Sunday, March 5, 2017

Elmhurst, IL: CA&E and CGW Depots

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Marty Benard posted
Elmhurst, Illinois is Rick Burn's hometown. He took this slide of Chicago Great Western 101C (F3A built Oct. 1947) passing the Elmhurst Depot in about 1960.
 
Andy Zukowski posted
A brief history of the Chicago Great Western. Here, an operator provides a roll-by inspection as F3A #111-C leads a long freight westbound past the little depot at Elmhurst, Illinois on August 14, 1962. A Roger Puta photo.

Bill Latimer posted
Parallel to the Chicago Great Western main at Elmhurst. Our Depot and water tower at left, share the shot at York Rd with this Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Interurban This appears to be the early to mid 1930's Photo from the Van Dusen Collection.
The skinny tower in the middle of the photo would be the watchman's tower at York Street. They controlled the crossing gates.

The Chicago, Aurora & Elgin interurban was south of the Chicago Great Western Railway so this train is westbound. Note the cars are using third rail power. I guess that means the cars had to coast across the road crossings. I wonder if they had batteries or if the lights also went off across roads.
(Update:
Debbie Boers The C&AE( the roarin' elgin) had multiple car consists to deal with the 3rd rail gap at crossings. An unusual sight would be a short electric loco on a work train and could rely on inertia to glide over crossings but am unsure what they relied on if stuck on a gap.
Gary Sprandel IIRC the CAE freight jacks had some limited battery ability for working off company current so in the event of a stall in a gap I would have imagined that would be the solution.
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Andy Zukowski posted
Dennis DeBruler: This one is easy to locate because it has been preserved in a park, https://maps.app.goo.gl/dA6JEgM8XQAW2JbG6
Andy posted again

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP
I added a green rectangle around the CA&E depot and a blue rectangle around the CGW depot. It looks like the CGW depot might still be standing. The Illinois Prairie Path was built on the CA&E RoW. The water tower is on the right side of the aerial photo.

Fourth photo posted by Marty Bernard
CGW station in Elmhurst, IL in January 1960. Rick Burn photo.
Cruz Martinez Elmhurst station is maybe the last CGW station near chicago that is preserved.


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I grabbed the camera and headed north on York Street to check if the CGW depot has been preserved. It has!
(Update: Tom Podraza It's been preserved since 1976 when the park district bought it and refurbished into a community building.)
South elevation. Sure enough there is a bay window under the eave, a passenger door on the left, and a freight door on the right.

Since there was a couple setting on the south side, I walked around the depot to get another angle. The trees were too close on the northeast corner, so this is a view of the northwest corner. The number under the sign is 511. I do not know the significance of that number. (Update: Tom Podraza indicated it is the street address 511 S Yord Rd.)

A view of the southwest corner. They preserved a signal mast as well as a baggage wagon.

The couple left so I got a view of the southeast corner. The signal mast is the pole in the foreground.
The tracks may be long gone, but the two power lines in the photo still exist. They built the parking lot around the poles of the southern line.

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Jimmy Fiedler shared
Today's Throwback Thursday features a 1971 image of the old Chicago Great Western Railroad, which once crossed through Elmhurst just a few feet north of where the Prairie Path is today. The CGW merged with the the Chicago & North Western Railway in 1968, resulting in the abandonment of most of the former railway's tracks.
Update:
Tom Podraza posted
1969 aerial view of York Rd and Vallette in Elmhurst Illinois the CGW ROW is to the right photo from the Elmhurst historical society.
Mark Llanuza posted
Its the year 1976 the rails were removed at the Elmhurst station. Looking East.
Mark Llanuza posted
The former CGW station in Elmhurst IL looking east 1969 taken by [unknown photographer ] by this date only one round trip was running on this division and by Nov 1969 the Chicago yard was closed and no more run through freights . I went back in Nov 2018 tried to line everything back again .The station had been re-stored at the park

Marty Bernard posted four photos with the comment:
CGW Elmhurst, IL Depot Details
In January 1979 Roger Puta took two shots of the details then walked back and took an overview. I'm adding a shot of his from August 1962 when the CGW still ran for comparison.
Enjoy,
Marty Bernard
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Jack Morgan I wonder where that signal came from. Probably from the IC diamond to the west (after it was removed) if I had to guess, that is an IC signal.

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Jerry Hund When was the last passenger service to this station?
Ray Weart About the Spring of 1957.

Jack Dempsey Track looks ruff even back then when did they take rails out.
Tom Podraza before 1976 when we moved to Elmhurst they were gone by then but not for long.
Jeff Lewis That's how right of ways looked in that era. Today they are so built up and sterile not even weeds can take hold. And that's the whole point.

Lou Gerard Unusual lashup for the CGW with a Geep in the middle of the F's.
Marty Bernard Yep. They had only 2 Geeps.

Alexander Mitchell This is an utterly remarkable photo for the era: Color, nicely exposed and lit, shows the whole scene and not just the power, a secondary RR few seemed to bother with............ we historians KILL for shots THIS good!

Patrick McNamara posted
Chicago Great Western Railway
Elmhurst Depot - 1941
Harold Selonke

Comments on Patrick's post

Paul Musselman posted two photos with the comment: "Restored CGW depot in Elmhurst on York Rd..."
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It is always interesting to see what views other photographsers capture.
Greg Kozlick posted five photos with the comment: "The Chicago Great Western Railway depot in Elmhurst, Illinois. The depot served the railroad from it’s founding in 1887 until service was discontinued in 1968. In 1971, Elmhurst’s Park District purchased the depot and part of the right-of-way and developed it into Wild Meadows Trace. July 27, 2023."
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