Bloomington, IL: GM&O/C&A Railyard and Historical Back Shops

(Satellite)  A capture of a satellite image that still shows the landscar of the roundhouse and the biggest backshop building is below.

Tim Starr posted
Smaller railroads like the Chicago and Alton often had one large primary back shop facility rather than several smaller one to consolidate workforces and save money on supply and logistics.

It is very easy to find this GM&O/Alton yard on a 1940 aerial photo. The above view is facing in a southerly direction.

1940 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Mitch Anheier posted
C & A Shops...

Bryan Flick shared
[The track gang is another reminder that it took a lot of people to maintain all that track with just hand tools.]

Satellite

UP has redeveloped very little of the land so you can still see the concrete floor of the roundhouse and backshops. (Update: the rectangular concrete floor on the north side was for a Union Asbestos factory. See the 1953 Sanborn added below.)

The Sanborn Map is too big to include at a resolution that is readable. So I marked up the aerial photo with info from a Sanborn Map. (for my reference)

• brown: acetylene gas plant and tanks
• yellow: wet paper pulp factory
• red: cabinet shop
• green: formerly car shop. The bottom building was the paint shop. There was a transfer table between the two buildings.
• purple: storage lime & cement
• orange: Electrical shop
• dark blue: office
• light blue: steel car shop

I learned while studying IC's Burnside Shops that the gas from the acetylene plant is probably piped to the other shops to support the welding stations. I wonder what is done with "wet paper pulp."

 

Matt Smith posted
Another great shot from the Pantagraph Archives. An aerial shot of Bloomingtons west side. Probably the most clearest and complete shot of west side rail operations I've seen!
[This yard would be the big one in the center background.]

Ted Lemen -> Gulf Mobile & Ohio Fans Worldwide

Ted's comment: "Old Chicago & Alton building in GM&O shops at Bloomington IL, May 1966." The rails in the forground would be railroad tracks. The other rails are for the transfer table. The table is parked at the near end because you can see its control cabin.

Larry Miller III shared Tom Gregg's photo
Jimmy Fiedler also posted
[Note two water towers and coal tower on left. I believe the roundhouse is near the right.]

Adam Elias posted
Bloomington Yard on 3/12/16

Roger Holmes posted
I sure miss the GM&O! I worked in the machine shop, that large building, for ten months as a machinist apprentice after I graduated from high school in 1967. Then I worked mostly summer jobs while in college as a relief agent, operator and leverman, working every open tower between Chicago and St. Louis with the exception of Bridgeport. This photo was taken from the West Locust St. bridge in Bloomington in the late 1960's. Please note in the lower left the Ingalls 1900 waiting to go north to be traded in to EMD. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the shop powerhouse had the largest steam whistle in the state of Illinois on its roof...largest including the Great Lakes freighters...it was, along with a couple of smaller whistles to its side, the fire whistle which was blown in case of a fire in the large shop complex. I was a member of the force while an apprentice. As payment we each received a GM&O annual pass, good on 4 of the 6 passenger trains, and half fare on rail lines going west of Chicago, which I took advantage of when I went to Denver in 1968. The whistle, by the way, survives. It is on display next to NKP 639 in Miller Park in Bloomington. The display says that it was the regular shop whistle that blew for the daytime shifts, which is incorrect. © Roger A. Holmes

McLean County Museum of History posted

Chicago & Alton Railroad yard, December 1939

This was the scene in late December 1939 on Bloomington’s west side. Back then, the C&A Shops and adjacent yards were a city unto itself with hundreds of workers maintaining and repairing locomotives, refurbishing and constructing rolling stock, shunting freight, and doing all kinds of other fascinating stuff.

Richard Fiedler shared

David Lucas posted
I was just browsing pinterest and came across this excellent photo of the Chicago & Alton roundhouse and engine repair shops in Bloomington, ca 1931. There was no attribution noted; so, I don't know who took this photo.
Phil Clark Gotta love that organization and balance of railroad yards.
Jimmy Fiedler I wonder in its time was this the biggest railroad shop complex in Illinois? Maybe silvis?
Kerry Doyle Site of first rr sleeper car construction?

