Trains Don't Go through Town Anymore-Holcomb IL
Holcomb is about halfway between Rockford and Rochelle in Northern Illinois. At one time it was a busier place with the Chicago Burlington & Quincy, Milwaukee Road and Chicago Great Western trains going through town with grain elevators and a train station. The Milwaukee Road had trackage rights over the CB&Q.
The CGW line through Holcomb was abandoned by the C&NW ages ago while the former CB&Q line shown in the picture is not officially abandoned yet but it is out of service from Davis Junction to Flagg Center since the diamond was removed at DJ that allowed it to cross the CPKC Chicago Subdivison.
Illinois Railway retained this line south of DJ as business dried up for car storage and to swap out engines for FRA inspections and repairs via the BNSF at Flagg Center. The last known customer in Holcomb was an operation that loaded logs onto freight cars provided by IR.
In 2024 IR built a new inspection pit in downtown Rockford at the old CB&Q yard making it unnecessary to go all the way past DJ. IR filed to abandoned the line south of DJ in 2019 but did not act on it at the time.
Trains Don't Go through Town Anymore-Holcomb IL
Holcomb is about halfway between Rockford and Rochelle in Northern Illinois. At one time it was a busier place with the Chicago Burlington & Quincy, Milwaukee Road and Chicago Great Western trains going through town with grain elevators and a train station. The Milwaukee Road had trackage rights over the CB&Q.
The CGW line through Holcomb was abandoned by the C&NW ages ago while the former CB&Q line shown in the picture is not officially abandoned yet but it is out of service from Davis Junction to Flagg Center since the diamond was removed at DJ that allowed it to cross the CPKC Chicago Subdivison.
Illinois Railway retained this line south of DJ as business dried up for car storage and to swap out engines for FRA inspections and repairs via the BNSF at Flagg Center. The last known customer in Holcomb was an operation that loaded logs onto freight cars provided by IR.
In 2024 IR built a new inspection pit in downtown Rockford at the old CB&Q yard making it unnecessary to go all the way past DJ. IR filed to abandoned the line south of DJ in 2019 but did not act on it at the time.