Doug gives me far too much credit. I don’t
personally have photos of the quarry line track but I did talk
with a couple old time employees years ago who had worked on
it.
There are a couple sites/companies on the
internet that provide old plat maps. You can view and if
desired buy copies. They are a wealth of info. Once you master
the search functions. That’s where I learned a lot about the
quarry line.
You could also try contacting the Naperville
Heritage society.
I’m not aware of any quarry line photos on the
BRHS flicker function on the BRHS site. But very soon members
will have a search function to aid us after the photos move on
April 1 within the site.For those interested in that line and
Burlington Park I also recommend internet searches.
The Q job that worked the quarry line and the
industries off the main was the “east end way freight”. It was
based out of Eola. There are quite a few photos of it at
Naperville and working the industries in town on the BRHS
flicker site that is available to BRHS members.
I just queried Burlington Park Naperville and
found a wonderful article and photos on the Du Page county
forest preserve site. While that sight refers to Burlington
Park as unique it was not at all. The Q was doing the same
thing the electric lines, the CNW and others did to generate
ridership. They created a park for folks to go to and these
parks were very popular for awhile until they faded away.
Burlington Park faded quicker than others. I don’t believe the
reason quoted on the forest preserve site for the closure is
accurate as it comes from a modern perspective.
Burlington Park drew folks from as far away as
Galesburg and west based on a sign at the Galesburg RR museum
advertising the train. It seems logical that the vast majority
of folks came out to the park from Chicago on Q trains and as
Chicago developed more or more of its own attractions there
was less reason to board a train for the hinterlands.
I’ve also read that the change to a 5 and 1/2 day
workweek and then 5 days along with automobiles led to much of
the decline in rr parks as folks had more independence and
options of where and how to find entertainment.
Here a short list of some other suburban rr parks
around Chicago.
Laurel wood-Batavia- C.&N.W. closed around
same time as Burlington Park
Riverview(later Fox River
park)-Montgomery-C.A&E Fox River line
Electric Park-Plainfield,IL- The Joliet,Aurora
and Plainfield electric line
Glen wood-Batavia,Il-C.A.&E.
Dellwood-Lockport
All these and other parks all had wooded sights
and water as their attractions.
Leo
Thank you for bringing this up, Mike! Sorry that I have no
pictures. Lots of memory.
Leo Phillipp would likely have some photos or
know of some. But I am sure anyone who does have photos
would be welcome.
That was an operation my much older brothers
(18 and 14 years old, I was a “whoops”) watched and I
watched. There were three lots between our house and
that spur, so action on that spur was hard to miss.
Small correction (just a block away). Once
the track to the quarries and a brewery (later the city
power plant and a lumber yard) curved off the triple
track mainline, it ran down a kind of odd street, Ewing
(we pronounced it "U-wing”). Ewing didn’t have curbs or
gutter or sidewalks. Ewing was a block away from Mill
Street which did have curbs and gutter and sidewalks.
In fact Mill Street ran under the railroad. It ran
through what was called "the Mill Street viaduct" so the
curve of the spur from the mainline had to be very
sharp.
My brothers saw G-class engines (I assume
from Aurora) backing down and coming back. By my time
it was an R-5 Prairie and later an O-1 Mikado.
Leo does work on all kinds of things! He
might not get a chance to finish something (I bet he has
a thousand projects) on the operations of the mainline
train that worked the industries main line from Aurora
to Congress Park (?) and back). Naperville would be an
interesting place because not only were the quarries
worked (the house I grew up in had a basement made from
quarry rock) - and later other things - but also (Leo
pointed out to me) there was a kind of amusement park on
the West Branch of the DuPage River that the Q served
with a train from Chicago (something completely gone by
the end of the Depression). It explained the strange
overgrown spur that I noticed as a kid walking along the
mainline. That spur divided from the downtown spur and
went along the main line west from Mill Street to the
river crossing.
Doug (Doug Hosler)
Hello,
Does anyone have any pics of the
CB&Q Naperville branch that ran down the
center of Mill Street to the Quarry near
Naperville's downtown?? I can't find any pics
online of this unique and long gone operation.
Thanx in Advance!!
Mike SchattL