Sometime in the early 1960s my father, Dr. Richard D. Leonard, was privileged to take a cab ride from Bloomington to Chicago in the lead unit of the Abraham Lincoln. Judging from lack of foliage and sun angles, the trip took place in wintertime (there are a few patches of snow), but late fall or early spring are also possibilities. We see double track on the main line, indicating that this trip occurred before installation of Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) in 1964, which allowed removal of one of the main tracks. (Thanks to viewer Everett Lueck for this information.)

Either Dad or someone traveling with him (it was not my brother David, he informs me) took 35mm photos documenting the trip, which I only recently rediscovered. The photos, shot through the windshield of the E7 unit, are not of the best quality but I have done what I could to render them viewable. Click on the thumbnails below to bring up the images, with commentary, or page through the images sequentially.