This would appear to be the same part of the building but with a sliding table and pit to move locomotives from diffent bays to the track to exit to the main line.
In the above photo you can see the many different rails on the table to accomodate the various gauges that Whitcomb customers used. These locomitves went all around the world.
I wonder how many people think of these buildings only as an old nuisance. Knowing nothing of their history?
A phone call to the Cook County Circuit Court Archives and they still have not retrieved the Whitcomb suit. They recommend calling back each day as they receive deliveries daily. One week and counting. Quite a bit slower than the National Archives. Steve
Last night as I walked around the property with camera and tripod in tow, 3 teenaged kids hanging out in a patch of woods next to the property (they have hand-built a BMX bike track in these woods) asked me what I was doing. I explained I was photographing the building as part of my documentation of the history of the Whitcomb locomotive Company. They never heard of Whitcomb locomoitves before and had no idea what history building had seen. They didn't know that the two locomotives sitting in the Rochelle train park were built in Rochelle. After sharing some of the history the kids thanked me - they never knew all of that had happened right next to where they were growing up. They expressed hope that the building would not be torn down. I agreed. Steve
A productive day today. I contacted the Glendora California Library and a very helpful reference librarian helped me with the year of birth and middle name for William Card Whitcomb. With that info I searched ancestry.com and found this passport application from 1920 along with my first photograph of William C. Now to find living relatives if possible. Steve
Another photo from inside the Rochelle plant during the construction of what appears to be the Argentine State Railway order. A builders' photo outside the Rochelle plant.
A couple of photos showing the locomotives unloading from a ship. In the top photo one can make out the words "Whitcomb Locomotive".
A phone call to the Cook County Circuit Court Archives at first got me "no, it isn't in yet". When I told them I have now waited 2 weeks, they took a second look and discovered the case is in after all. I can't take a camera in. $2.00 for the first copy, $0.50 for the rest. I can bring a scanner - which I don't have. This will be a bit more expensive than the National Archives. For those that don't know what I'm talking about, I have requested the Whitcomb suit against Baldwin filed in 1934 where William Whitcomb sued Baldwin for the value of his stock that he lost when Baldwin sunk his company into a voluntary bankruptcy. Steve
Steve, You have the makings of a great "made for TV docu drama " that would rival the Wheels from Hell or what ever that series is . Awsome work you have done for history sake. Let us hope your work can set the history correct ? mayhaps? What crooks Baldwin appeard to be .... scheesssshhhh , not the first time something from Cook county IL came up stinking ?
Thank you. I really stumbled into this project. Every year for the past 7 years Rochelle had its annual Railroad days I never saw anything about the Whitcomb, even though we have two of them sitting in the park. http://www.rochellerailroadpark.org/rrdays.html A neighbor of mine has a daughter that's friends with our daughter (adopted) and the Dad is the head of tourism and organizer of the Railroad Days. I asked why nobody ever does a Whitcomb display. He said because nobody has stepped up to do it. I asked if I did one would he want it in the event? He said sure. That was sometime around January of this year. By June I was bitten by the research bug. It's like on a treasure hunt. I never know what or where I'm going to find something. I'm hooked. Waited until I was 50 years old to find my life calling but this historical research is it. I feel like I'm contributing something to society that didn't exist before. Now to find out what treasures lie in the California State Railroad Museum if only I can find someone out there who can help. Steve
I always enjoy seeing the history books set straight. Not from a viewpoint of "correctness", but just the irrefutable via cold hard facts.
I'm with you 100%. The net is full of unsubstantiated, undocumented crap. I prefere to document every source that I quote. That way other people can go find it also. Here are newspaper articles about the Whitcomb treasurer and his problems: This was from the Rochelle News, Thursday March 19, 1931 front page. Steve
Couldn't fix the second photo above so will post it here: This was before Heim was found in Tennessee. Steve
This is when Carl Heim was caught and sent back to Illinois. When I get done with the Whitcomb suit my next search will be the criminal case against Heim in Ogle county Illinois. I might try to find what he was arrested for in Tennessee and why he was down there. A strange note: the original grand jury indictments were declared invalid because WOMEN were on the jury ! Steve
Steve, You need to write a book on this. Mix a little ficton in...not much as some of this stuff is pretty strange already . Can't wait to find out about Heim in Tn and for gosh sakes ... women on a grand jury in IL ... sounds like the AG was as funky as a govenor I know of from there ...
Not into fiction writing thank you. I like the real world. It has more than enough to keep my interest. As for the State's Attorney being funky, I can't imagine any judge would allow that discrimination to occur unless it was a legal standard back then. Steve
If women were on the panel , that would preclued the law allowing women legal status in all things having to do with existing laws ( including grand jury duty ). By 1920 ( 19th amendment was ratified) women had gotten the right to vote . I am not sure I agree with the assumption that IL or any state , had laws that validated women on grand jury's and then had laws that disallowed their findings . These guys got away with fraud, theft, denying civil rights and who knows some one did not end up as fish food.
