Palatine, Lake Zurich and Wauconda Railroad

The Palatine, Lake Zurich and Wauconda Railroad, known as the PLZ&W, was an 11 mile short line railroad built to connect the towns of Palatine, Lake Zurich and Wauconda in the northern part of Illinois. It was founded by Justin Orvis and Robert Wynn, who originally envisioned a 75 mile electric route across Lake and McHenry counties, though only this 11 mile segment was ever built. The railroad began service on August 25, 1912, and carried both freight and passengers, including vacationers bound for Dr. Wilson's Deer Grove Park picnic grounds, now the Deer Grove Forest Preserve, using a well known locomotive nicknamed Old Maud that it acquired from the Chicago and North Western Railway. Financial mismanagement, improved local roads and the rise of the automobile brought the line down after only twelve years, and it ceased operating in 1924, with the company reorganized around 1920 to 1921 as the Chicago, Palatine and Wauconda Railroad Company. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/