Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Peru, IL: Depots, Roundhouses and Coal Chutes

(Update: When Illinois had their "can't agree on a budget" debacle, the Sanborn Map links became broken.)

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP
I could not find a depot for IR/.../CB&Q/IV&N
(Update: I think I have found it.), but I did find separate passenger and freight depots for CSX/Rock Island while studying a 1916 Sanborn Map of Peru. (Sheets 8 and 9, respectively.) They were both between Center Street and the Rock Island tracks. The passenger depot was west of Plain Street and the freight depot was east of Plain. In 1939, two decades before US-51, now IL-251, was built, Plain Street was intact. IL-251 was built over the land used by the freight depot.

1916 Sanborn Map, Sheet 10
The Rock Island roundhouse was east of  what is now Pine Street on the east side of the creek. It is now a big clump of trees. The map shows that it had nine stalls.
1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP
1926 Sanborn Map, Sheet 11
I'm discovering that some Sanborn Maps can be disturbingly wrong. Note that a 1926 "Feb.-1949 July" map omits the turntable and shows just two stalls being used in a smaller roundhouse. The sheet that had this excerpt was stamped "Feb. 1926." The 1939 aerial photo shows that this configuration did not happen. (Update: the "Feb. 1926" stamp refers to the sheet this version replaces. So the roundhouse was evidently "downsized" between 1939 and 1949.)

1926 Sanborn Map, Sheet 13
North is to the left
The CB&Q roundhouse was just two stalls. It is not on the 1916 map, but I did find it on a 1926 map. Because the roundhouse is in the middle of an industrial area with no roads to provide a location reference, I included it in a bigger aerial photo below that provides some context.

I found the coal chutes for both railroads on Sheet 12 of the 1916 map. They are both next to a tramway that goes 25' to 30' high over the railroads from the Carbon Coal Union Shaft towards the river. But I could not find that tramway on the 1939 aerial photo. According to the map, the tramway was to carry waste away from the mine. But I wonder if it was also used to put coal in the railroad chutes.

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP
The red rectangle is the CB&Q roundhouse, the yellow one is the CB&Q coal chute, and the blue one is the RI coal chute.
Update:
William Wozniak posted
Rock Island Roundhouse...Peru,IL...rt 6 directly behind photgrapher...(RT jr photo credit)
Sam Sandoval That Was A Cool Place & Long After the Steam Enigines Left The Diesels Took Over The Roundhouse ,
Mark Baker Wow! Where was this in relation to Peru's river front today?
Dennis DeBruler I believe it was in this clump of trees: https://www.google.com/.../@41.3272293,-89.../data=!3m1!1e3

Andy Zukowski posted
Illinois Central Railroad Depot in LaSalle, Illinois during the 1920s
John Czerwinski shared
Jim Kelling shared
LaSalle/Peru, Illinois (Illinois Central station)


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