#2496
Illinois Central 121
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Pullman Company· from 1936· American fixed-consist streamlined diesel-electric trainset
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Illinois Central Green Diamond 1936 3: Illinois Central-photographer appears to be Dirsal.· Public domain
- 2. Illinois Central Green Diamond 1936: Illinois Central-photographer appears to be Dirsal.· Public domain
what is it?
Illinois Central 121 (IC #121) was a diesel streamliner built in 1936 by Pullman-Standard and powered by Electro-Motive Corporation, which was used by the Illinois Central Railroad on the Green Diamond. Its fixed five-car consist was also the end of an era; the popularity of the early streamliners was their undoing, because the trains could not be lengthened or shortened to handle varying loads. It was the last streamliner built with the power car articulated with the train; future streamliners featured a matched but separable locomotive.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 90 years ago, in 1936.
- 895 kW is about 11 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1936
- retired
- 1950
- status
- retired
- number built
- —
- kind
- Diesel-electric
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Pullman Company
- operators
- Illinois Central Railroad
- top speed
- —
- power
- 895 kW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- nicknames
- Tobacco Worm
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q15092437, Wikipedia: Illinois Central 121 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.