Local abandoned Railroad Right of ways...

Fulton county is literally a jackpot if your thing is  abandoned railroad lines as well as local history of them. Most of the railroads here that were abandoned ceased operations well before I was born so I never got the chance to watch them in action.  Long gone are the days train whistles would echo through the air and a train would pass by onto where ever it was going.  The steam engiene days are long behind us as well as the coal mine days to which this county relied on for employment back in the day when Fulton County was known for something  before the Spoon river drive thing would take off.  I will mention some old railroads I have either visited or plan to look into one of these days that  at a time gave hope to some communities or the very least gave some people something to watch when they were out doing whatever.

The most well known abandoned railroad in this county was the Fulton  County Narrow Gauge which will briefly mention since it is worthy of it's own thread since it is rich in history from it's days as the narrow gauge to the days it was graded to standard after CB&Q  took over.  This railroad ran from West Havana up to Galesburg and provided freight as well as Passenger service.  This line was torn out in the 1930's for an exception of a small branch which remained  from Lewistown to Fairview to serve local mines.  This final stretch of the road was abandoned in 1977.  Speed restriction was 10 mph in 1976 around Cuba so the track was in terrible shape from what I heard.  Some sections of this line can still be seen in spots around Lewistown, Cuba, Fiatt and Fairview.  If you know where to look you can still see  where  the narrow gauge was west of Havana and  where Bybee used to be.  That line served many of coal mines in the day and Fulton county had many of them at one time.  There were mention of extending the Narrow Gauge further up north of Galesburg up in Northern Illinois but it never  materialized.  CB&Q that had the spur off it's mainline to Fairview also had a spur that branched off north of Lewistown and headed down to Liverpool. This branch  hauled coal to the Illinois river to a barge dock I think.  It ran acrossed Route 24 west of Little America and ran south then east to just south of Liverpool.  This line  had a speed restriction on 5 mph in 1978 someone mentioned so the  tracks were in bad shape at the end.  I was also told there was a derailment on this branch and they left cars lying for a  bit off to the side.  The line was abandoned in 1983 by Burlington Northern which CB&Q merged into them thirteen years prior.  I have no idea when the tracks removed probably before 1985 but the right of way can still be seen off route 24 west of Little America.  I have yet to venture to Liverpool.  Also from the main line had a spur that went up to a coal mine on the north end of Saint David around 1912.  This mine would have a fire there at some point that did some damage to the mine.  Acrossed route 100 from Saint David  lies an old mine shaft which had a spur that  would have crossed and by the looks of old maps had quite a few tracks so maybe a small yard of sorts.  The same main line of the CB&Q later BN line further north had a spur that went to the coal mine west of Norris.  I have heard this  had several tracks here and they used an electric locomotive to move hoppers.   That mine would close down around 1980.   The mainline is still in use from Dunfermline down to Vermont  as BNSF and deliver coal to Duck creek power plant atleast twice a week or so I was told.  I railfan them once in a blue moon if I get a heads up in time.  This same line from Canton to Yates city has been abandoned and hasnt seen a train in almost twenty years.  The tracks are currently being removed in these areas.   

The CB&Q line i just mentioned was not the only abandoned CB&Q/BN lines to become abandoned. There were two others I know of and have yet to go down and look.  One of those was the  Vermont to Rushville Branch which was abandoned in 1980 by BN.  I really don't know much about this section but was told it had a turn table here but have yet to find anything on it.  It ran by the current High school in that vicinity too alone route 24.  The other CB&Q line was one that went from Vermont to Astoria down to Bader and Browning.  I was told the hill around Bader made it difficult for trains to travel so they rerouted and built the current BNSF line that goes down to Beardstown.  Someone also mentioned  the  original line went on the South end of Astoria but locals made a fuss and they moved it to the south. Abandonment of the entire stretch probably occurred in the 1960's and no later that the 1970's.  In Browning, Illinois in Scheyler County the old CB&Q depot remains.  Another old right of way off CB&Q would have near Table Grove in the 1940's and ran a line to Camp Ellis to the east.  It had a small yard by what  little has been mentioned I have seen.  This was a short lived line which probably lasted as late as the early 1950's if not ceased to operate earlier.  I know they used Camp Ellis  for several years after the war I just don't know much about the railroad line itself. I also haven't been down there to really look around.  I imagine alot might not have access to from roads since everything that way now is private property and farm land.  I don't know too much about it but it still deserves a mention and something I plan on checking more into eventually. Two more CB&Q  lines one went to a coal mine  near Cuba coming from the south and up.  I'm not sure how long it lasted but from google earth can make it out and another was at Avon to some plant on the western part of the town from around  the early 1900's and remember reading it was a narrow gauge line that went down to the main.  There really is too much to mention with CB&Q and i probably forgot to mention some.

