Chicago, IL: Lakeside Grain/COFCO/Nidera/Continental B House/Central Soya/Glidden Grain

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(Duplicate alert: please go here for additional information.)

I deliberately included the "Chicago Port Railroad" sign because the picture was going to be "cluttered" no matter where I legally took it and because it teaches me about that railroad.

Satellite

The view from 117th Street where it crosses the railroad tracks. Note that Calumet Energy Team obstructs the northern silos.

According to Nidera (2019 update: COFCO now owns it, and I see this link is now broke), the capacity is 12,370,000 bushels and handles corn, soybeans, wheat and oats. "At times B-house will handle barley, rye and other feed products such as gluten pellets and cookie meal."

Nidera operates this 1955 complex. 

I was trying to decide if they expanded it or if they replaced silos. The headhouse of the newer silos on the left looks old. Looking at a 1959 aerial photo, the "white" silos are replacements. It was built with 10 rows south of the elevator.

Update:

Google Photo

Google Photo

Google Photo

This photo has been moved to "Lime Silica Elevator on Calumet Lake."

Bob Lalich Flickr 1986 Photo, the elevator is in the background of this photo of Irondale Yard.

Bob Lalich Flickr 1988 Photo, this catches a boat docked at the grain elevator.

Bloomington, IL: Chicago & Alton's Depot and Freight House

Depot: (Satellite)

Freight House: (3D Satellite)

Mike S Corzine posted
The old Chicago and Alton Railroad Bloomington Depot-Union Station-1100 block of West Washington Street, Bloomington. 1988 Gossard Collection photo. McLean County Museum of History image.
John Yoder: Is it still standing?
Thomas Dyrek: John Yoder Demolished in late 1997-early 1998. It was severely damaged by a fire on October 31, 1997.

 

Andy Zukowski posted
GM&O/Amtrak Depot at Bloomington, Illinois, Dec 1972

Connor Bounds: Total shame they removed this building. They had the latest excuse I've ever heard.

The bridge needed to be removed and it was to close to the building. So better bring them both down. Even though people wanted to save the station.

Richard Fiedler shared

Jim Kelling shared

Bloomington Illinois (Alton/GM&O/Amtrak) gone

It was just south of the Big4/P&E and NKP/L&EW tracks and paralleled the C&A's mainline. The tracks behind the depot were a C&A branch, and now they are just an industrial spur to a Cargil soybean processing plant.

1940 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Mike Sypult posted
The historic 1913 Bloomington Illinois Union Station meeting its demise in October 1997. "The bridge that was an integral part of the station's structure had been removed prior to the depot's demolition. Built in 1913, Union Station would serve trains of the C&A, Alton, GM&O and Amtrak. The final passenger train to depart the station was Amtrak no. 307, the "State House" on June 10, 1990." Mike Barkoviak-Machael Matejka photos, GM&OHS News. Didn't this station also serve the Peoria & Eastern and Nickel Plate?
Matt McClure: Southwest of the diamond. https://mchistory.org/.../union-depot-december-1979...
Bill Edrington: Both P&E and NKP (former LE&W) trains did stop here, but they considered their main station in Bloomington to be the joint depot that stood south of downtown between Main and East Streets, on the north side of their parallel main lines.

Ray Weart commented on Mike's post
The ticket dater dies all said Bloomington Union Station. Right up to Amtrak as far as I know.

Joseph Martin posted four pictures. Note the typical two-story part on one end and the big freight doors along the side. It has been preserved by Darnall Printing.

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Birds-Eye View

Richard Howard posted
GMO freight house.
Erik Spoonmore: Bloomington, IL
David Kennedy: Still standing.

Dennis DeBruelr commented on David's comment
Found it. https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...

Leipsic, OH: Leipsic (XN) Junction: CSX/B&O vs. NS/NKP

(Satellite)

(Update: here is a post for the "KN" Tower. These notes need some serious fixing.)

