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GM&O Is Spelled
C-O-O-L!
Most notably, the GM&O was featured prominently in the 1967 movie
'In The Heat Of The Night', which was filmed in Sparta, Illinois.
Staring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger, the gritty murder
mystery/thriller won 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best
Actor (Steiger). The actors may have won the awards, but we know
who the real star was. Additionally, the Sparta depot still stands, indeed it has been
restored as a museum for local artist Roscoe Misslehorn's work. An
area within the depot is devoted to memorabilia associated with the
filming of the movie. Information about the museum may be seen at:
http://www.egyptian.net/~mgallery/index.html
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At left is the picture sleeve for the 1988 single release of the
Traveling Wilburys' 'End of the Line'. The Wiburys ( LtoR George
Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison) formed as a
super group and had a decidedly different take on life. How it was
decided to use this image for a record jacket is anybody's guess, but
we're not complaining.
We got help from David Eisman in identifying this photo as having
appeared in Don Ball's 1978 book America's Colorful Railroads.
Credited to Ball, it shows the Ann Rutledge southbound at Lincoln, Ill.
in 1953.
Guitarist extraordinaire Adrian Belew (King Crimson,
Frank Zappa) wrote his ode to railroading in a first person account of
falling in love with trains, then working on the rails, and finally
seeing the railroads' displacement by air travel. Belew, a native
of Covington, Kentucky, also has strong Illinois ties. 'The
Rail Song' is excerpted here where the protagonist hires on with the
GM&O. It's not quite the Wabash Cannonball or Rock
Island Line, but what is? Click on the cap to listen to what
is probably the only song mentioning the GM&O. |
