Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit

The Palatine, Lake Zurich & Wauconda Railroad connected its namesake villages in northern Cook County and Lake County. It first operated in 1911, forming a line from just northwest of  Palatine Station , north to Wauconda for a route of just over 12 miles in length, generally paralleling modern-day US-12 and Old Rand Road throughout its trek through the county.  An image of "Old Maud", its most famous steam engine, which was scrapped along with nearly every item of the railroad. Photo: Palatine Historical Society. I've wanted to do a blog on this rail line for some time, but I've been stopped by the fact that a great blog on the topic was already written by Diana Dretske of Lake County History , so I needed some material to discuss on my own if I was to prevent this from being too duplicative of a blog.  ROW of the Palatine Lake Zurich & Wauconda Railroad on our Abandoned Railroads Map with Bing Light Canvas Basemap. I've also briefly touched on the line ...

It's been a few years since anyone has thought about extending Illinois Route 53 north of Lake Cook Road in earnest, and the project is all but dead . Facing an incredible cost, negative environmental impact, questionable need, and public opposition, I think it's ultimately for the best that road has not, and does not, get built. That is not to say that I do not support significant improvements in Lake County's roads, but I think this was the wrong solution to the issue. The Illinois Route 53/120 Project in Lake County, Illinois wass a proposed highway expansion project aimed at improving the existing Route 53 and Route 120 highways in the county, both of which are two lane roads today. Especially in Route 120's case, it is not designed to handle the traffic volume that occurs on it each day. The project has been in the planning stages for several years and its purpose is to address growing traffic congestion, safety issues, and improve access to economic opportunities ...

Last month, we talked about the myth that an abandoned locomotive is buried beneath the BNSF Railway near Hinsdale. Today, we're going to explore another mystery of railroad history; namely, that there is a steam engine in a watery grave at the bottom of Round Lake. A bit of background for starters. The village of Round Lake was founded in 1908, taking the name of the lake upon which an ice house had been constructed, one of the numerous such ice houses in Lake County , some of which we've discussed before in detail . According to the Village's web site , "In 1901, Armour and Company completed work on a five acre ice house in Round Lake and was said to be the largest in the world.  The plant made 100,000 tons of ice each winter and provided employment for many people in the area. One-hundred-and-eighty tons of ice were hauled out of the lake each day.  A large guest house adjoined the plant that was home to some of the 300 employees who worked at the ice house."...

This tree line in the photo below, located in Antioch, IL appears to be just any old patch of trees, but it actually marks part of the right-of-way of a long abandoned railroad spur. Yep, Railroad Lines are everywhere.  (FRRandP Photo) The California Ice and Coal Company operated an ice house in Antioch, using Channel Lake and Lake Catherine for production, and shipping via railroad. Almost no trace of this spur exists, but the neighborhood to the east of Lake Catherine is to this day known as the California Ice and Coal Subdivision.   Ice houses  on winter lakes are a remnant of a time before refrigeration, and would be the only source of ice during the summertime for most places outside of the Earth's poles.  Ice house spurs also existed in Fox Lake and Round Lake. Interestingly, this leads to some interesting deeds and requirements of property ownership. Keith Johnson commented that, "when I bought my first house in Fox Lake on Pistakee Lake, the title deed was o...

Freeway proposals don't always work out, as this site has discussed with both New York City and Chicago's  abandoned expressway proposals. Still many others are built, but not in the entirety their planners originally envisioned them to be. Such is the case of Lake County, Illinois' Amstutz Expressway, one of the shortest and least traveled limited access freeways in the Chicago area. Image: Amstutz Expy under Grand Ave. Google Maps A Lakefront highway proposal had been planned since the very early part of the 20th century in eastern Lake County. Generally, early proposals had the road continuing to near or even beyond the Wisconsin State Line. During the early 1970's, the North Amstutz was completed between Greenwood Ave and Sheridan Rd, where it remains to this day. So how exactly did we get here, and what is the future of this road? Looking south at the north end of the Amstutz. Image: [jonrevProjects] Planning and Design: The main purpose f...

Illinois Route 22 is a state route in far northeast Illinois, running between US 14 in Fox River Grove and US 41 in Highland Park, about 20 miles in length. Outside of about half a mile of the road west of Primrose Ln in McHenry County, the road is almost entirely in Lake County. East of US 45, the road is known as " Half Day Road ", named for the local settlement that once existed that is now part of the villages of Vernon Hills and Lincolnshire, IL. Contrary to popular belief, Half-Day wasn't named such because it was a half day's trip via horse to Chicago. Instead, it owes its existence to a poor translation of a Potawatomi chief known as "Aptakisic". According to WBEZ , Aptakisic "was said to have lived with his tribe along the Fox River. Aptakisic’s name roughly translated to “center of the sky” or “half day.” Other accounts suggest the name meant “He who could do a whole day’s work in half a day.” " Photo postcard of iron bridge over Indi...

The caboose is the ultimate relic of a bygone era in railroading. All but completely removed from revenue service, most cabooses today sit idle as reminders of railroads which once traversed this country. They frequent museums, stations, and the yards of the random railfan. ATSF 999730 at the rear of the Argonne Switcher operation in July, 2014. There are still some cabooses in service, usually for local operations, where an operation requiring heavy switching can benefit from a crew at the rear of the train, which is the case for the Santa Fe caboose above. Cabooses were used until 1982 for safety reasons, and to transport crew. The US Government deregulated their use, and as such, they became nearly obsolete as crew members dwindled from an average of 7 per train, to an average of 2 today. End of train devices and cars are now the norm, and what would wind up replacing cabooses, which allows both engineer and conductor to ride in the front of the train. There are a number of...