Taylorville, IL, C&IM's southernmost point, northward toward Springfield, Illinois, the state capitol and the location of the main yard and shop of the C&IM. We are about 5 miles south of the capitol, and it's very hot, in the high nineties. And everything is green: the trees, the grasses, the weeds and bushes, and the moss growing on the ties. Even the rails reflect green. It seems almost an afterthought that the 31 is green, too.
But alas! Green is not forever. The C&IM became part of the Genesee & Wyoming family, and green gave way to orange. Many of the green engines were sold, even though they were maintained in excellent shape by the C&IM; and most of the remaining engines were run into the ground, poorly maintained, and eventually scrapped. This green photograph recalls happier times, when all was green. July, 1987.
Green is the color of the grass and the trees
When the land is warm, and there's a breeze
When the land is hot, and the air is still.
But comes the winter, and new owners, and the green is killed.
Sam Carlson