Fox River Branch is Topic This Saturday at Museum

Photo: This image from the collections of the Little White School museum captured a CB&Q freight train rumbling past the Oswego Depot in September, 1965. The depot stood on Jackson near South Adams Street.

Submitted by the Little White School Museum:

The 2015 winter/spring program series at Oswego’s historic Little White School Museum will kick off at 1:30 p.m. this coming Saturday, Feb. 28, with “The Fox River Branch of the Burlington Railroad.”

The museum is located at 72 Polk Street (Polk at Jackson), just two blocks east of Oswego’s historic downtown business district.

The Fox River Branch rail line extends from Montgomery south along the banks of the Fox River through Oswego and Yorkville to Ottawa before continuing due south to its terminus at Streator. Leo Phillipp, a former employee who worked on the Fox River Branch rail line from Montgomery to Streator, will speak about the branch line’s history, train operations over the decades including its major and minor customers, the line’s passenger service, and major wrecks that happened along the line.

Phillipp will also offer an outline of operations along the line by the Burlington-Northern and the short line rail companies that subsequently took over the line.

The program will be suitable for train enthusiasts age 14 and older. Admission donation is $5 per person. Proceeds will benefit the museum’s operations.

Visitors are also invited to see the museum’s latest temporary exhibit on the Fox River Branch rail line. The exhibit was created by the museum’s assistant director, Bob Stekl.

Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

For more information on the program series or the new exhibit, call the museum at 630-554-2999, check out their web site at www.littlewhiteschoolmuseum.org, or send an email to info@littlewhiteschoolmuseum.org.