Bryan Flick shared

Carl Venzke posted
Looking north on train tracks from Locust Street bridge in Bloomington, Illinois on November 7, 1959. A southbound Gulf, Mobile & Ohio train approaches Bloomington railroad station. Photo by Barry Lennon
[A nice view of the ladder track for the claissification yard.]

John Morris posted
View of the GM&O's Bloomington yard and shop facilities, including the old Chicago & Alton main shop building. Sadly, this historic building was not saved. I took this photo in the mid-1960s with my father's old 116 Kodak camera to see if it still worked...obviously, it did.
Patrick Provart This is taken from the east end of the old Locust St. Bridge, about a block east of St. Patrick's church. 5 or 6 miles west of the mall, but only a couple blocks off Route 9

Tom Cherry posted
1901 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of a portion of the Chicago & Alton Yard, north of Chestnut St. The Sanborn Maps were originally created for assessing fire insurance liability in urbanized areas in the United States.
[Chestnut has been renamed Lotus Street. Note the transfer table next to the erecting room.]
Mel Theobald Tom Cherry, this is incredible. So many of those buildings changed after GM&O converted to diesels in the 1940s. I've seen other photos that show a 2nd turn-table which later disappeared. This answers a lot of questions. Among others: the Machine Shop later blended in with the Locomotive Shop; the Boiler Shop became the Engine (Fuel) House; and the Coal Shed was replaced by the Wheel and Axle Shop. One of my favorite details is the Sand House. I worked there in Dec. 1967. The "hobos" would volunteer to do our work if we would let them sleep on the warm sand piles. But that's another story. Thanks for posting.

Mel Theobald enhanced a comment by Andy Streenz on Tom's posting
The Bloomington rail yards as of 1953, according to this Sanborn Insurance Map.

Tim Starr posted
The primary shops of the Chicago & Alton were at Bloomington IL. Here is the layout after a renovation and expansion project in 1902 that modernized the shops built in 1883.
[It had two transfer tables.]

AgRail

The land occupied by the south roundhouse was sold to a grain elevator company. That was smart. They can tolerate "brown land" and this location makes rail service economical. They not only have a fall protector (the yellow thing), they have their own locomotive and they have covered the loading zone.

COURTESY OF THE McLEAN COUNTY MUSEUM OF HISTORY from pantagraph (source)
Looking northeast in the 1930s. 

Richard Fiedler shared

Mike Breski posted

Circa 1904. "Chicago & Alton Railroad shops at Bloomington, Illinois." At left rear, the Anheuser-Busch beer boxcar.

https://www.shorpy.com/node/16806

Dave Durham posted

C&A shops, Bloomington. Unknown date, Detroit photography co.

Alan Fricker: Well, I think I can put a date span on this photo. The Detroit Photographic Company was in business from the late 1890s until filing for bankruptcy in 1924; going out of business in 1932 or thereabouts. They used this name, Detroit Photographic Company, until 1905. So the photo was most likely taken between 1897 to 1905. Thanks, Wikipedia!

Mitch Anheier posted
Alton Railroad Victory railroad car 1942....
Greg Koos Freshly painted at the shops!

BHRS shared
Dennis DeBruler A view of a transfer table.

Jon Martin posted
Thomas Dyrek The roundhouse burned in an arson fire in 1972 which destroyed 33 out of the 44 stalls. The remaining stalls were destroyed by a second arson fire in 1973.
Jeff Ramsey When did the blacksmith shop get demolished?
Thomas Dyrek Jeff Ramsey 1990.

Mike Martin Jon, a limestone block from one of the shop building’s is in the backyard at Mom and Dad’s by the tree!!
Warren Caudle The old joke about Bloomington is that you are near Normal when you are there.

Dave Durham posted

Brian Falasz commented on Dave's post
This was a picture taken inside the remnants of the car shop about 1986. All of the buildings are just a memory except the freight house.

