My barber and the C&NW railroad in Elgin

The Chicago and North Western railroads line from West Chicago to Lake Geneva snaked through the east side of Elgin, Illinois right through the downtown with buildings right alongside the right-of-way.

Below looks like an alley but it's really the abandon right-of-way viewed to the north today. May barbershop is just to the left.
Below is the same spot but looking south from just in front of the barbershop.

The barber told me when trains chugged along here it seemed, from the vantage of the barber chair, that the train would crash right through the shop.

He said it scared the heck out of kids.
P. L. Behrens's Steam Trains to Geneva Lake gives an excellant history of this line.

And here's a picture Elgin's Tower building.