Rating:
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Virgil Gilman Trail - Fox River Bridge

Kane County, Illinois

Photos 

Photo taken by Steve Conro in October 2011

Enlarge

BH Photo #219106

Map 

Street View 

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Fox River in Aurora on Virgil GilmanTrail (former EJ&E Ry)
Location
Aurora, Kane County, Illinois
Status
Pedestrian/Bike traffic only
History
Built 1897
Railroad
- Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway (EJE)
Design
Pin Connected Pratt Through Truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 130.0 ft.
Total length: 260.0 ft.
Also called
Elgin, Jolilet & Eastern Bridge 420
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.74439, -88.32750   (decimal degrees)
41°44'40" N, 88°19'39" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/389619/4622248 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Aurora South
Land survey
T. 38 N., R. 8 E., Sec. 28
Inventory number
BH 49960 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (7,557)
5-panel truss (485)
Aurora, Illinois (41)
Built 1897 (266)
Built during 1890s (2,982)
Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway (43)
Fox River (Wisconsin-Illinois) (24)
Have street view (26,928)
Illinois (4,647)
Kane County, Illinois (116)
 Open to pedestrians (4,206)
Pin-connected (3,900)
Pratt through truss (5,387)
Pratt truss (9,292)
Rail-to-trail (1,535)
Railroad (15,408)
Span length 125-175 feet (4,219)
Through truss (15,054)
Total length 250-500 feet (5,223)
Truss (32,769)

Update Log 

  • August 18, 2015: New photos from John Marvig
  • December 18, 2014: Updated by John Marvig: Added information
  • July 17, 2014: New Street View added by Ralph Demars
  • January 26, 2012: Updated by Steve Conro: Date, railline & picture
  • December 10, 2011: Updated by J.P.: updated design
  • October 30, 2011: Added by Steve Conro

Sources 

  • Steve Conro - sconro [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • John Marvig - marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Virgil Gilman Trail Fox River Bridge
Posted December 10, 2011, by Gary Sprandel (jaidite [at] aol [dot] com)

That's the Elgin Joliet & Eastern's old Aurora Il branch ROW.

The line continued a short distance west of the bridge then curved to the north for a few blocks to terminate at the EJ&E freight house around where the YMCA is on Garfield Av (if you switch the map to satellite view, put your cursor at the top of the image and drag to the bottom of the window the green space just to the right of the triangular parking lot is just about the spot).

The line was abandoned in 1977 but you can follow the ROW southeast to the active line in the satellite view.