Western Railroad Discussion > Freight and Trolleys along Fox River (Illinois)

I visited Illinois couple of weeks ago.

I had driven across Fox River during my previous visits, and found the Chicago Great Western Railway bridge in St. Charles. I did research, and found that trains no longer ran on that span, so I did map research, convinced that other railroads HAVE TO cross the Fox River somewhere else. Well, no duh! :-)

I stumbled across the Fox River Trolley Museum during that research, then found an active railroad bridge nearby, ex-Illinois Central, Canadian National Freeport Sub bridge. CN Dubuque Sub connects to the Freeport Sub further west, and I caught trains along the line last year, when I visited Galena, Dubuque, and the Tri-State area along the Mississippi River.

Once I secured a COVID-discounted redeye flight from SFO to ORD (Chicago O'Hare), I rented a car and headed west to the Fox River Trolley Museum. FYI, I decided not to do a tempting public transit trip this time, to reduce my exposure to the virus.

After a very informative tour of the museum by a dedicated staff member, I hopped on the first excursion at 11 am, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery along Fox River. On the return trip, I got dumb luck, as I stumbled upon an eastbound CN unit train of covered hoppers crossing the Fox River. While I can't prove that the train was led by a pair of KCS Southern Belles since I was too late to record it on photo or video, that's what I saw.

Here's a video of the museum equipment being operated on an October Sunday. I rode on the North Shore Line #715, then I walked along the Fox River Trail to document that and CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) #43 and #45.

First two clips capture #715, #45 and #43 as I walk north on the trail toward the CN bridge. Next two clips catch those trolleys on the return trip back to the museum, right where I was waiting for the next CN train.

Fifth clip shows the eastbound CN crossing the Fox River as I'm riding #715 back to the museum. After returning, I get a clip of #715 returning on its second trip, with some of museum equipment in the background, including an ex-SF MUNI PCC.

- Museum staff enforced social distancing and mask wearing inside #715.
- Tail end of the CN eastbound across Fox River.
- Video of museum trolleys running around.

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I decided to change my dumb luck to good luck, after riding the #715 and seeing a CN eastbound crossing the Fox River.

I turned on my scanner, and tuned to the CN Freeport Sub frequency, took a quick nap in my rental car, and waited for things to unfold.

After about an hour, I heard the dispatcher give signal indication to a westbound. Figuring it was due to the eastbound meeting it, I guessed that I had time to leisurely walk along the Fox River trail to catch it cross the bridge. As I did so, I documented the museum trolleys in the previous video.

The EOTD "chirps" gave me about a 5 minute warning for the approaching westbound, but better yet, there's a hotbox detector just east from the Fox River at MP 38.1. There's also a crossing to the east, and I heard the GEVO horns loud and clear. Pair of "pool power" Pumpkins showed up, pulling a unit train of covered hoppers, presumably an empty grain train.

The museum staff that operated the #715 must have heard the GEVO horns, too. He may have stopped the #715 at the right place to see the train, while he allowed the kids to toot the #715's whistle in the meantime. That's audible in the video I'm posting here.

It was a satisfying way to check off "train crossing the Fox River" off my list.

- Chicago Rapid Transit #5001 isn't operating now, but it is complete and repairable.
- This area is home rails to the Aurora, Elgin, and Fox River GE 45 tonner. Workhorse at the museum.
- Video of the CN Westbound led by BNSF GEs crossing the Fox River.

That's all for the report.

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Thanks for the second video, Charlie.  I'm so used to seeing BNSF grain trains mostly brown with an occasional grey car that seeing a train with mostly grey cars and CN heralds and the occasional brown car was kind of strange.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/20 18:49 by ntharalson.

Bravo! The grain extra is a shot I’ve wanted to get for a while. Just haven’t been able to make it happen yet.

Posted from iPhone

Thanks for sharing! I really like the BN over the bridge

In your photo of the 5001, there appears to be one of the Warren & Saline River (Arkansas) ex-Rock Island Whitcomb 75-tonners. Could that be? I wonder how it ended up there?

If you haven't already been there, head a little further south.  At Geneva, the C&NW built a massive bridge across the Fox River.  There are several easy viewing points along it to see UP freights and Metra commuter trains.

wpamtk Wrote:
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> In your photo of the 5001, there appears to be one
> of the Warren & Saline River (Arkansas) ex-Rock
> Island Whitcomb 75-tonners. Could that be? I
> wonder how it ended up there?

That is indeed what it is. It may have ended up at the museum because the Whitcomb factory was in Rochelle, IL

About a half mile south of the CN bridge over the Fox is the Fox River Trail bridge which is built on the abutments of the bridge built by former Aurora, Elgin and Fox River interurban.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9698565,-88.2967604,264m/data=!3m1!1e3

Quite a few railroad bridges over the Fox River between Fox Lake, IL and Ottawa, IL where it empties into the Illinois River. My quick count is 22 bridges by various railroads and interurbans.

Splendid, thanks.