Back in the early 1970s the Illinois Central Railroad merged with the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad, becoming the Illinois Central Gulf. Over the years the road began spinning off much of the old GM&O trackage, especially the east-west lines. In 1988 the parent IC Industries spun off the railroad operations altogether and the road renamed itself back to its roots, the Illinois Central. The road eventually put together a new business train which reflected their new image.

In the spring of 1996, photographer Edgar Dayries was able to record this view of the train as it passed him by on a heavily overcast day. The location is in the southernmost part of the Baton Rouge area, on the rail line paralleling the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

While many were surprised that the road didn’t paint the train in the original orange and chocolate livery (and it was a beautiful color scheme), I think management was attempting to present the “new” image of the railroad with the gray and black coloring. Note that it follows the pattern of the original orange and chocolate, with the road’s new “global” herald on the nose in lieu of the original green diamond. That new herald (a logo in present terminology) was created at the time of the roads renaming as the green diamond was no longer available for the road to use. A side note: some in the railfan community named this new herald as the Death Star.