Brian posted a couple of images of a blueprint that he has with the comment: "as promised here is a picture of the layout of the Shops area in Bloomington, Illinois. Title block in the upper right hand corner says this was originally drawn in 1932 and then revised in 1954. This would have been the GM& O era of ownership as also stated in the title block. Locust Street (W) (Illinois Route 9) is on the left, Emerson street (E) is on the right. There was an additional classification yard to the East of Emerson Street as evidenced by the number of tracks under the street bridge." But Facebook allowed a height of only 960 pixels.

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Tim Starr posted two images with the comment: "Diagrams of the new coal facilities at the Chicago and Alton terminal in Bloomington IL, 190. (Railway Age)"

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1974 (source)

Earlville, IL: Junction Tower: CB&Q vs. C&NW

(Satellite)

Dustin Holschuh posted in Facebook's
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Fans
[Note the sharp curve in the signalling pipelines on this side of the tower.]

Jeff Mathre posted with the information: Laverne Hudson collection, he worked during the 50-60's.

Thomas Whitt shared

Dennis DeBruler: The comments on the post indicate this is Earlville, and Jeff says the photo is by his uncle, Laverne Hudson.

A comment in Facebook indicated the tower was gone by 1963. Note the pipeline chase leaving the base of the building. These pipes move the switch points and the semaphores as the operator moves levers in the tower. The comments also indicated that the CB&Q branch that went to Rock Falls used the C&NW tracks north of town for about a mile. This topo map shows why the CB&Q used the C&NW. The CB&Q used to have a north/south route that passed earlville on the east side. A 1951 topo map shows that the CB&Q had already abandoned the route on the east side of town and used the C&NW to get to its northern branch.

1971 Earlville Quad @ 24,000

I added a red line next to the landscars that shows where the CB&Q route used to be on the east side.

Satellite

Marty Bernard posted
3. Rick took this from a CB&Q 4960 fan trip. We are looking at Earlville, IL tower at the crossing the CNW in December 1960. Rick Burn photo
Marty Bernard shared
Dennis DeBruler: I always appreciate a historical tower photo that captures some of the signaling pipelines.

 

Jeff Mathre posted with the comment: "Laverne Hudson collection, he worked during the 50-60's."

Uncle Laverne on the job

Andy Zukowski posted
Chicago and NorthWestern Watchman tower, Looking North, Earlville, Illinois 8/16/1949
Thomas Whitt shared

Jeff Mathre commented on Andy's post
My Uncle worked this tower back in the day, his picture at work.

Jeff Mathre commented on Andy's post
Uncle Laverne Hudson working the tower.

Sam Carlson posted
Several miles north of Dimmick is Earlville, where the C*NW line we followed thru Dimmick crosses the BNSF (ex- CB&Q. A few hours after we photographed the 4322, we were in Earlville where we found the C&NW Troy Grove job Heading north after working the sand mine. This is the main reason the line exists.

Sam Carlson posted
NEVER forget to photograph the caboose! This is nprthward thru Ear;rville, IL in June 1974.
Sam Carlson: This really is Earlville. Weedsville is a different place!
Dennis DeBruler shared

Andy Zukowski posted

Two branch line trains meet

Burlington Northern's local operating from Sterling to Earlville, Illinois, pauses just north of Earlville. The branch used to cross Chicago & North Western's Troy Grove line here on a diamond, but it now connects to C&NW 0.8 of a mile north of town, where BN has trackage rights to a connecting track at Earlville that curves eastbound onto the Chicago Division Second Sub main line running from Aurora to Galesburg.

