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| Ken Morrison posted A real ghost-there were never even tracks here. The Decatur & State Line was never built-apparently the records and plans burned up in the Chicago Fire. But it was started...the better-known evidence of that are the bridge piers across the Kankakee River just south of here. This is at Warner Bridge Rd. and IL 102. The angled row of trees lines a small length of ROW, looking SW "The line was chartered in 1869, when construction over the river began, but the project quickly lost it's financial backing partly because of the Great Chicago Fire. Had it been constructed, the route would've run through Bellflower, Farmer City, Saybrook, Chatsworth, Wilton Center, and Frankfort, among other towns, before connecting with the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific."
The D&SL was at least partially graded and bridge work partially completed too but went broke before any rails were laid. The Wabash (WStL&P) then owned financier Jay Gould looked at this property and it’s charter to build into Chicago. The Wabash instead bought the bankrupt and partially built Chicago & Strawn RR instead and built north from Strawn (Risk) IL to Chicago. I believe part of IC’s Bloomer Line is built on part of the D&SL’s grade.
That is interesting. It would be neat to see a map of Illinois ghost railroads.
Author
Roger Kujawa
before my last computer crashed, I had put pushpins on Google Earth wherever there was evidence of the D&SL. Amazingly, they all lined up. Included a stretch of the Bloomer Line through Cropsey. |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Ken's post I wondered about the history of these piers, June 3, 2016. |
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