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CHICAGO LAND SYSTEM - ATTN: Chicago Railfans

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Been a while since the last post but I'll jump in anyway. In regards to the rail line between Maywood and Bellwood...I often wondered about that myself when I'd be driving down St. Charles Road and crossed the track in the road. On page 223 of "The Living Legacy of the Chicago Aurora and Elgin" by Peter Weller and Fred Stark there is a track diagram of the CA&E in Bellwood. It shows the line as "To CNW Interchange", which certainly agrees with your description. The same track diagram, along with one on the next page, shows that a total of 4 tracks went south from the CA&E/CGW lines. The first two were a double track line that went south to Westchester. This line was built by the CA&E and was intended to be part of a high speed cut-off to Aurora that would bypass Wheaton and reconnect with the mainline near Warrenville. It only reachd as far as 22nd St. (Cermak Road) and Mannheim Road (site of the current Mid-America Bank building) before work was stopped. The line was not operated by the CA&E but instead by CRT "L" trains. (There was also a car storage yard along this line in what is now Gladstone Park in Westchester, north of Roosevelt Road.) Of the other two lines, one was the Mt. Carmel branch of the CA&E which ran south to Roosevelt Road and then west to Mt. Carmel cemetery. The other track was operated by the IHB (from the CGW) and reached industries located between the Illinois Central Iowa Division embankment and the location of the Eisenhower Expressway. The track diagram also indicates that there was an interchange track with the IC along this line. Another excellent source of information on the CA&E lines is "The Story of the Chicago Aurora & Elgin Railroad Vols. 1 & 2" by Larry Plachno.
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