In this view at C&NW Junction on June 10, 1984, the BN local waits as a southbound C&NW train rumbles by. The BN local will enter C&NW trackage as soon as the C&NW Troy Grove train goes by. BN operated this former Chicago, Burlington & Quincy branch from Sterling to Earlville, Illinois, and by this date, trackage of the branch was deteriorating, with traffic dwindling. Soon, the local would be discontinued on this 46.8-mile long line, and it would be torn up in 1985. C&NW No. 4321 is a rebuilt GP9, while BN GP40 No. 3030 is the former CB&Q No. 630. Photo by Mike Danneman

Ray Speerly: We would run specials from Earlville to Sterling and pick up an engine at Earlville. Because the tracks were so bad, you couldn't run more than 10 miles an hour on that trip. We would pick up empty steel scrap cars and then take them back to Earlville for pickup by Freight when it went through. It wasn't a regular job in the 1970s, so everyone would catch the job off the extra list.

Mark Petersen: When I was a brakeman on the CNW in the early 1980s I worked the Troy Grove job many times using that very engine. The CNW 4321 was wrecked in a head-on collision near Sterling a few years later.

Robert Weber: This is from Leo Phillipp ex-BN Conductor and BRHS Officer:

Long before 1984 the “east leg of the wye” at Earlville was long gone. Here’s a quick and incomplete timeline of freight locals for the Rockfalls/Sterling branch. See BRHS bulletin 56 and the Cat/Earlville turn article for more details.

Up until about the summer of 1965 the Rockfalls wayfreight operated out of Eola to Rockfalls,out one day and back the next. Sometimes it was one crew which worked to Rockfalls on Monday,back to Eola on Tuesday, made a Eola to Earlville turn on Weds and then another Rockfalls round trip on Fri and Sat. At other times there were two crews alternating,each making three round trips per week. The deciding factor was how much Northwestern Steel and Wire business the Q was getting vs the Northwestern.

These runs used the “east leg of the wye” at Earlville to get onto/off of the CNW branch and head to Eola.

But in 1965 the new Earlville turn was put on to handle CAT and everything from there to Earlville. The Rockfalls branch was now handled by the new Rockfalls wayfreight.

According to the 1969 Operating data sheets book the job was based in Sterling and made a round trip to Earlville and back Mon-Fri. At some point by 1973 when I worked the Rock Falls wayfreight for a week it was based out of Mendota and made a round trip to Rock Falls(not Sterling) 5 days a week. Neither of these jobs needed to go east so sometime after 1965 the east leg of the wye was removed.

Here’s how the work was handled at Earlville on the return trip to Mendota in 1973. The train would be somewhat substantial for a branch job. So after getting on the CNW branch another switch would be thrown just short of the Denver main which was the west leg of the wye. The train would pull down the westward siding. On the head end would be steel loads for points east. These would be shoved eastward on the westward storage track to its east end. These cars would be picked up by a secondary mainline train and taken to Eola. The wayfreight engine would couple back onto its train. Pull down to the west end of the westward siding and get permission to enter the main. Pull out and shove the way car and Mendota propers east on the main. Then set the westbound steel loads onto the westward siding for a secondary mainline westbound to take to Galesburg. The wayfreight would leave Earlville with a handful of cars for Mendota.

At some point in the 1980s Northwestern Steel and Wire closed. There was little business on the branch other than a little fertilizer and I remember the elevator at West Brooklyn loading outbound grain. We also had grain coming off the Lee County Central at Amboy from time to time. We handled one car the week I worked the job.

There were also rubber Goodyear tires coming off the IC interchange track at Amboy for Rockfalls or Sterling.

Once NWS&W closed that was the final nail. The Rockfalls wayfreight stayed based out of Mendota. It went to Rockfalls one day and back the next. Track speed was 10 MPH. Steve Holding shared that he thought at one point after the IC mothballed the Gruber line the BN ran the Rockfalls job over the IC from Mendota to Amboy and then back onto the old Q from there to Rockfalls. Your photo shows the job still using the branch to Earlville in ‘84. My brother Ron was one of the last Conductors on the job and he states he doesn’t recall running on the I.C.

Oh and for real old stuff the main traffic on the Rockfalls branch was actually handled via Shabbona up until 1932 or ‘33 when the line from Paw Paw to Shabbona was pulled up. There had been two passenger trains each way between Shabbona and Sterling with connections to C&I trains. The motor car lasted until the late 20s between Sterling-Paw Paw-Shabbona-Paw Paw-Earlville-Serena and then the reverse route all the way back to Sterling !

