Guest column: Recalling The Dinky

The first day I exercised at the beautiful new Ottawa YMCA, the view that caught my eye included the old railroad bridge where the “Dinky” used to pass over the Illinois River.

I recalled a time Mother and I rode the old 1871 model locomotive across the Illinois River and on to Streator to visit Aunt Ruby. As I think back, I believe I must have been in grade school at the time.

Every time I exercised at the new gymnasium the memories continued. So I decided to find out more!

I visited the old railroad station in downtown Ottawa. The employee on duty said the station is used mostly for storage and freight now.

But the old station still has charm! I peeked in the windows and imagined Mother and I sitting in the depot waiting for the train. What good memories that brought back!

I got on my computer and looked up the “Dinky,” and found an article by C.C. Tisler of the Daily Republican Times about “The Last Run of the “Dinky,” published in February 2016, where he described a day when 25 passengers took the final trip on the CB&Q’s “Dinky.”

He writes: “A railroad passenger train was dead today – and 25 people or so attended ‘the wake’ some in a gay mood and others saddened by the passing of the Aurora-Ottawa-Streator service which had hauled unnumbered thousands the past 82 years.”

I asked the members of my exercise class how many remembered the Dinky – there were a few. (Members of the class are age 50 and older).

I asked some of my friends. Very few remembered – it’s been so long ago.

But the old track still stretches across the Illinois River to remind us of times gone by.

You can find the article under Dayton and the Greens, John Green and the history of Dayton, La Salle County, Illinois. The Last Run of the “Dinky.”

Carole Ledbetter is a former, long-time Write Team member who resides in Ottawa.