Some lesser-known 19th century railroads that were eventually folded into CNW:
Illinois and Wisconsin Railway- The original builders of the segment between Clybourn and Fox River Grove...
Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad- An early predecessor of the Milwaukee Road, it continued the line north to Janesville from Fox River Grove...
Fox River Valley Railroad- Built the segment north from Crystal Lake to Williams Bay, WI; known today of course as the McHenry branch...
Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad- Constructed most of today's Kensoha sub.
Each of these railroads were chartered in 1854/55, and were the original builders of Harvard and Kenosha subs as noted above, with each line starting out as single track. By the 1880's, these roads operated a limited commuter service during rush hours only, although today, there's much more evidence of this within the North Shore communities than there is along the northwestern suburbs, most of which were still quite rural at the time. In 1899, all four railroads were folded into CNW, which both subsequently double-tracked and expanded its commuter services on both lines; and a third main line would be added to each route by 1934 for its "400" series intercity trains.
I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface here, there's probably many more of these long-forgotten railroads that once operated in what is Metra territory today; I just think that it's interesting that Metra's history goes far beyond the well-known players of the Rock, Wabash, CB&Q, etc...
Illinois and Wisconsin Railway- The original builders of the segment between Clybourn and Fox River Grove...
Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad- An early predecessor of the Milwaukee Road, it continued the line north to Janesville from Fox River Grove...
Fox River Valley Railroad- Built the segment north from Crystal Lake to Williams Bay, WI; known today of course as the McHenry branch...
Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad- Constructed most of today's Kensoha sub.
Each of these railroads were chartered in 1854/55, and were the original builders of Harvard and Kenosha subs as noted above, with each line starting out as single track. By the 1880's, these roads operated a limited commuter service during rush hours only, although today, there's much more evidence of this within the North Shore communities than there is along the northwestern suburbs, most of which were still quite rural at the time. In 1899, all four railroads were folded into CNW, which both subsequently double-tracked and expanded its commuter services on both lines; and a third main line would be added to each route by 1934 for its "400" series intercity trains.
I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface here, there's probably many more of these long-forgotten railroads that once operated in what is Metra territory today; I just think that it's interesting that Metra's history goes far beyond the well-known players of the Rock, Wabash, CB&Q, etc...
--Dorian--
