CM&G: Illinois, Iowa & Minnesota Railway and Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary Overview

(Update: AJ Grigg blog)

Meghan Bannon Langan posted, cropped
Thank you for adding me to the group! This is the photo that brought me here. It was given to me with a box of my 2nd great grandfather's photos (Henry Elmer Watkins). He worked for the EJ&E. I'd love if he was the man in the white shirt in front, but I dont know for sure. I've become fascinated by the Gary line and look forward to looking through your posts and pictures.
Brian Keith Landis Picture is taken in Rockford ,Illinois
[The comments provide more photos about the railroad.]

Wayne DeMunn posted
This is an overlay of the Gary Line over the modern map of north-eastern Illinois showing the major highways of today. Other railroads are shown in a lighter shade of black. Thanks to Gene Shields for sending this one in.

Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota Railway was created in 1904. It was renamed Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary Railway (CM&G) in 1908. It was leased by the Milwaukee Road in 1922 and purchased by Milwaukee in May, 1930. (Abandoned Rails)  The railroad had two segments Rockford-Aurora and Joliet-Momence with trackage rights on the EJ&E to run between Aurora and Joliet.

One motivation for this post is that there has been quite a bit of activity on Facebook lately concerning "The Gary Line." Another motivation is that the Milwaukee Road used it to access its route to coal fields, the Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern.

Richard Mead commented on a post

The CM&G has its own Facebook group --- The Gary Line Remembered. It is easy to follow the route south of Joliet because it was converted to the Wauponsee Glacial Trail. A discussion concerning a photo of the Joliet depot determined that the yard is north of this trail terminus where Joliet Auto Parts is now located. If you access the link in the caption of the map, you will see there is some controversy as to where the northern part of the CG&M was located. (Update: I mapped how the EJ&E+CG&M got to Aurora when I researched an EJ&E Bridge in Aurora.)

The two pictures of the Peotone Trestle have now been moved to their own posting.

Pictures of the junction tower in, and an aerial photo of, Manhattan, IL where the CM&G crossed the Wabash Railroad.

Paul Grueger added some photos concerning the equipment.

Update: Pictures of Gary Line "footprint" in Rockford, IL      Wilton Center and Andres, Illinois, 8-28-77

A 1968 track profile (pp6-13) of the CTH&SE includes details of the southern CM&G segment that was retained to help connect the Indiana segment with its mainline.
In the 1944 map below, Milwaukee had already abandoned the connection between Rockford and Kirkland because they had other routes in this area.

Bill Molony posted
This 1944 company issued map shows all of the Milwaukee Road's track and trackage rights in Illinois and Indiana at that time.

Paul Krueger posted
Here is a map of the proposed CM&G route to Gary, as of about 1908. This was shortly before they built to Delmar.
[This explains the "Gary" in the CM&G name.]

Since Wayne DeMunn posted in a public group, please follow the link because the comments contain a lot of historic pictures of DeKalb, IL including CM&G buildings.

Michael Maitland posted two images with the comment: "Interesting to see how railroads built belts around Chicago to expedite traffic.  Not sure of the purpose or success of the Milwaukee to do this.  Have traced out the line and found ROW still in existence.  What kind of traffic did this line see?"

Paul Krueger: The CM&StP gained control of the CM&G early in 1922 and acquired full ownership in 1930. They bought the line to improve access between the coal fields located on the CTH&SE which it acquired at the same time and became the Terre Haute Division. For a few years, there was an interdivisional train run between West Clinton on the Terre Haute Division and Savanna on the D&I Division that primarily hauled coal west and empties east. They used trackage rights between Aurora and Joliet on the EJ&E. The MILW abandoned the line between DeKalb and Aurora in 1947, along with the EJ&E trackage rights. Kirkland-Rockford was formally abandoned in 1930. Momence to Joliet was abandoned in 1978. I don't have the DeKalb branch abandonment date handy, but it was about the same time. There's pretty much nothing left of the CM&G except some industrial track in Rockford, Manhattan, and maybe Momence. Parts of it have become trails.

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I normally don't include rolling stock, but this railroad is so rare that I could not pass this up.

Bill Molony posted
Jimmy Fiedler It's a old boxcar
Bill Molony This photo is of two newly delivered Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary cabooses, circa 1910. At that time, the CM&G carried passengers and express package service on their freight trains, and these cars were designed to accommodate those services.
Bill Molony The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railway (the Milwaukee Road) began operating the CM&G in 1922 under a lease agreement, and acquired ownership of it in 1930. The former CM&G line between Joliet and Delmar Junction was abandoned in 1978.

Note that this map was the proposal, not what actually got built.

Newspapers [Janesville Daily Gazette, 29 Sep 1905, Page 1] (source)
Jeff Kehoe Interesting, especially that planned route between Aurora and Joliet that does NOT appear to use EJ&E trackage rights.
Paul Krueger They always planned to build their own route between Aurora and Joliet.

Bill Molony posted
This is the listing for the Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary Railway Company from the June, 1922 edition of the Official Guide of the Railways.
The Illinois, Iowa & Minnesota Railway Company was built in 1904 and 1905 from Rockford in Winnebago County to Aurora in Kane County and from Joliet to Delmar in Kankakee County.
The II&M, by a contract dated February 21, 1905, secured overhead trackage rights between Aurora and Joliet over the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway.
In June 1908, the II&M changed its name to the Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary Railway Company.
In January, 1922, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railway Company began operating the CM&G, and on April 1, 1930, acquired ownership of the CM&G.
The former CM&G line between Joliet and Delmar was completely abandoned by 1980..
From the archives of the Blackhawk Railway Historical Society.

BRHS posted a different shade of this timetable

The Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary Railway Company's page, from the June, 1922 edition of the Official Guide to the Railways.

The CM&G had come under the control of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company earlier that same year..

Note that the CM&G was still operating mixed (freight and passenger) trains at that time.

Richard Fiedler posted
1911 I believe. It came from a partial Official Guide I picked up today.
Jeff Kehoe: What that map was is "wishful thinking."

  

Track Profile

Some of Peter Zimmermann's comments on his posting document the abandonment:

The portion from Kirkland Junction to Rockford that was abandoned in 1930 is not easy to find, Kirkland to De Kalb [the last segment to go] in 1980 much easier than it. Aurora to De Kalb, part of that is a trail too. Joliet to Delmar Junction not too hard to see in spots of course.

A Flickr album of 56 photos (source)