I was straightening out my drawing file drawer cabinet last week and found
that I have copies of a Sanborn Fire Insurance map that shows the Riverside
Commuter Yard, the original station building, and the roundhouse and
turntable. The map is cut off just before the bridge over the Des Plaines,
but the track arrangement is pretty well established by the angle it must
join the mainline on the west end.
The only remaining mystery is locating the original "Lyons" station. The
Riverside Historical Society thinks it was at the location of the current
station when the line was built during the Civil War; I remember doing some
calculations from known milepost locations that haven't changed and locating
it WEST of the Des Plaines River at about the current First Avenue
underpass. The station would have only been in use for about 4 or 5 years
until Riverside was developed (the society has a plat showing a brick
station in the middle of the main with one track to the north and two to the
south, merging to one to the west to cross the Des Plaines as single track
dated 1869, if I recall correctly).
On a related new subject, that would also be the location of R.O.W. recorded
in 1902 for the Lyons Belt Railway where a line was (projected by never
built???) to branch off from the EB (south) main and loop to the west and
back to the southeast generally on the alignment of 1st Avenue down to the
quarry just south of Ogden Avenue. The Lyons Belt Rwy. existed with
connections to both the IHB and ATSF/C&IW; later it served the Reynolds
Metals complex; today it still serves a chemical facility of some sort on
the east side of 1st Avenue. Did it ever actually connect with the Q?? All
trace of any connection would have been wiped out by the construction of 1st
Avenue and the raising of the Q main to allow the underpass.
Charlie Vlk
Arlington Heights
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David E. Lotz [mailto:Dave_Lotz@m...]
> Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 9:09 AM
> To: BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com
> Cc: 'Stephen Dick'
> Subject: [BRHSlist] FW: Riverside, Illinois
>
>
> Would someone on the list have the information for Stephen regarding
> Riverside. If so, please remember to include his email
> address in your
> reply.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Dave Lotz
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stephen Dick [mailto:sdick@m...]
> Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 2:27 PM
> To: brhs@n...
> Subject: Riverside, Illinois
>
>
> Dear BRHS,
>
> It is my understanding that there used to be a roundhouse at Riverside
> that has long since been torn down. Is there any information
> about that
> roundhouse available? Also, the station complex at Riverside is quite
> unique with its pedestrian tunnel. Have any plans or
> anything like that
> ever been found or information published on it?
>
> Thank you in advance.
>
> Stephen M. Dick, PE, SE
> Baker Engineering, Inc.
> 801 West Adams Street, Suite 600
> Chicago, Illinois 60607
> (312) 707-8770 office
> (312) 707-8804 fax
>
>
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