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Old Maud the Story of the Palatine, Lake Zurich & Wauconda Railroad by Richard W
Old Maud the Story of the Palatine, Lake Zurich & Wauconda Railroad by Richard Whitney
Hard Cover w/Dust Jacket
184 pages
Copyright 1992
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication 4
Introduction 5
Acknowledgements 7
1 The Wynn Line - The Waukegan, Rockford & Elgin Traction Company 11
2 J.K. Orvis - The Father of the Palatine, Lake Zurich & Wauconda Railroad 19
3 Opening Day - Maud Comes to Deer Grove 27
4 Cemeteries and Sink Holes - Trouble with Lake Zurich 41
5 On to Wauconda - The Palatine, Lake Zurich & "Walk" 53
6 Good Times and Bad - Into Receivership 67
7 The Middle Teens - Peck's Years as Receiver 83
8 The War Years - Maud Loses Its Innocence 97
9 Up For Junk - The Palatine, Lake Zurich & Wauconda Railroad 109
10 Renaissance - The Flivver Railroad 121
11 Hard Roads, Hard Times - The Chicago, Palatine & Wauconda Railroad 133
12 End of the Line - 13 Miles of Rust 143
13 R.I.P. - What Ever Became of the PLZ&W?153
Appendix 165
Bibliography 175
Index 179
INTRODUCTION
Much has been written about the Western railroads and justifiably so, for their story is woven unalterably into the fabric of the American Dream. In an era when men with vision could create empires out of the mountains of rock and vast stretches of desert, the idea of ramming twin ribbons of steel westward fired the imaginations of the crowded masses of the East. Few fortunes were carved out of the wilderness that were untainted with the smell of smoke and the echoes of far-ranging steam engines.
On the other hand, precious little has been said of the steam roads of the Middle West. Perhaps to the casual observer their story cannot compare with the romance and heroism of their western brothers. Not so. It may be a little less obvious or tangible, but it is there nevertheless.
My idle curiosity over the cryptic initials "PLZ&W" on an old power company map soon developed into a determination on my part to unearth and preserve the complete history of this enigmatic short line. The resulting hours spent chasing detail, fact and photo have been most rewarding and cannot, in truth, be considered anything but fun.
During its brief 21 years of corporate existence, the Palatine, Lake Zurich and Wauconda Railroad saw America shake off the idyllic life of the 19th century and assume the stark sophistication of the 20th. The road was originally conceived as an electric traction line with a proposed length of some 75 miles. However, its patrons were destined to hear the staccato beat of steam exhausts instead of singing overhead. It was a long time in the planning, too late in the arriving and had the misfortune of existing during one of the most trying periods of American railroad history.
Northeastern Illinois, late in the 19th century, was populated with many small and virtually isolated communities. A town considered itself fortunate indeed if it lay astride a coach route or passable road. The
region's early settlers were rail-conscious men and women and the lessons of Eastern steam were not lost on them. Many had barely scratched the soil before beginning agitation for rails to link them with the outside world. Some towns eventually found themselves a part of the Chicago & North Western or Milwaukee Road's growing empires; others did not.
The disparity between rail and non-rail communities became all the more painfully evident to the businessmen and farmers of the area and provided the climate that generated railroad fever in Illinois' western Lake County at the turn of the century.
It was this background which produced the PLZ&W, a railroad whose nickname for one of its engines, Old Maud, was to become synonymous for the road itself. The name became so identified with the little line that virtually all of its engines carried the name at one time or another.
Today, few visible signs of "Maud's" brief stay remain. A few isolated stretches of grass-covered roadbed, an occasional spike and weather-beaten cinders bear silent testimony to its passing. Its "grave" is unmarked and covered over here and there by sprawling subdivisions. The number of people who knew the railroad and rode on it decreases with each fleeting year; it is almost gone from living memory.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy of all is that many of these roads, which in their time represented the highest hopes and ambitions of their contemporaries, should pass away unsung. It is the intent of the following to document the story of "Old Maud" and hopefully capture some of the road's spirit before it too, fades away.
Richard Whitney Wauconda, Illinois February 1, 1992
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