Chicago and Aurora Railroad

Its original incorporation as the Aurora Branch Railroad, chartered in February 1849,[1] started as a twelve-mile branch line which Class I giant BNSF cites as the beginning of their empire: this "short stretch of track set BNSF’s destiny into ‘loco-motion’ and grew over many decades into a network spanning 32,500 miles.

"[6] Village leaders in both Aurora and Batavia wanted to avoid the 38-mile wagon rides to and from Chicago, but they also worried about losing economic opportunities if the G&CU were to pass them by.

[7] Once the charter was obtained, surveying began almost immediately, and construction started in early 1850, working southeast from Turner Junction (now West Chicago) and reaching Batavia in late August 1850.

Any new railroad had to spend huge amounts on track construction, rolling stock, and maintenance facilities before it could even begin to make money, so people were often wary about investing in them.

But to purchase track, locomotives, and cars, in March of 1850 the board offered bonds for sale worth $45,000 in total, with the directors personally providing guarantees of payment if necessary.

This prompted the Aurora Branch in mid-December 1851 to seek a lease in perpetuity to use the Galena and Chicago Union’s right of way, which was formally agreed to on January 13, 1852.

[citation needed] It currently runs through Aurora, Montgomery, Bristol, Plano, Sandwich, Somonauk, Leland, Earlville, Meriden, Mendota, Clarion, Arlington, Zearing, Malden, Princeton, Wyanet, Buda, Neponset, Kewanee, Galva, Altona, Oneida, Wataga, and Galesburg.

In 2017, the Mendota subdivision announced that it would become a designated quiet zone with the construction or the East Main Street underpass in Galesburg.