GHQ Models - ZM2 - Open Hopper, Offset Sides - Illinois Central - "Mainline of Mid-America" Hopper Decal Set

Specific Item Information: This waterslide decal set provides white reporting marks, data, and logos for decorating (6) six unique, offset side hoppers (five 2-bay and one 3-bay hopper) in the Illinois Central “Mainline of Mid-America” paint scheme as seen from the mid-1940s to mid-1960s. If you model just about any steam-era railroad that used soft coal and connected to the central US, your RR probably got coal from the Illinois basin coalfields and some of it could have been delivered in IC hoppers. Apply the decals to Micro-trains 55000-series 2-bay offset hoppers and MDC/Roundhouse 3-bay offset hoppers or similar cars painted light brown, oxide, or black depending on your era. The data and markings are arranged so that you only need to place two decals per car side (and one for each end) rather than placing the data, reporting numbers, logo all separately. However, a number scramble is included so you can easily decorate more than six unique cars with additional decal sets. .

Road Name History: The Illinois Central Railroad (reporting mark IC), sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa (1870). There was a significant branch to Omaha, Nebraska (1899), west of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and another branch reaching Sioux Falls, South Dakota (1877), starting from Cherokee, Iowa. The Sioux Falls branch has been abandoned in its entirety.

The IC is one of the early Class I railroads in the US. Its roots go back to abortive attempts by the Illinois General Assembly to charter a railroad linking the northern and southern parts of the state of Illinois. In 1850 U.S. President Millard Fillmore signed a land grant for the construction of the railroad, making the Illinois Central the first land-grant railroad in the United States.

The Illinois Central was chartered by the Illinois General Assembly on February 10, 1851. Senator Stephen Douglas and later President Abraham Lincoln were both Illinois Central men who lobbied for it. Douglas owned land near the terminal in Chicago. Lincoln was a lawyer for the railroad. Upon its completion in 1856 the IC was the longest railroad in the world. Its main line went from Cairo, Illinois, at the southern tip of the state, to Galena, in the northwest corner. A branch line went from Centralia, (named for the railroad) to the rapidly growing city of Chicago. In Chicago its tracks were laid along the shore of Lake Michigan and on an offshore causeway downtown, but land-filling and natural deposition have moved the present-day shore to the east.

In 1867 the Illinois Central extended its track into Iowa, and during the 1870s and 1880s the IC acquired and expanded railroads in the southern United States. IC lines crisscrossed the state of Mississippi and went as far as New Orleans, Louisiana, to the south and Louisville, Kentucky, in the east. In the 1880s, northern lines were built to Dodgeville, Wisconsin, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Omaha, Nebraska. Further expansion continued into the early twentieth century.

The Illinois Central, and the other "Harriman lines" owned by E.H. Harriman, was the target of the Illinois Central shopmen's strike of 1911. Although marked by violence and sabotage in the south, midwest, and western states, the strike was effectively over in a few months. The railroads simply hired replacements and withstood diminishing union pressure. The strike was eventually called off in 1915.

Brand/Importer Information: GHQ has been a leader in the fine scale model industry since 1967. Over the years, we have dabbled in various model railroading projects. In 1993, we made a concerted effort to enter the N-Scale market. Our first offering was a Mi-Jack straddle crane. From there we went on to produce the finest line of N-Scale vehicles ever made.

Our vehicles have received glowing reviews from many model railroading magazines, including Model Railroader, N-Scale, Model Railroad News, Railmodel Journal, Model Railroading, and Railroad Model Craftsman.

All of the kits that you see listed on our website are available, but these kits are not in constant production. When overall customer interest on kits wanes, those items will be pulled. So, if you see something that you want, buy while it is available.

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