In Streator, the line would connect to a number of railroads heading towards Chicago. In Montgomery, it met with a Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Line, which made a connection to its namesake cities.
The OO&FRV became part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy in 1898. The CB&Q was a major powerhouse through Illinois and Iowa.
This line was used as a branch to connect Streator to Chicago. Streator also had two more CB&Q lines, heading east and west.
In Ottawa, this line would interchange with the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. It would also cross the Illinois River at Ottawa.
In addition, it crossed the Fox River two times: at Sheridan and at Montgomery.
By 1970, the CB&Q was merged with the Northern Pacific Railroad and Great Northen Railroad to form Burlington Northern, one of the largest railroads in America at the time.
The BN Operated this line, and in 1996 was merged with Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to form BNSF.
BNSF trimmed extra branch lines soon after the merger. This line was sold to shortline Illinois Railway in December of 1997.
IR Currently operates this line as their Ottawa Branch, connecting to the BNSF Mendota Subdivision at Montgomery.
11/21/21
This beautiful and historic structure crosses the Illinois River in downtown Ottawa, just downstream of State Street.
When the bridge originally opened in 1898, it consisted of several wooden trestle spans, approaching four identical truss spans.
Each truss was an 8 Panel, Pin Connected Pratt Through Truss with a beam style portal bracing. In addition, a deck girder span and two more trestle spans approach from the north.
The entire bridge sat on Asher Sandstone piers, with the exception of the trestle spans.
However, due to the new navigation rules of the Illinois River, a lift span was required to be constructed.
This lift span was added in 1933 by Waddell and Harrington with steel manufactured by McClintic-Marshall, and incorporated the second truss span. It reused the entire span. The towers for it were incorporated into the existing historic trusses.
This bridge was also documented by the Historic American Engineering Record, which writes:
"This multi-span, truss railroad bridge was erected in 1898 by the prominent bridge-manufacturing firm of King Bridge Company. A later reconstruction (1932) included a Waddell and Harrington Engineers vertical lift."
Presently, the bridge is oftentimes in raised position. The trusses appear to be in good condition, and the bridge retains a high level of historic integrity.
The author has ranked this bridge as being regionally significant, due to the large scale design and the highly unusual adaption of a stationary span into a movable span.
The photo above is an overview from the south bank. Below, the HAER photos can be viewed. Unfortunately, the Illinois Railway last used this bridge in the fall of 2020, and the future of this bridge is in significant doubt.
| Upstream | Seneca Lift Bridge |
| Downstream | La Salle Rail Bridge |
