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From Chapter Five: The CGW cross the Fox River in St Charles on a six-span, five-pier plate-girder bridge north of the downtown area. Eastbound train #192 is captured crossing the bridge in January 1968 behind six F-units. The Great Western Trail now occupies the span. (Terry Norton) There are more fantastic shots like this of…

Sunday Evening Post, September 27, 2026 finds C&NW F7 #419 leading five other F7s crossing Palatine Rd in Palatine with an eastbound train in February 1981. The train is heavy with finished automobiles, and will take the New Line connection at Seeger Junction to Proviso yard. This scene has changed quite a bit, with the…

The photographer’s Chevy Corvair stands guard as CB&Q GP20 #914, GP35 #987 and a GP30 head east on Main 2 leaving Naperville in November 1964. The overpass in the background is Columbia St, right at milepost 28, and is still a great spot to catch westbound BNSF traffic. (rick Schroeder) Rails Around Northern Illinois is…

I will be at the Galesburg Scale Train Show Saturday June 27 at the Knights of Columbus in Galesburg, 1556 E Fremont St, then the next day at the Decatur Train Fair, Decatur Civic Center, #1 Gary Anderson Plaza from 11-4. Come by and get your copy of Rails Around Central Illinois, and info about…

This evening we take a look back at the Chicago & Eastern Illinois in an excerpt from Chapter Two of Rails Around Northern Illinois. C&EI train #4, The Danville Flyer, rounds the curve in Chicago Heights in April 15, 1967, heading north behind E7 #1101 for a 9:15am arrival at Chicago’s Dearborn Station. The Danville…

In the 1980s, Conrail was operating “hot bottle” trains for Acme Steel using a section of the former Panhandle in Riverdale to Inland Steel’s Indiana Harbor Works plant in East Chicago, Indiana, via connection at Dolton to the IHB. Conrail GP38 #7720 brings one such empty train off the Panhandle onto the IHB in April…