Hi,
Seems like it should be an easy topic but I cannot seem to find much on it and maybe someone has some information or can point me to articles or books on the topic. The CNW has a line that comes up from West Chicago and from just south of Elgin, crosses the river and then runs parallel to the CP Rail (former Milwaukee Road, former Soo Line) line through Elgin, IL, just west of the Fox River, then splits away and runs through Rockford to Freeport. (The line from Rockford to Freeport may have been abandoned – not sure.) Just south of Elgin, there used to be a turnout and the line ran through downtown Elgin just east of the Fox River, serving the Elgin watch factory along with some industries and scrap yards in Elgin, then north through East Dundee, Algonquin and up to Crystal Lake where it connected to the CNW line from Chicago to Janesville. The line then went up through McHenry and Richmond and on to Lake Geneva. The line from the south side of Elgin was torn up within the last 15-20 years if memory serves me. I recall seeing a CNW switcher trundling through downtown Elgin in the late ‘80s or in the ‘90s. There is a small bit of the line from just north of Hwy 14 in Crystal Lake up into McHenry where the UP serves one industry and Metra has a station but all of the rest has been torn up and abandoned. A portion of that line ran parallel to Pyott road in Crystal Lake and crossed Hwy 14 as recently as 15-20 years ago but that is long gone. I think Metra used to run up to Lake Geneva but that was years ago.
I am curious about when the various stretches were abandoned specifically the stretch from Elgin up to Crystal Lake, and from McHenry up to Lake Geneva.
In addition, the Otto plant in East Dundee was at one time served by a separate line but I can find no history on it beyond some ancient photographs of rail cars serving the factories in the late 1800s to early 1900s. Anyone have any information on that?
Thanks.
Bruce
CNW Historical Society is the best source, especially back issues of their publication.
I recall that line in downtown Elgin (east side) around 1970 and noticing a steam locomotive (probably 0-6-0) stored by a factory.
Thanks Charlie. I'll look into that.
Williams Bay (McHenry) Sub info:
https://www.chicagorailfan.com/mmupnwm.html
'ABANDONED 1982 (Ringwood-Lake Geneva)' - Not sure if this 100% correct. I believe the Ringwood - Richmond (Illinois / Wisconsin state line) section has been rail-banked, not abandoned, for future use by Metra. (Metra does have a decade old plan on file that covers this.) Currently the ROW from Ringwood to Richmond is used as a bike trail.
Chris
Most of the Elgin-Crystal Lake line (North Elgin to Crystal Lake) was abandoned in 1983 (ICC Docket No. AB-1 Sub-No. 148). The remaining 2.8 mile segment between Elgin Junction (connection with the West Chicago-Rockford line) and the north side of Elgin was abandoned in 1997, (STB Docket No. AB-33, Sub-No. 105X).
I believe the line to the Otto plant was the result of a line relocation. The original alignment was roughly a mile east of the plant. Rather than build a long spur to the Otto plant when it was established, C&NW simply realigned the line itself.
Here's some further information on the East Dundee reroute. The original line ran straight north from East Dundee. about a mile west of what is now Carpentersville. The purpose of the reroute was to serve Carpentersville and the industries located along the river there, particularly a firm called Illinois Iron & Bolt. The new line was placed in service in 1878, and the old route (about 2 miles) abandoned at that time. I don't know much about Otto Engineering, but I don't see this firm mentioned in the reference materials I have describing the reroute. They probably came along later.
There is a decrepit, partially collapsed railroad brige still crossing the Fox River at Capentersville. That appears to have accessed industrial trackage on the west side of the Fox River, and was never part of a longer route. I don't know who owns it today, but it will eventually have to be removed by someone before it falls into the river (which it will, probably sooner rather than later)
Falcon48There is a decrepit, partially collapsed railroad brige still crossing the Fox River at Capentersville.
Can you tell me where in Carpentersville this bridge is located. On Google Maps I can find some roadway bridges and trail bridges but no others.
In 1896, a predecessor of the Aurora, Elgin, and Fox River Electric Company built an interurban line that ran between Elgin and Carpendersville. This used the Elgin Street car tracks to reach Elgin and ultimately all the way to Yorkville. North of Elgin, it ran on the East side of the river to Dundee where it crossed over the the C&NW and then the Fox River to the west side on what was named the "Dundee Trestle" and thence up to Carpentersville where it again crossed the river on Main St. to its terminal on the east. After a tornado struck the area in 1933, the Elgin-Carpentersville line was abandoned.
The only remaing part of the A.E.& F.R.E. Co is two miles in South Elgin operated by the Fox River Trolley Museum which runs a car that was built for the A.E.& F.R.E. Co in 1923.
https://www.foxtrolley.org/
The Carpentersville railroad bridge (or what's left of it) is located roughly a thousand feet north of the Main Street bridge. If you're a cyclist or a hiker on the Fox River Trail (which is on the former CNW ROW at this point), it's pretty obvious. It has nothing to do with the interurban (which used the Main Street bridge). The bridge was constructed at the same time as the 1878 line relocation to serve Illinois Bolt & Iron and other industries on the west side of the Fox River.
I'm not surprised that it wouldn't be shown as a existing bridge on Google Maps or other on-line reference sites, because it has been partially collapsed for some time and is clearly no longer a "bridge" in any sense of the word - it's more like an ancient ruin of what once was a bridge. However, you can see the remains of the bridge on a Google Maps satellite view of Carpentersville. It crosses the river just north of the existing Otto Engineering facility.
The AE&FR bridge you mention is at East Dundee, several miles south of Carpentersville. The original bridge is gone, but a spur of the Fox River Trail crosses the river on a bridge built on the old AE&FR bridge piers. A more impressive AE&FR Fox River bridge was at Coleman, just south of the where the existing South Elgin trolley line leaves the old AE&FR ROW. Like the East Dundee bridge, the original Coleman bridge structure is long gone, but the Fox River Trail crosses a new bridge built on the old piers.
More than you or anyone else probably wanted to know, but that's just my little weakness.
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