Did some checking thru my TT's; the daily (ex. Sun) mixed on the
Aurora-Batavia-Geneva line was dropped some time in late 1890's which may
have been before Mooseheart was built. Was an afternoon train with evening
return; 55" to go up 12 miles; 40" to return. However Q TT's for a very few
stub lines with mixed service, were not always forthcoming as to which were
operated & which were not. As for the Lionel and Mooseheart connection; it
was/is the Moose's only such home (they have a national retirement home
named Moosehaven; their fraternal hdq are @ Mooseheart). Perhaps Joshua
Cowens was a Moose - fraternal mbrship among businessmen is common. To
focus on the Q, once spoke with a ret'd. maintenance emp from Mooseheart -
as a kid he worked winters @ Aurora B&B shop putting together out-houses
which he recalled were then shipped out by the carload in spring to various
depots, etc. (That would be a great photo!). Scale drwg of same appeared in
an early CB&Q His. Soc. Bulletin. I have fittings from the old trestle on N
side of Mooseheart with the OO&FRV initials cast in (pays to wade in streams
when at low summer-time ebb)! A ret'd Q conductor recalled taking PRR
'horse-baggage' cars up the line to NIFA racetrack (No. Aurora). Walthers
once had a kit for same. Batavia's Q depot is restored and is the oldest
existing ex-Q bldg - was manned til last agt retired (Chuck Hodson) - a Q
waycar displayed there too. However the depot is from the
Aurora-Batavia-West Chicago line side of the river. A supreme irony for the
Q was that despite Batavia once being the windmill capital of the world with
several large plants & lots of rail traffic; all were on C&NW which also had
lines on both sides of the river. Q did serve Campana Bldg on S side of
Batavia which mfg various pharmaceutical products plus the old Batavia
Foundry downtown - these were both on the Aurora-Geneva line. A neat
modeling detail still at the Campana Bldg is a small pedestrian drawbridge
that crossed the former Q shipping track. Q used these as well at some of
their Chicago frt houses til their demolition in the "80's. On the West
Chicago branch, USN helium cars were part of the traffic mix to Fermi Lab
(Batavia) - the old AHM model is good. Then in W. Chicago there was Gen.
Mills (lots of box cars) & a wholesale green house that once used reefers to
send out stock. Into the 80's, C&NW & BN crews would use each others locos
while the other was at "beans" to switch the interchange. Saved a lot of
switching moves. The C&NW crews had radios (despite the Cheap & Nothing
Wasted heritage) yet BN (ex-Q) crews still used hand signals which was a
challenge at the curves around the Gen Mills plant. But as last spring
meet's clinic proved, good hand signals avoid static & dead batteries! And
the West Chicago branch, given the way compensation was figured, had 'old
head' Q employees well into the BN era. The restored Q depot (1890's, not
the 1850 original) @ West Chicago along with a waycar & standpipe (from
Aurora) gives a Q fan plenty to see from Aurora's roundhouse north to WeGo
via Mooseheart & Batavia. Gerald Edgar
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