I can finally shut my trap on  old CB&Q right of ways and give mention to others lines in this area that had old spurs or  has been abandoned.   The TP&W  according to  one older map had a possible spur probably to a mine east of Breeds that went off the main and around back onto the main.  It wasn't very long and can be seen from google earth and topo maps.  I do not have any idea about it other than what i seen from topo maps and google earth.   Also around Cuba was a spur that ran up to a mine northwest of Cuba in the early days around or before the turn of the century.  East of Cuba  TP&W also had a line   head off to the south to a coal mine that was most likely Traux or United Electric I forget which.  The Right of way off of the highway can still be seen.  It crossed the highway in the 1960's so not sure how long that lasted but no doubts long gone by  the 1980's.   Also a quick mention the TP&W had  a few tracks near the depot in Canton at one time atlest three including the main and a spur that went to a dairy warehouse off South first in Canton or so I heard.  I'm not sure if they had anything in Cuba in the way of businesses they served by probably at one time.   There was a depot on  this line in Canton, Cuba and Marietta possibly Smithfield.  The Canton depot is still there off 2nd avenue and is current property of KJRY.

This line have never seen used and it ceased activity when I was very young.  The last train I think this line around Peoria westward seen was in 1992.  The old  M&STL later C&NW line traveled westward then north west onto Iowa crossing the Mississippi at Keithsburg.  The bridge there is still there  most of it anyway.  It was the Iowa Central Railway  over a century ago then M&STL before they ran into financial problems and merged with C&NW in 1960.   C&NW didn't fair much better in the coming years.  They started abandoning and removing tracks  in the 1970's.  Abingdon and west to Keithsburg was abandoned in 1974 and  from Rapatee west to London Mills to Abingdon  met it's maker in 1976.  Afterwards the remaining line east to Peoria  served two coal mines one at  Middle Grove and the other near trivoli ( which my dad worked at from 1968-1984).   The  Trivoli Midland coal mine would  shut down in 1984 and they used  rail service until the end according to a friend.  The other at Middle Grove closed down in 1986 and  at the end used truck if i remember  right.  The rails that were left from Peoria  area to Middle Grove were removed in 2010 after Union Pacific ( whom C&NW merged with in 1995 I think)  abandoned it in 2008.  The line sat rail banked for many years.    Since i'm only covering what is in Fulton county I wont bother with the coal mine at Trivoli.   M&STL ( maybe C&NW if the mine was still there after 1960) had a spur west of Middle grove  that went down to just north or northeast of Fairview.  I do not know alot about this other than it can be seen off google earth atleast parts of it.  A former friend said tracks still remained  at some location but I have my doubts.  I have yet to look into this area to see if this person was right or not but by google earth doesn't look like anything remains other than what you can make out of an old Right of way   and some trees.  Another line was a line north of the M&STL main line acrossed the  highway from  Middle grove where there used to be tracks that went to a coal mine at Rapatee or around it.  No tracks remain here but there are old pictures out there showing steam engienes running this line.  I have no further information on it other than i know where it ran and the mine was long gone by the 1980's.

This is all off the top of my head of  lines I can think of and have went and found over the years.  Some i have yet to search for but probably will when weather gets warmer and budget allows.  If anyone is looking for an area where Abandoned railroads are plentiful well there is Fulton County, Illinois.  It can be safe to say the entire section of central and western Illinois as well has their  fair share of them.  This isn't exactly a hot spot for railroad activity anymore.  It used to be and still has potential.