The Forgotten Railways of Chicago: Illinois' Addison Railroad and the Illinois Central West Line

If you ever find yourself on a drive down Addison Road between North Avenue and Lake Street, you pass a strangely wide strip of land on the west side of the road - too broad for a sidewalk, too linear for a park, too empty to be accidental. That strip once carried a railroad.

There were two Addison Railroads that operated in the United States, one in Illinois and one in Vermont, and each had no relation to the other. The Vermont Addison Railroad became part of the Rutland Railroad, and is discussed in another blog.

The Addison Railroad (in Illinois) once occupied the large easement on the west side of Addison Rd between IL-64 (North Av) to just north of US-20 (Lake St) in Addison, IL, about two miles in length.

Built in 1890, it was incorporated into the Chicago Madison & Northern Railroad, which itself became part of the Illinois Central by 1892. Under the IC, the short spur was simply known as the Addison Branch.

Addison Railroad, 1892. "Illinois Central Train in Addison on “Orphan Home Festival Day.” Courtesy Historical Museum of Addison."

"In 1890 five Addison men formed the Addison Railroad Company, Inc. These were William Leeseberg, Louis Stuenkel, Edward Rotermund, Professor Johann Backhaus, and H. Z. Zuttermeister. Stock capital amounted to $5,000. A charter was issued on July 16, 1890, for the right to a stretch of land from today’s North Avenue into Addison to build a railroad track. In agreement was made with the Illinois Central Railroad officials to provide the railroad bed and equipment and to maintain and operate the railroad for fifty years from that date. The cost of the whole right-of-way was $16,488.90. The first train came to Addison for the Orphan Home Picnic on September 12, 1890."

The branch was the last leg of the Illinois Central West Line, a passenger train between Chicago and Addison, starting May 1, 1892.

The Inter Ocean Article from 1892 referencing the line.

Perhaps the most eventual occurrence of this passenger service was a crash that occurred in 1893 described in another Inter Ocean article at the time;

COLLIDED ON A CROSSING.

Two Illinois Central Engineers Injured in a Wreck.

The Addison suburban train of the Illinois Central road which left the Randolph street station at 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon, was run into by an engine thirty minutes later at the belt line crossing near the Hawthorne race-track, causing the demolition of two engines and seriously injuring both engineers. The injured are:

J. Francis, engineer of engine 1315; right foot crushed and badly bruised about body. George Bastick, engineer of engine 1326; compound fracture of right leg and severe bruises. M. S. Farley, secretary of the Indiana Racing Association, was slightly scalped in escaping.

The passenger train consisted of an engine and two coaches, both of which were crowded with race track patrons and suburban passengers. At the crossing of the Belt Line tracks there is a signal tower, in charge of which was George Gibbons. He saw the passenger train approach and gave a signal that the tracks were open. At the rate of fifteen miles an hour the train shot across the Belt Line. A short distance beyond the crossing the Belt Line “Y” from the Hawthorne track crosses the Illinois Central main line. The “Y” is used by the Illinois Central Company, on which to turn their engines used in conveying trains to the track.

Engine No. 1326, in charge of engineer George Bastick, was on the “Y” when the suburban train passed the belt crossing and was moving rapidly toward the main line. The two engines came together at the point of intersection between the drive wheels and knuckles of the tender of the belt line engine No. 1326 and rolled over on its side in the ditch. The passenger engine was detached by the shock from the coaches, and both the latter, though rocked from side to side, remained intact upon the rails. Nine of the passengers were hurt.

Engineer J. Francis’ right foot was crushed and he received severe body bruises. His fireman escaped unhurt. George Bastick, engineer of engine No. 1326, was thrown beneath a portion of his engine and suffered a compound fracture of his right leg. He was also severely bruised about body and arms. Secretary Farley, of the Indiana Racing Association, who was among the passengers of the train, hastened to the assistance of the engineers, and while removing debris from around Francis a bale of hay caught fire. Farley was enveloped in escaping flame. His hands and face were slightly scalded, but not seriously, requiring but a few applications.

A wrecking train was dispatched to the scene of the wreck from Welden, and after two hours the track was cleared, a new engine attached to the suburban train and the passengers conveyed to their destination. The injured were taken to their homes.

Despite the line's very small size, one could take a passenger train from Addison to Chicago's Randolph Street Station (present day Millennium Station) using the branch, at least until the Great Depression, when passenger service ceased. Freight operations would continue until much later.

Article from 15 Apr 1931. JG-TC: Journal Gazette and Times-Courier (Mattoon, IL)

The line was abandoned piecemeal beginning in the 1970’s with the last segment abandoned in 1989. 

Federal Register v.54 n.67 April 1989. University of Illinois Archives. Digitized by Google.

A quite large and obvious example of scarchitecture is still visible on Google Maps of the line’s South Addison junction with the IC line, now part of CN.

This is what the wye looked like in 1967

Image: North Av and Addison Rd aerial, 1967. Illinois Historic Aerial Imagery

Image: Google Maps

Thanks as always for reading!