ITS/CO&P was an interurban. I don't normally do interurbans because trying to learn the Illinois railroads is daunting enough. But this is an impressive bridge.
(Update: a history of the CO&P (source))
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Kerry Bruck posted |
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Andy Zukowski posted Inter-Urban Railroad Bridge Spring Valley Illinois. Postcard Dated 1905 Kevin Brock: Robert Weber Yes. The C&NW #1 Mine yard and CRI&P are below. My dad said it was a little scary going across the bridge. He was only about 10 when the interurban shut down. Ken Hejl: Kevin Brock That is actually the Chicago & Northwestern. The Rock Island is behind the bridge. Nathan Hess: Where was the bridge located? I’m not too familiar with Spring Valley in that era. Ken Hejl: Nathan Hess The track ran down the center of Greenwood St. South to the end of Greenwood.Made a 90 degree curve to the east. Went about 300 feet and out onto the bridge and east to Webster Park. I might add----On the 300 foot stretch, there are still old ties in the ground. |
The C&NW served three coal mines on the west side of Spring Valley.
I've written a few postings about BNSF/BN/CB&Q/IV&N in Peru. (Search Towns and Nature with the string "peru, il:" and ignore the results except for the titles beginning with "Peru, IL:") I was trying to follow the IV&N further west, but I had to go back north to US-6 to continue West. I came to a hill that was steep and long enough to allow me to try downshifting the minivan that I had bought just a few weeks earlier. Since the transmission has six gears, it did not have numbers for the lower gears like my older minivans had. So I had read the owner's manual to figure out how to use the "+" and "-" indicators. The manual did not make sense. I used this hill to determine that the van works the way I think it should rather than the way the manual explained.
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Looking at a 1939 aerial photo, I'm reminded of another reason why I don't research interurbans --- they were abandoned by the time of these photos. Kerry Bruck added the following comment to his posting:
The CO&P left the streets at the south end of Greenwood Street--one block east of Rt 89. The bridge in the photo is crossing the C&NW yards where the C&NW served Spring Valley Coal Company, Mine #1 (located to the right of this photo-East), an interchange with the CRI&P more or less to the left of this photo-West), and a short spur with a steep grade to access a lumber & coal company (between the trestle and the yard below-ran from the yards a block to the West of Greenwood Street). After crossing the C&NW and then Spring Creek, the CO&P ran a short distance on a grade--the land elevation rises quickly East of Spring Creek. A short distance East on this grade the CO&P crossed over the CB&Q which ran through a cut at that point. The CO&P then ran where a gravel road still exists South of Webster Park and turned to the North on the Eastern most street of Webster Park. It ran North to Route 6 and then East to Peru.
The red line is my current guess as to where the trestle was. Harold J. Krewer confirmed this was correct. (I had posted some earlier guesses that were quite wrong.) Harold adds: "That road extending from the bridge site and making the dogleg northeast appears to be on the old CO&P grade."
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1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP |
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