Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Historical Society

03/23/2026

The 2026 Annual Meeting is April 11th in Watseka, IL. Free admission.

03/21/2026

The spring issue of the C&EI Flyer is set to go to print this week and will be in your mailbox as promptly as the USPS will allow. This issue features articles about C&EI pre-war dining equipment, C&EI metal classification flags, and much more.
If you aren't a member, consider visitng www.ceihs.org and join in our mission to preserve the legacy of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad.

03/17/2026

Atlas has announced another run of C&EI cabooses 1 & 2 in HO scale and are currently avilable for preorder. Built in the late 40s by American Car & Foundry, cabooses 1-6 were the first six all steel cabooses and served the C&EI through to the MoPac era with a number of different paint schemes. The scheme pictured is the early transition period with the thinner C&EI lettering and closed ampersand.

See the Atlas website for more informaiton.
https://shop.atlasrr.com/p-75802-ho-trainman-co-cupola-caboose-chicago-eastern-illinois-1.aspx

03/01/2026

The July 1945 Model Railroad magazine issue featured a C&EI color chart with information supplied from the C&EI.

There are seveal intersting things to note, such as the names of the colors that the C&EI used for their colors, like target red for the red caboose color.

Also note the work equipment was painted battleship gray with black lettering. This was a short lived scheme before all eqiupment was painted in the brown with white lettering scheme.

What do you notice?

02/26/2026

The C&EI HS is selling HO scale engine decals for the GP7s, GP9s, GP30s, and GP35s. There are the Mark Vaughn C&EI diesel engine set. The set sells for $8 with $2 shipping.

Included in this post is a HO model of C&EI GP7 211 using this decal set. The model is by David Forbes.

Mail checks payable to C&EI HS to:
C&EI HS
702 Hawthorne Dr
Marshall IL 62441

02/24/2026

The C&EI Historical Society will be at the Urbana Train Show at the end of March. Check out the Flyer for additional details. We will have the company store with back issue of the C&EI Flyer and modeling supplies available. Stop by and say hello!

02/18/2026

Join us in Watseka, IL on April 11, 2026, for the C&EI Historical Society Annual Meeting at the Watseka Union Depot.

This year we are featuring Shane Wilson of Scale Trains for a talk about how C&EI Model Trains are Made!

Who: Members, friends, and family members of the C&EI Historical Society

Where: Watseka Union Depot, 121 S. 2nd Street, Watseka, IL

When: Saturday, April 11th, 2026, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Schedule of Events:
9:00 – 10:00 Building is open for visiting and setup for the day.

10:00 - 12:00 Meet and greet fellow members and friends of the society. Bring items to sell or display. Modelers are encouraged to display models. Tables will be limited to one per person. Contact David Forbes for availability, [email protected].

12:00 – 1:15 Lunch on your own in Watseka.

1:15 – 1:30 Memorial for Rick Schroeder

1:30 – 2:00 C&EI Annual Meeting and election of officers.

2:00 – 3:00 C&EI Passenger Trains & Equipment to Little Egypt by David Forbes

3:30 – 4:30 How C&EI Model Trains are Made by Shane Wilson of Scale Trains

5:00 – 6:00 Group meal at Monicals

02/17/2026

The C&EI Historical Society is excited to announce our newest offering, a digital collection of the first 10 years of The C&EI Flyer magazine in color on a USB drive. These 19 color issues are a treasure trove of information about our favorite railroad.

The flash drive comes in a handy plastic case and is labeled for identification. Also included is a table of contents on the drive.

The issues are also searchable at rrmagazineindex.org, courtesy of Iowa Scaled Engineering.

The collection of C&EI Flyers will sell for $75 postpaid, less than half of the retail value of print verisons. Payment information is on the order form.

We will have this set available at the Urbana Train Show and our annual meeting.

02/13/2026

Athearn Trains release this video discussing their new FP7 releases. The C&EI units are at the 17:23 mark in the video.

He notes in the video that people were surprised that Athearn ran the C&EI versions in this run. Then he also states that the C&EI versions have sold out!

This is what we tell manufactures all the time, C&EI stuff sells!
Big thank you to all the C&EI modelers out there.

The EMD FP7 was a 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW), B-B passenger-hauling diesel locomotive produced between June 1949 and December 1953 by General Motors’ Electr...

01/27/2026

Switching cars at Yard Center on a cold day like today.

01/09/2026

January is a great time to join the C&EI Historical Society. Details at our website

Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Historical Society The Chicago & Eastern Railroad Historical Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of the C&EI Railroad. BECOME A MEMBER Legacy of the C&EI Railroad Historical Society Welcome to the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Rai...