Illinois Central Railroad began construction on that marvel in 1914 as part of a project nicknamed the "Big Dig." More than a century later, this excavated rail route is still enabling trains to ...

DECATUR - After what has for some seemed an eternity, settlement checks from the class-action lawsuit against Illinois Central Railroad finally are making it to their destinations.

ABOVE: An 1870 ad for the Illinois Central Railway touted a trip from Chicago to Cairo — ‘without change of Cars.’ BELOW: That railroad arose out of a pair of land-grant bills introduced two ...