CP/.../CGW Bridge over Rock River in Byron, IL

(Bridge Hunter, no Historic Bridges, Satellite)

Jason Leverton posted
Right color, wrong railroad...five years ago today [Dec 22, 2017], DM&E 6081 steps across the former CGW Rock River bridge at Byron, IL, bringing back a transformer from the ComEd plant.

A bridge seldom being used can be good because it brings out the railfans to capture the train.

Lance Wales posted
CP's B69 job out of Savanna, IL came up to Byron, IL on December 22, 2012 to grab this rotor from the nuclear plant. Here they are coming west across the CGW Rock River bridge with 6081 providing the power. Although I normally would have complained about a red dip loco, it was appropriate this day!
Charles Heraver Red Sd40.

Note that every other pier is "notched." That is because the top of the notches are extensions to change the height of the piers to support girders instead of trusses. And new piers were added so that the span of the girders was half of the span of the trusses.

Jim Arvites posted
View of the Chicago Great Western Railway's "Milk Train" crossing the Rock River at Byron, Illinois during the early 1900's. This train carried dairy products and early morning passengers between Byron and Chicago.
(Byron, Illinois Nostalgia)

I put three dots in the name in the title because the history of this remnant of the CGW and the Milwaukee Road track it connects with is rather convoluted. First of all, C&NW did a hostile takeover of CGW and then proceeded to abandon most of the CGW route. Obviously the Byron Nuclear Plant forced the CGW remnant to their generating station to remain active. I presume that Milwaukee Road assumed operation of that CGW remnant. Then Milwaukee Road went bankrupt, and in 1986 SOO, a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific, bought the Milwaukee Road. But they lost money on the Iowa and northern Illinois lines so in 1997 CP sold them to I&M Rail Link. But they also lost money, so in 2002 they sold the route to Iowa, Chicago & Eastern. IC&E was not only able to make money, they grew the business. CP bought the route back in 2008. (Wikipedia)

The GTW engineers must have preferred steel girder designs because that is what they also used in Waterloo, IL.

Mark Llanuza posted
Back in 1997 the IMRL took a train across the former CGW bridge in Byron IL with a former CGW SD-40 leading the way
[The cylindrical load is so long that it needs two flatcars. And I count 14 axles on each of those cars to handle the weight of the cylinder. I assume it is for the Byron Nuclear plant. The three covered hoppers indicates there must have been at least one other industry on that CGW remnant. Or they may be buffer cars to spread the load of the engine and the cylinder across more piers on the bridge.]

Lance Wales posted

The I&M Rail Link's Davis Junction, IL-based 922 local has a special mission on this Saturday morning, December 8, 2001--a high wide load bound for the Excelon Nuclear plant at Byron, IL. Of course this means they'll have to shove east over the old Chicago Great Western's Rock River bridge. The CEFX 3048, an ex-DRGW GP35, does the honors in the soft morning light.
Jamie Snyder I checked this section out on the east side of the bridge in 2006...the brush and trees were so thick i could barely see the rails! This section has since been upgraded recently and freshly ballasted! I wonder if there is a hidden agenda in the near future for this section?

These photos are not of the bridge, but they are why the bridge still exists.

Mark Llanuza posted

its 1991 with a rare move on the CGW line in Byron IL .Were at the Jct where they crossed the Milwaukee Rd ,He;s coming off the IMRL getting ready to back into the Byron plant.

Mark Llanuza posted

its 1991 with a rare move on the CGW line in Byron IL . ,He;s getting ready to back into the Byron plant at the Fox River