Fulton County Narrow Gauge line

The Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway was a line that existed from 1880-1905
before CB&Q took ownership and graded it up to Standard after 1905.  The line 
ran from Galesburg all the way to a terminal west of Havana names West Havana
The idea came into mind after a war over if the County seat should be moved from
Lewistown to Canton, Illinois.  A man thought if Lewistown had a second railroad 
it would better the odds of competing with Canton whom was served by two lines
TP&W and CB&Q where Lewistown only had the CB&Q.  It was also thought to be
quicker and cheaper which it was that Narrow Gauge was the way to go. In the late
1870's they started building the line. They had difficulties with shipment of steel,
farmers not wanting to sell their land and nay sayers, flooding and the area has alot
of hilly terrain reguardless it was built and issues worked around. The line would
have to deal with flooding many times in it's history usually every spring around
the Spoon River areas especially. The line helped provide transportation between
Havana and Galesburg as well as ship products as well as coal and thrived for some
time though it was never able to financially compete with the likes of the Q or even
the TP&W.

Around 1905 CB&Q bought out the line and eventually converted it into Standard 
Gauge for passenger service and freight. The areas also was plentiful with the Coal
mining industry.  CB&Q wanted it to keep any competitor railroads namely TP&W
 and the M&STL from getting their hands on it with it's many coal mines the line 
served. Around 1935 the CB&Q started to abandon and tear out some of the line
in sections starting with the section from Lewistown south to West Havana which
a bridge was washed out and they didn't see the need to replace it so they just plum
abandon the section. They also abandoned the Galesburg to fairview section leaving
only a section from Lewistown to Fairview to serve local mines. The remaining line
was abandoned by Burlington Northern in 1977 and the tracks removed by 1980.
The old FCNG depot remains in Lewistown and now is a museum. The right of way
can also still be seen in several areas of the county if you know where to look. There
is also a book written in the 30's or 40's by E.W. Mureen about the line.

Here is the pictures of the right of way in various locations:

Fiatt, Illinois:  An old crossbuck still remains near Fiatt it's to be noted.

Bybee, Illinois  ( old town and train stop):

Cuba, Illinois: ( Line crossed the TP&W in Cuba):

Galesburg: ( from EW Mureen book):

Lewistown, Illinois:

Sepo, Illinois: 

Sepo : (from EW Mureen book)

West of Havana off Route 78:

Information about the section between Lewistown and Fairview:

It is to be noted on the final section that CB&Q merged with Burlington Northern
in 1970 becoming the Burlington Northern until it was abandoned in 1977 by them.


Old maps of the county and the line:

Old  Signal box of a mine spur off a line that branched off between Lewistown and
Cuba that went up to a coal mine east and southeast of Cuba:

Some old FCNG pictures can be found on this website, on google search and from 
E.W. Mureen's Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway Spoon River Peavine book.

http://www.illinoisancestors.org/fulton/photographs/railroads/railroads.html