Leo

Dennis DeBruler commented on Andy's post
The oldest topo map that I could find was 1951, and the CB&Q route on the east side of town had already been abandoned. 1951/52 Earlville Quad @ 62,500

Dennis DeBruler commented on Andy's post
CB&Q used to be all over the northwestern part of Illinois. A 1902 map, https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/collection/knx_rail/id/298

Craig Holmberg commented on Andy's post
3/1/1959

Rob Conway commented on Andy's post
I ran that job a few times. On one of the trips, we brought the NWSW steam engine from Sterling to Amboy. She is now on display at the Amboy depot museum.

David Cenci commented on Andy's post, cropped
1906

Laketon, IN: Historical Newton Tower

Bob McCord photo posted by Owen Fishback on Facebook

The date for this picture is presumed to be the 1970s. It controlled the junction of of Pennsy and Erie Lackawanna. The Pennsy is gone, but the Erie still exists as a branch from NS/Big4 at Bolivar Junction to Laketon, IN. Owen's comments indicates the branch serves an oil refinery in Laketon.

Satellite

Satellite

Update: Matt Ditton also posted Bob McCord's photo. His comment:

This is where the Erie Lackawanna and PRR crossed at Newton Indiana. The first photo was taken by Bob McCord in 1967. The second was taken by me in the same area last Saturday. The E-L rails were originally lifted in 1981 but relaid 10 years later to serve the refinery in Laketon Indiana. The PRR rails were also lifted close to the same time.

David P. Oroszi photo with an Erie train. McCord's photo is also on NorthAmericanInterlockings, search for Newton.

Paul Lutz Refinery still ships some asphalt by rail in season to connection at Bolivar with NS.

Rochelle, IL: Caboose: Milwaukee Road

20150913,16 4693

While I was headed south on 9th Street in Rochelle, IL, to go to the railroad park, I got caught at the UP crossing. So I pulled over and got out to take pictures. I spotted a caboose on static display so I walked over and took pictures of each side. I'm glad I took the backlit side because the sunny side has been vandalized. I added the red rectangle to mask a still readable obscenity. The initial reason for taking the backlit view was to catch the eastbound intermodal UP train in the background.

When looking at the pictures, I noticed the backlit view indicates the caboose was used by the Milwaukee Road. This surprised me because the only two railroads I was aware of in Rochelle were the UP/C&NW and BNSF/CB&Q. So I checked my 1928 Railroad Atlas. Milwaukee Road had a north/south route from Mendota, through Rochelle to Rockford and beyond. According the to atlas, the Milwaukee joined the CB&Q at Steward and branched off again north of Rochelle. That is, Milwaukee Road used CB&Q tracks through Rochelle.

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

I could not find any evidence of an abandoned railroad south of Steward on a satellite image, but a 1939 aerial photo does indicate the railroads joined northwest of Steward. And it is easy to see that the Milwaukee Road left the Burlington at Flagg Center, IL, because the track is still there! Burlington evidently bought this route to Rockford when Milwaukee went bankrupt because my 1994 Illinois map shows it as BN and my 1998 map shows it as BNSF. But my 2008 and 2014 maps show it as IR. So along with the OO&FRV and the remnants of the IV&NR, BNSF also sold this branch to Illinois Railway.

This is the first time I have noted an Automatic Car Identifier up close.

(Facebooked 20150925)

Mark Llanuza posted
Its 1978 Milwaukee Rd running on the BN at Rochelle IL getting back on at Flagg Center then head to Davis Jct IL. This was part of the Mendota line.
James Sucha Those old Fs are saying " Wow! This is some smooth track. We never get to run on this stuff at home!!". 

Since the Milwaukee used the CB&Q tracks, it makes sense that they used the CB&Q Depot.

Mark Llanuza posted
Milwaukee Road's Mendota job is getting train order's at Rochelle Il station from the BN agent.