![]() | Illini / Saluki | Mattoon, IL ![]() |
City of New Orleans |
Effingham was once a stop on two different Amtrak lines, trains that run north-south between Chicago and Carbondale and New Orleans (these operate to this day), and the station was also a stop on the National Limited from 1971 to 1979, this was a daily train from Kansas City to New York or Washington, DC (dividing or combining primarily in Harrisburg although using Philadelphia for the routes final year). Effingham was the only stop on this train in Illinois, next stop to the west was St. Louis, MO and Terre Haute, IN to the east. Trains stopped at reasonable hours in the middle of the afternoon.
Trains on these two corridors didn't stop at the same platforms, since the station is located at a diamond crossing where the CSX St Louis Line Subdivision (ex-Pennsylvania Railroad) Crosses the CN (formerly Illinois Central line) used by today's City of New Orleans, Illini and Saluki that provide 3 daily trains north to Chicago, south to Carbondale, with one daily train extended to New Orleans.
The station area contains three different single story brick buildings all dating to the 1920s with one as Union Station serving both railroads in Effingham. I believe the other two were used for Railway Express Service by the respective railroads. The historical buildings are primarily used by The Royal School of Cosmetology and Barbers (that also includes a barber shop).
The most northern building, and closest one to the Amtrak platform contains a small waiting room that is open around train times (with three different shifts throughout the day, it is closed between 12:00pm and 5:00pm for example when no trains are scheduled to). Inside is a small wood paneled waiting room. There are a couple of benches and lots of signs that the station is for Amtrak passengers only and that you will ticketed for trespassing for being in the station without a valid Amtrak ticket. A door leads down to a short corridor to water fountains and two gender neutral restrooms. Outside the main door into the station, facing the original platform area is an Effingham pointless arrow station sign. There is also a larger pointless arrow on the otherside of the depot facing the parking lot, and a smaller Pointless arrow with station next to it to indicate the waiting room.
The station originally had two platforms each along a single track of the respective railroads, both beginning at the diamond crossing. The former brick platform that was used by the National Limited is still visible although lots of ballast is covering portions of it. There is a little hand painted Effingham sign hanging from the overhanging roof of the main little building over this historic platform.
The current platform for Amtrak trains is a modern ADA compliant low-level platform that was dedicated in 2022. This modern platform begins a bit north of the diamond crossover, with a sidewalk connecting it directly to the depot and the station's small park area. Just before the platform begins there is a pedestrian grade-crossing that leads across to a sidewalk and walkway down to Merchant Street and some houses that are cut off from Downtown by the railroad and the underpass of Fayette Avenue just north of the station. This sidewalk doesn't have any lights or bells but still has the little blue emergency signs of how to call CN if you have an emergency on the railroad tracks. Just beyond this crossing a short gradual ramp leads up to the platforms only legal exit.
The platform is completely exposed to the elements, there is just a line of lampposts, Effingham, IL signs at regular intervals on both sides of the tracks, along with a Wheelchair Lift Encloser. There are five concrete outdoor benches for waiting passengers, but these are in the eaves of the station building, not along the modern platform (a problem with a lot of modern ADA Amtrak platforms, no benches).
The northern end of the platform contains an emergency exit who's gate was open when I visited. This leads down to an emergency evacuation pad. Ideally this emergency exit should instead lead across about ten feet of grass and to a pedestrian walkway that follows the railroad with its own modern bridge over Fayette Avenue's underpass and towards downtown Effingham, providing more convenient pedestrian connections from stopping trains. This path does directly connect to the train station, with grass separating the platform from it.
This path leads into the edge of the station's small parking lot, with free long-term parking for Amtrak passengers. The depot overall is a bit hard to find because of its location at a railroad junction, with National Avenue, parallel to the CSX railroad tracks the main way to access it in a vehicle. This roadway passes under the overpass (over the CSX tracks of Banker Street) before leading into a neighborhood around the station with the wayfinding signs for the station for cars on Fayette Avenue signed to turn onto 4th Street to reach the Amtrak station
Photos 1-100: July 5, 2025