Piece of history finds permanent home

By: Doug Oleson
Posted 4/17/17

A piece of local railroad history has come to the Rochelle Train Park.

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Piece of history finds permanent home

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A piece of local railroad history has come to the Rochelle Train Park.
Wednesday morning, the Rochelle Park District transported a 100-year old Whitcomb turnaround or “turn table” from the residence of the late Henry Auchstetter to the park. It currently sits on the south side of the park between a stationary Whitcomb train and the main building. The turntable looks a lot like a wheel from an old wagon, except it’s made of cast iron rather than wood and weighs approximately 1,500 pounds.
According to Steve Frank, curator of the Rochelle History Museum, the small gauge turn table was used to manually relocate the direction of an oncoming train, from one track to another.
 “Today, it would all be automatic,” he said.
Calling it “a very unique donation,” Frank said Auchstetter was a huge train enthusiast who collected all kinds of train memorabilia, including toy trains.
According to an inscription on the wheel, the turn table was made Dec. 27, 1904 at the Canton Foundry in Canton, Ohio.
Kathy Johnson, the president of the Rochelle Historical Society who is overseeing the project, said the turn table was then brought to Rochelle and was one of several turn tables of various sizes used by the Whitcomb Company. Although it was used for many years, no one is sure exactly how long it was used.
When the old Whitcomb building, which had many owners over the years, was being torn down in 2007, local historian Dave Schabacker discovered the turn table.

“It was the only remaining turn table from the Whitcomb plant,” he said, adding that he could see where other turn tables had been. “We wanted to save it.”
Since he didn’t have room to store it himself, Schabacker said Auchstetter volunteered to keep it in his garage, where it has remained until this week. Along with his passing and the upcoming  May 18 real estate auction of his property at 716 Kelley Drive, Johnson said the turn table had to be moved.
“Henry kept it safe and secure until we had a place for it,” Johnson said. “This is a big chunk of railroad history in Rochelle.”
Johnson said the turn table will be part of a permanent display at the train park. She said the historical society will clean and restore the turn table, which is rather rusty, and then assemble the display.
Wendy Horn, who works in community development for the City of Rochelle, said the display will include a bridge signal light which was donated by Union Pacific Railroad which owns the railroad. It was one of the bridge lights that was replaced last summer.
“It’s pretty cool to have this here,” she said. “It’s a piece of the railroad history in Rochelle. We keep trying to improve the park as much as we can for the fans of railroading.”
Horn, whose father Norma Horn worked at the switch tower in town for many years, said the city oversees the railroad park, which was dedicated Aug. 30, 1998 at 124 N. Ninth Street
The first railroad to come to Rochelle was in 1854 when the Air Line Railroad Company constructed tracks between Chicago and Lane, which was first name Rochelle had. The railroad was later taken over by the Chicago Northwestern and is now owned by the Union Pacific.
In 1870, the Chicago and Iowa Railroad constructed another line that crossed over the existing track in Rochelle between 11th and 12th streets.
The George Whitcomb company, which was founded in 1878, came to Rochelle in 1906 and remained in operation until 1952 when it was purchased by Baldwin Locomotive Works and moved  to their company headquarters in Eddystone, Pennsylvania.
The Whitcomb Company built knitting machines and gas powered locomotives for coal and metal mining operations.  It also built the Partin Palmer automobile, one of which is located at the Rochelle History Museum.
Working three shifts a day, the Whitcomb Company produced over 5,000 industrial and mainstream locomotives that transported troops and equipment during both World Wars, earning several awards, including the Army-Navy Production Award.
Daily passenger trains operated in Rochelle until 1971. Today, between 80 and 90 trains pass through town every day, delivering millions of tons of merchandise.
Rail enthusiasts from around the world visit the Rochelle Train Park, the first of its kind in the United States.