Galesburg & Great Eastern Railroad....Wataga -Victoria, Illinois.

One of the little railroad's in the area I have an interest in was up in Knox County that ran from Wataga east to Victoria then east before heading north.  It served mainly coal mines but probably farmers as well.  Victoria had a depot here which still stands  The right of way and grade can probably still be seen from the ground if you know where to look.  I have yet to go up there and look but can see it in many spots from google earth.  One of these days plan on making another trip to look around some of these back roads and the country side for traces of the right of way as well as the areas where the coal mines once were.  This railroad had a sixty year history which  despite having financial problems up the rear still managed to last a little long than the Narrow Gauge (later CB&Q) line down in Fulton County out lasting that one by a decade. 

The railroad's start was as the Galesburg, Etherly and Eastern Railroad in 1894 which was built from Wataga east to a mining town just south  three miles of Victoria named Etherly.  It was a company town where miner's lived and thrived for a time.  In 1893 and for years after there was a economic and business panic not only here but all over the country.  I have seen it mentioned a few times in Fulton County history.  Alot of businesses as well as  Railroads went under as this one did. It wasn't financially stable enough to survive the crisis.  The mines at Etherly closed in 1895 and the railroad went bankrupt.  A few years later the economy rebounded and by 1898 the Galesburg & Great Eastern Railroad was formed and railroad service was built until Victoria.  By 1899 Etherly  had declined to the point structures were moved into Victoria.  The Railroad struggled over the years and at one point a second railroad which would have provided competition was discussed and planned but never panned out.

Despite never been a financial  profitable line like many other railroads in other areas it did managed to get by all the way unto 1960.  During the great depression it took a major hit as the bank in Victoria closed by 1931 taking the railroad's capital with it which had been deposited there.
The Railroad cut expenses and still managed.  To provide passenger and mail service the fitted a Lincoln with flanged wheels and used it on the line but it was involved in an incident in 1933 which proved to be a liability to the owner's of the road.  By the mid 1930's  G&GE was little more than a Right of way with neither equipment such as locomotives or freight traffic but a coal mine company from Indiana would change their luck  and after some hesitation the G&GE was sold to the Central Indiana Coal company which in 1954 was sold to the Stonefort Corporation.  The last twenty years of the line were used to haul coal mainly.  The Little John  mine near Victoria closed in 1960 and the abandonment of the line soon followed.  Mining machinery as well as the two whitcomb locomotives were moved to a coal mine to the northeast in Wyoming, Illinois.  The rails were sold and scrapped and the right of way ended back in the hands of the farmer's who owned the land around it.

My source:  http://www.guidetozscale.com/html/g_ge_history.html  


Victoria, Illinois  G&GE depot

Old ROW and some tracks of old line Wataga, Illinois:

AT&SF line from Pekin to Morton, Illinois.

Before the early mid  1980's  ATSF Branch had a line stretching from Pekin to
Morton up to Streator and that way.   In 1982 abandonment started with the final
abandonment being in 1983 I think. IN it's history it had quite a few depots along
the branch and in Pekin even a small yard. You can see the yard in old aerial shots
from the 1940's-1960's to see where it was and where it connected. Another railroad
also had a yard and it's own branch which eventually went to the south. Old maps
locate where the yard was and whom went where. The tracks were gone by the mid to
late 1980's in Pekin and now a trail is where the line was. In Morton the tracks still
exist now owned by the TP&W on the central and northeastern part of Morton where
TP&W still serves a facility or so. The ATSF tracks on the west end are still there to a
certain point but heading west they have been removed. No longer in Groveland does
tracks run by a church and Morton is no longer an active city railroad wise like it once
was.


ATSF row & former tracks in Morton:

Still active ex-ATSF section in Morton now TP&W:

Pekin, Illinois:  ATSF tracks used to be on the right where that trail now is as well
as tracks for another railroad near the building.

1929 Map of Pekin, Il:

1929 Map of Morton:

1910 Maps:

Groveland, Il 1910

Morton, Il 1910

Pekin, Illinois 1910 (shows yard)

Washington, Il 1910:

Washington, Il 1929

Washington, Il 1910

CB&Q/BN Coal mine spur....Norris, Illinois

At one time Fulton County, Illinois was a jackpot loaded of coal mines and several
railroads which had spurs off to these mines and this blog post is about one of them.
The Community of Norris which is four miles north off Route 78 and the CB&Q 
later BN  went through this community. To the west of Norris about a mile or so was
a good sized Coal mine to which the railroad served. It had a spur come off the main
on the northwest side of Norris and came down to the Mine. The mine had a small
yard. It even had a white electric locomotive that worked with switching here. The
mine closed in 1980 and I imagine that is when rail service also ceased. I can't imagine
a mine this size it ceasing the use of rail prior but I'm not sure. It closed before I was 
born so I have no memories of it.  In the area of the mine across a  dirt road west of
Norris there is tracks buried into the road just at where it crossed and even seen a 
few dug up ties at one time.

More info on  Norris area mines on another blog:

https://cantontornado36.blogspot.com/2017/04/coal-mines-around-norris.html?spref=fb

ROW where it would cross the road and maps: