Rochelle, IL: Caboose: Milwaukee Road

20150913,16 4693

While I was headed south on 9th Street in Rochelle, IL, to go to the railroad park, I got caught at the UP crossing. So I pulled over and got out to take pictures. I spotted a caboose on static display so I walked over and took pictures of each side. I'm glad I took the backlit side because the sunny side has been vandalized. I added the red rectangle to mask a still readable obscenity. The initial reason for taking the backlit view was to catch the eastbound intermodal UP train in the background.

When looking at the pictures, I noticed the backlit view indicates the caboose was used by the Milwaukee Road. This surprised me because the only two railroads I was aware of in Rochelle were the UP/C&NW and BNSF/CB&Q. So I checked my 1928 Railroad Atlas. Milwaukee Road had a north/south route from Mendota, through Rochelle to Rockford and beyond. According the to atlas, the Milwaukee joined the CB&Q at Steward and branched off again north of Rochelle. That is, Milwaukee Road used CB&Q tracks through Rochelle.

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

I could not find any evidence of an abandoned railroad south of Steward on a satellite image, but a 1939 aerial photo does indicate the railroads joined northwest of Steward. And it is easy to see that the Milwaukee Road left the Burlington at Flagg Center, IL, because the track is still there! Burlington evidently bought this route to Rockford when Milwaukee went bankrupt because my 1994 Illinois map shows it as BN and my 1998 map shows it as BNSF. But my 2008 and 2014 maps show it as IR. So along with the OO&FRV and the remnants of the IV&NR, BNSF also sold this branch to Illinois Railway.

This is the first time I have noted an Automatic Car Identifier up close.

(Facebooked 20150925)

Mark Llanuza posted
Its 1978 Milwaukee Rd running on the BN at Rochelle IL getting back on at Flagg Center then head to Davis Jct IL. This was part of the Mendota line.
James Sucha Those old Fs are saying " Wow! This is some smooth track. We never get to run on this stuff at home!!".