Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway

Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway
Steam locomotive No. 1 in West Havana around 1895
Timetable from 1886 with meeting point in Fairview
Route length:	98 km
Gauge :	914 mm ( English 3-foot track )
Maximum slope :	15  ‰
Legend mi 0 Galesburg * 7th Livingston 11 DeLong Brush Creek * 19th London Mills Spoon River 22nd Oak Mound 24 Ellisville * Perryville Two coal mines on Coal Creek 30th Fairview 33 Bybee Joshua Township 35 Fiatt Sellers mine Putnam 38 Put Creek 3 coal mines 40 Cuba * 41 Coal mine 44 Phillips at Ida Sellers mine Gleisdreieck the CB & Q 50 Lewistown * 55 Sopo West Havana Spoon River 61 Havana * There was water in Galesburg, Brush Creek, Ellisville, Cuba, and the like. Lewistown

The Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway, or colloquially the Spoon River Peavine, was a 98 kilometer (61 mile) long narrow gauge railway with a 914 mm (3 foot ) gauge in Fulton County , Illinois .

Cairo & Fulton Railroad

history

The construction of the railway from Havana via Lewistown, Cuba and Fairview to Galesburg was proposed in 1878 by William T. Davidson. The narrow-gauge railway had 183 curves, which earned it the nickname Peavine ( flat pea ) . Most rails weighed 17.5 kg / m (35 lb / yard) per meter , but the first 26 km (16 miles) from Galesburg were used with 26-30 kg / m (52-60 lb / yard) rails. and laid one mile at 23.5 kg / m (47 lb / yd).

The first train departed on October 28, 1880 with locomotive No. 1 from the northern terminus in Fairview. The first train from Lewistown to Galesburg left on July 31, 1882 at 10:00 a.m. with a steam locomotive, a baggage car and one of the new passenger cars. From August 1882 the train traveled from Galesburg to Havana in 3 hours and 15 minutes. In 1905, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) took over the railroad and switched it to standard gauge between Lewistown and Galesburg . The CB&Q applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission for closure on April 23, 1934 . The line was closed on August 22, 1934, and the tracks were dismantled from December 1934.

Route

From Galesburg the route ran 6.4 miles south-east to Livingston on the township border between Orange and Cedar . Then it led 4 miles south to DeLong . The section from Galesburg to DeLong was on a nearly flat plateau with a height difference of 36.5 m (120 feet).

From DeLong, the winding route ran mainly to the southeast through a very rough and hilly area, especially near Hormon Creek and Chestnut Township . From there a winding section led downhill in southeast, south and southwest directions to London Mills . The Spoon River Bridge was 786 m (860 yards) south of the county line of Knox County and Fulton Counties . In the valley of the Spoon River the route was to Oak Mound station at Mayton and from there was 0.8 miles to a steep hill 18 m high, which it circled for a distance of 1 mile, then after a very sharp turn for 0.5 miles to Ellisville . To the west of it were two coal mines.

The winding route ran east from there to Parrville at mile 27. A fork on the north bank of Coal Creek led east to two coal mines. From this junction the route climbed very steeply for 2.5 miles 41 m (135 feet) south-southeast to Fairview .

From Fairview the route led on a flat plateau to the Bybee stop in Joshua Township. Nearby, on Turkey Creek, was the largest trestle bridge on the route, which was 27.5 m high and 275 m long. From there, the route ran through very rough terrain in Lost Grove Creek to the south and then flat to Fiatt at mile 34.9. From there, a 0.4 mile turnoff led east to the Sellers Mine.

From Fiatt, the route led to the old Putnam stop , 2 miles south and 36 m (117 feet) below Fiatt. From Put Creek the route was uphill to Cuba, 2.6 miles and 38 m (125 feet) above, at mile 40.2. A little north of Cuba, a three mile turnoff built in 1887 led to three coal mines.

From Cuba, the route led to a junction 1 mile away to a coal mine to the east that was closed early. From there it went with many curves through the roughest crossed by the railway area to the south-southeast and 50 meters (165 feet) below the hotel will take Phillips at Ida and from there to a branch which later by the CB & Q as part of a wye used has been. From there, the route led to Lewistown station, 23 m (75 feet) above Cuba .

From Lewistown to Sopo , the route had a gradient of 45 m (148 feet) over 5 miles. The Sopo stop was at the abandoned Waterford settlement, a mile southeast of the Spoon River. From there it led to the alluvial plain of the Illinois River in West Havana , which was called Point Isabel from 1865 to 1880 . Two miles west of West Havana, the route crossed the Spoon River for the second time.

In the early days, the narrow-gauge railway led to Havana by crossing the Spoon River on a railway bridge. Its use was banned by the state building inspectorate after it had become dilapidated, whereupon the route on the river ended at the road bridge of West Havana 0.5 miles away.

Accidents

Derailment two miles north of London Mills

With occasional derailments, there were no fatal accidents while the narrow-gauge railway was in operation. In Cuba, however, a brakeman died while coupling, and an elderly woman died when she was collecting coal from the side of the road. Engine driver JW O'Donnell was badly burned when a locomotive overturned and crushed him. He then switched jobs with conductor NK Young, and they both stayed in that position until they were 70 years old and were retired by CB&Q.

Rail vehicles

There were five steam locomotives, four passenger cars, some closed freight cars and many bulk freight cars for transporting coal.

No.	image	Manufacturer	Construction year	Wheel alignment	Remarks
1		Baldwin	1878	4-4-0	Overhauled in 1902 by CB & Q.
2		Brooks		2-6-0
3		Burnham, Parry, Williams & Co	Factory no. 9904 of March 1889	4-4-0	Class 10. Formerly Des Moines & Kansas City No. 10 and Burlington & Northwestern No. 100
4th		Burnham, Parry, Williams & Co		4-4-0	J.C. Wilcoxen class
5		Brooks		4-6-0	Formerly Denver Utah & Pacific . Weight: 29.5 t (65,000 lbs)

literature

• EW Mureen: A History of the Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway, the Spoon River "Peavine". Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Baker Library, Harvard Business School, Boston, 1943, JSTOR i40139171 , Amaquonsippi Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, 1979.

See also

• Fulton County Railway

Web links

• Train Depots of Fulton County (with lots of photos)
• Narrow Gauge Depot, Lewistown, IL

Individual evidence

1. ^ Timetable of Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway Company, 1886.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Wayne Marschinke: The Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway The Fulton County Extension Railroad.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Barbara Schock: The Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway
4. ^ Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railroad - Galesburg to West Havana, Illinois. at www.abandonedrails.com
5. ↑ ^{a b} Narrow Gauge Depot - Lewistown, IL - Train Stations / Depots on Waymarking.com
6. ↑ ^{a b} Steve Llanso: Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railway 4-4-0 "American" Locomotives in the United States.
7. ↑ 1902 Annual Report of the Railroad and Warehouse Commission (pp. 35-36).
8. ↑ Terry Hogan: Backtracking. Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railroad.
9. ↑ 1902 Des Moines & Kansas City 4-4-0 "American" Locomotives in the USA.

Coordinates: 40 ° 23 ′ 50.1 ″  N , 90 ° 9 ′ 24 ″  W.