The Blackhawk Railway Historical Society holds monthly Meetings that are open to the public and feature programs about railroading's past, present and future. We also publish a bimonthly newsletter, the Spike & Tie, that covers local railroad news and history, along with updates on Blackhawk meetings, projects, special events, news and society business.
A chapter of the National Railway Historical Society since 1969, Blackhawk includes working and retired professional railroaders, historians, railfans and those who simply have an interest in railroading. If this describes you, we invite you to Join Us.
We have worked with local communities, groups, historical societies, other organizations and the press in developing and promoting events and projects that recognize the railroad's significance and history. See our Projects page to see what Blackhawk is doing to preserve railroad history and promote railroading's future.
All correspondence (other than membership) should be addressed to:
Board of Directors, Appointed and Elected Officers
A chapter of the National Railway Historical Society since 1969, Blackhawk includes working and retired professional railroaders, historians, railfans and those who simply have an interest in railroading. If this describes you, we invite you to Join Us.
We have worked with local communities, groups, historical societies, other organizations and the press in developing and promoting events and projects that recognize the railroad's significance and history. See our Projects page to see what Blackhawk is doing to preserve railroad history and promote railroading's future.
All correspondence (other than membership) should be addressed to:
- Blackhawk Railway Historical Society
2009 Boehme St.
Lockport, IL 60441-4611 - or please E-mail us
Board of Directors, Appointed and Elected Officers
- Bill Molony - President
- Dave Daruszka - Vice-president, Program Director
- Bobbie Molony - Secretary
- Michael Riha - Treasurer, Webmaster, Newsletter Editor
- Bruce Haffner - Director at Large
- John Eagan - Director at Large
- Peter Viall - Membership Chair
About our name...
When founded in 1969, the original members used decided to use the name "Blackhawk."
It was a reference to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy overnight passenger train of the same name and much of the territory that he CB&Q covered as it expanded west out of Chicago. Many members lived near or had an interest in the Burlington and at one time the group had plans to create a railroad museum in Aurora.
It was a reference to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy overnight passenger train of the same name and much of the territory that he CB&Q covered as it expanded west out of Chicago. Many members lived near or had an interest in the Burlington and at one time the group had plans to create a railroad museum in Aurora.
(Amtrak "Black Hawk" photo by John T. Riha)
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Amtrak resurrected the Black Hawk name for a state-sponsored service that ran Chicago-Rockford-Dubuque, IA on ICG's Iowa Division from 1974 to 1981. In 2007, with the Illinois Department of Transportation began looking to establish a new route using Metra's "Milwaukee Road-West District" from Chicago to Elgin, with a connection to Union Pacific's former C&NW "Belvidere Sub" west of Elgin to Rockford, and finishing on CN's former IC "Iowa Division" to Dubuque. |
In 2023, Metra announced that they would be using the first part of this route to run a Chicago-to-Rockford service starting in 2027.
Chicago Railroad History Month -
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Unfortunately, the idea never gained the momentum in the historic and railfan community that we had hoped for, so we have set it aside for now...keeping in mind that 2048 will mark the 200th anniversary.