clair071

This map shows that Milwaukee Road 's first route in Illinois entered the state at the middle of the north boundary and headed to the river towns on the west side. Bill Molony  posted , cropped Bill Molony  posted , cropped A comment on Bill's posting explains: Matt McClure   The MILW line built west from Racine is the oldest MR line. It was built as a serious competitor to Galena & Chicago Union Railroad to Turner Junction. The thought was Racine could be a serious threat to Chicago in the 1840s. It wasn't until 1872 that Milwaukee built their route from Chicago to meet their original Illinois route at Kittredge in 1880. In 1881, it built south from Rockton to Rockford and acquired trackage rights on the CB&Q/ Chicago & Iowa to Davis Junction to tap the industry in Rockford and to connect their two Illinois routes. Later they used the CB&Q route through Rochelle, IL to Stewart Junction and then built their own track down to Ladd. They added a branch to...

( Bridge Hunter ,  John A. Weeks III , no John Marvig,  3D Satellite ) While watching the video below, I could not identify what type of drawbridge was over the Black River, even when I looked at a 3D Satellite image . It seemed to be a Scherzer rolling lift bridge, but I could not clearly identify the quarter-round rolling members, even in the photos on Bridge Hunter. But John's photo below clearly shows a rolling member. I didn't know they still built this design. The predecessor bridge was a swing bridge. So the US Coast Guard has been successful in getting a swing bridge removed from the Mississippi River. But John explains that this channel is used by recreational boats. Commercial (barge) traffic uses the west channel . When I looked at the satellite image, it appeared the Black River was just another channel of the Mississippi River. John explains "t he Black River was once a separate river in this area, but it was captured a few miles up river by the Mississ...

( Bridge Hunter , Historic Bridges , John A. Weeks III ,  John Marvig ,  3D Satellite ) Dennis Weber posted A Look @ Freight Cars on CP's Mississippi River Bridge LaCrescent,Mn. 9-2017 CP Train 471. Originally, it was steam powered. It was converted to electricity in 1952. It is staffed 24/7. [Historic Bridges] It was rebuilt in 1928. The US Coast Guard condemned it in 1998 and ordered that the swing span be replaced with a lift span. So far the replacement has been just talk. This is one of four bridges that island-hops across the Mississippi and Black Rivers between La Crosse, WI and LaCrescent, MN. " La Crosse is one of three places that the Amtrak Empire Builder passenger train crosses the Mississippi River, with the other two being Hastings, MN, and Little Falls, MN. " [Weeks] I'm not exactly sure where this bridge falls for priority. It's a critical line for oil and freight to and from Chicago. However, it depends on who's paying for the replacement (and...