The Ottawa Oswego and Fox River was just on of the many lines built a lot of
times by the backers of the Q and once built were leased by the Q.
It ran from Streator to Geneva with a complete wye in Aurora go from the
connection at Montgomery west on the C&I and then north to Geneva
It use to service Mooseheart where coal was moved to the steam plant. Many
special trains were run to the Northern Illinois Fair Assoc. grounds located on
what now is the north side of Tollway and between Ill 31 and Randall Road. The
first Aurora airport use to be there as well as the old Aurora Downs(horse
racing track)
This was the branch that the 4-6-0 637 was displayed off of in a park before
moving to IRM.
In addition to Barber Greene. There use to be a Rainbow Bread bakery(Flour
in), Benson Mfg(file cabinets) Aurora Greenhouse(coal for heat)Chicago Aurora
and Dekalb interchange, I think All-Steel had a plant up there as well as
Stephen-Adamson. Right around Illinois Ave use to be a plant which coated
silica sand with resin. In later year and today the line is referred to as the
NIFA Branch which leaves a lot of people wondering why the name
SJH
----- Original Message -----
From: Jon Habegger
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 8:00 AM
Subject: [CBQ] Re: Aurora Branch
Having grown up in Geneva and now a resident of Batavia, I have been
interested in the local rail lines.
The west side line was built as part of the Ottawa, Oswego and Fox
Valley RR in 1871 per the Poor's Manual of 1892 (p. 620). This line
ran all the way to Geneva, IL and connected with the C&NW in Geneva.
The July 1881 Official Guide shows mixed train service between Aurora
and Geneva with a train leaving Aurora at 2:30pm and arriving Geneva
at 3:30pm. The return trip left Geneva at 4:25 pm and arrived in
Aurora at 5:30pm. The distance was 12 miles.
In January 1901, the Official Guide still lists Geneva, but listed
trains only go as far as West Batavia. One train is listed in each
direction and ran daily except Sunday. Finally, the November 1901
Official Guide no longer lists Geneva.
About five years ago, I travelled to St. Louis to the Barriger
Library at UMStL (University of Missouri St. Louis) where the Poor's
Manuals and Official Guides were available on the shelves for
research.
Jon Habegger
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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