Forreston, IL: IC and CB&Q Depot

Gary Sams -> Illinois Central Charter Line

Sam's Facebook comment: "Forreston, Illinois IC and CB&Q Depot." Looking at a satellite image, there is an east/west railroad north of town. Looking at some other maps, I determined it is CP/Milwaukee. On that satellite image, you can see the land scars of the IC on the north and south side of towns. But I could not find any traces of the CB&Q branch that came in from the southeast from Oregon except for the segment that still exists from Oregon to Mt. Morris. I looked at a 1912 Sanborn Map and got confused. So I backed off to a 1905 Sanborn Map. The excerpt below includes the seal and the Water Facilities because they remind me that the original purpose for these maps was for fire insurance agents to determine insurance rates. And because it included the location of the water tower.

1905 Sanborn Map, Sheet 1

So IC was on the westish side of the station and CB&Q was on the eastish side. Note that there were separate buildings, which you can see in the background of the photo, for passenger baggage and express freight that shared the passenger train platforms. The IC freight house had its own sidings. A filling station building now sits about where the depot was.

1912 Sanborn Map, Sheet 1

This is from a 1912 insert labeled "second railroad addition." So did the Milwaukee spur from the north use the eastish or westish side of the passenger facilities?

1928 Sanborn Map, Sheet 2

Looking at the 1928 map, it looks like CB&Q arranged trackage rights with IC and sold its Forreston tracks to Milwaukee. Also note that the freight house is no longer labeled ICRR. Maybe one reason why CB&Q moved to the westish side is that they also wanted better freight facilities. Furthermore, it appears that Milwaukee gave up on service to Forreston.

I've learned that even a small town can have a rather complicated railroad history.

Dave Zeke Zellers posted
Depot, Forreston, IL.

I've learned that after WWII, IC replaced many of its depots with standardized designs.

Dave Zeek Zellers commented on his post

Dave Zeek Zellers commented on his post