This is a sign printed and placed on the building:
This is the WAYNE station of the Chicago Aurora & Elgin interurban and originally was located on the west side of the right-of-way, which is now the Illinois Prairie Path, at its crossing of Army Trail Road in the Village of Wayne. It went into service on May 26th, 1903 when the Elgin branch of the original Aurora Elgin & Chicago high speed, third rail powered interurban from Wheaton was placed into service. While the CA&E called all is passenger structures “stations” this building was actually a waiting shelter as there was no agent on duty as one would purchase their ticket at a station with an agent or from the conductor on the train. This structure is a little more elaborate than most CA&E waiting shelters with its unique roof line and finished interior. After the CA&E freight operations were shut down in 1961 and the railroad salvaged, the shelter was moved to a residential back yard for use as a shed. Fortunately, it was only slightly modified in this capacity. A member tracked down this building and found that it was destined to be destroyed as the new owners of the property no longer wanted it. Arrangements were made to purchase it and move the building to the museum to beat a removal deadline. The museum is currently researching how to best interpret this historic gem and raising funds for its stabilization and restoration. Photos and recollections of the shelter when it was on the CA&E are appreciated.
1- This photo shows the WAYNE station about 1903 when it first went into service on Aurora, Elgin & Chicago with a car headed to Wheaton and eventually Chicago. Alfred W. Johnson photo
2- Here car 401 heads towards Elgin around World War II. The passenger semaphore and platform light are visible in this view by an unknown photographer.
3- Here is the repurposed shelter early in 2020 in a backyard as member James Slattery found it.
4- Our neighbor Leo Metz took this photo the day of its arrival at the museum.
5- Unfortunately, the depot was set down facing the wrong direction in relation to our trackage. Leo Metz photo
6- A head on view of the side which faced the CA&E Elgin branch the first time I saw the building.
7- It was set on timbers awaiting its final placement.
8- An end view when the decorative “shutters”, placed there by the last owner, have been removed along with the flower box, another post CA&E add on.
9- Here Cliff and Jeff are working on jacking the shelter up so it can be temporarily placed on a trailer to rotate it 180 degrees. Mike Gilles photo
10- Jeff is carefully turning the shelter around in the parking lot as it is perched on his company trailer. Mike Gilles photo
11- WAYNE sat on the trailer for a week while a deck was constructed to accept it.
12- The deck stands ready to accept the shelter as the Case tractor stands by.
13- It was pulled off the trailer in steps as cribbing was built up for it to side on.
14- The backhoe was used to slowly pull the false frame constructed around the base. In this photo the shelter is finally on the deck. The tractor had to be reset several times to get it on all the way.
15- Part of the all-day project to get the shelter on the base was cleaning up all the blocking and false work so the trailer could be removed.
16- As WAYNE stands in its new home at the museum where it is being studied to determine how to best restore the shelter accurately and use it as an educational tool.
17- This is a little taste of the inside which was finished with interior walls and a ceiling, a rarity for CA&E stop shelters.
18- The door is original and if it could talk, the stories it could tell, having outlasted the interurban line it was built to serve. All our CA&E cars passed this shelter countless times and once again they will have that opportunity.
