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Ferry Road

LocationFerry Rd and Rigi Rd.
Naperville, IL 60563
EstablishedAugust 25, 1902
Original LineAurora, Elgin & Chicago Ry
RebuiltTBD
Previous NamesN/A
Tracks1
Platforms1, low level
Flag stop
(View location)

History:

Ferry Road was a local station on the Aurora branch of the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Railroad. It was situated in the far northern reaches of Naperville Township near the border with Winfield Township and the unincorporated community of Warrenhurst in DuPage County. It opened on August 25, 1902 as one of the initial stops on the Aurora, Elgin and Chicago Railway.1

moonlight_scene.jpg
The unidentified stop pictured on this postcard was typical of the rural nature and construction of local stations on the early Aurora branch and gives a good indication of what Ferry Road looked like shortly after opening.

Postcard from the collection of Don Bosan-Bruno

According to photographic evidence, local stations of this era were extremely simple affairs, consisting of a short, low level platform (or platforms in the case of stops on double tracked sections) made of wooden boards arranged perpendicular to the rails located at the crossing of a dirt road. Ferry Road, being on a single tracked portion of the Aurora branch, consisted of a single platform on the southeast side of tracks on the south side of the crossing.2

Prior to 1920, the stop was improved with the addition of a frame waiting station with a hip roof with prepared felt roofing,3 and platform lighting.4 The original platform was replaced with one composed of cinders that was 110 feet long (slightly longer than a two car train).5

It was later equipped with a flag stop semaphore.2 This was a tilting wooden “flag” on a pole that was used to signal the motorman of an oncoming train to stop. If a train was listed as stopping on a timetable, it only stopped if signaled. Alighting passengers were required to notify a conductor in order to get a train to stop.

Ferry Road remained in service until July 3, 1957, when the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railway ended passenger service at 12:13 p.m. It was demolished some time later.

Sources:

  1. “New Electric Line Opened.” Hearst’s Chicago American 25 Aug. 1902, p. 3.
  2. The Great Third Rail. Central Electric Railfans’ Association, 1961, p. IV-13.
  3. “COST TO REPRODUCE NEW LESS DEPRECIATION BASED ON INVENTORY AND COSTS AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1920: INVENTORY QUANTITIES AND VALUES.” Chicago Aurora and Railroad Company, n.d. p. 218.
  4. “COST TO REPRODUCE NEW LESS DEPRECIATION BASED ON INVENTORY AND COSTS AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1920: INVENTORY QUANTITIES AND VALUES.” Chicago Aurora and Railroad Company, n.d. p. 219.
  5. “COST TO REPRODUCE NEW LESS DEPRECIATION BASED ON INVENTORY AND COSTS AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1920: INVENTORY QUANTITIES AND VALUES.” Chicago Aurora and Railroad Company, n.d. p. 222.