Mark Hinsdale posted
"Snatchin' Em..."
A crew member on the rear end of a northbound coal train grabs orders/messages at "XN" Tower in Leipsic OH. B&O's north-south Cincinnati to Toledo main line crosses Norfolk and Western's
ex Nickel Plate Road Bellevue OH-Fort Wayne-Chicago route here. November, 1978 photo by Mark Hinsdale

Road Map

The SPV Map disagrees with the comment. The east/west route is NS/NW/NKP. The north/south route near the left side is IORY/DTI. The diagonal route is CSX/B&O/Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton. The crossing I marked "A" is labelled Leipsic, the crossing marked "B" is Leipsic Junction, and the crossing in the lower-left corner marked "C" is XN Tower.

Having all three routes still operational makes it a lot easier to identify the location of a tower.

(Update: After studying Guy Span's photo below, I think Mark has the routes correct (B&O vs. NKP) but the junction name is wrong. This is a photo of Leipsic Junction instead of "XN" Tower.)

Chad Malinovsky commented
It appears happier in your photo.

David L White posted

Mark Hinsdale posted
"Expanding Horizons"

In June 1973, I had hardly learned yet how to take a decent train photograph, and was quite reluctant to step out of my "comfort zone" of what I thought one should look like. Perhaps many would legitimately opine that I still haven't. Most of the railroad pictures I grew up admiring were from books that followed the Lucius Beebe/Charles Clegg school of three quarter "wedge" photography, which mimicked the scene I generally saw whenever I stood trackside and watched trains. In due course, however, using my late father's old Argus 35mm camera with its faster shutter speeds, I started to gingerly try a few different things, including some broadside angles that I'd been reluctant to attempt before, Somehow, this view of a southbound Detroit, Toledo & Ironton merchandise train banging across the ex Nickel Plate Road, Norfolk & Western main line at Leipsic, Ohio, remains one of my favorites to this day. The crossing still exists, but "KN" Tower is long gone, and the players today are Norfolk Southern and Indiana & Ohio. June, 1973 photo by Mark Hinsdale
David L White: When you took that picture, I had about one year of brakeman's seniority on the N&W Fostoria District, the crossline road here. The main was in bad shape, especially west of Arcadia, a lot of slow orders but looking at this picture really brought it back for me, the main you're standing on, the only remaining track there today, looks like it has pumped out a lot of mud. Track going to the left led to another track called the High and the Low tracks and the track on the right was the Leipsic Pass. East of the B&O diamond at Leipsic Junction, it became the Yellow Creek Running Track. Great picture.
Mark Hinsdale: David L White, yes, you are absolutely right. Even in the "bad ol' 70's," this looks to be uncharacteristically poor track for the N&W. C&O's railroad, especially in my native Michigan, was in horrendous shape, ballasted with limestone, pumping mud everywhere because of poor drainage (as evident here), and freight speeds on the Detroit to Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids to Chicago routes were lowered to 40 mph. Not as bad as what Penn Central contended with, but nothing whatsoever to brag about. Grand Trunk Western had about the best track structure of anyone around the Midwest, and took soon to pointing it out in the "Good Track Road" slogan.
Mark Hinsdale shared

Guy Span posted
Thanks to C. G. Tower, we now know this is the B&O crossing the Mainline of the Chicago - Buffalo Nickel Plate. I was at work and grabbed this view as the cat came through Leipsic Jct. My younger self did not note it and I was only there a few times so it was not familiar. It also explains the huge load of extra wires... Just another cold winter day. Scanned from a 35mm Kodachrome processed in Feb. 1988.
Mark Egebrecht: Tower was decommissioned in 1984 and razed in 2018.
Tod Riebow shared

When I looked at a satellite image, it appeared the tower was still standing! I could not find a good image with street view,  but I did find one that is good enough to confirm the tower is still standing. But then I read Mark's comment about it being torn down in 2018. So I then checked the street view date and it is July 2009. And it makes sense that the satellite image is over two years old.

Street View

I'm saving the satellite image since the tower will be gone after the next update.

Satellite

Jonathan Konopka posted
1988 - CSXT 8907 is southbound at Leipsic, OH. Photograph by John F. Bjorklund, collection of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art.
Richard Maguire: Love those Color Position Light signals.

Darren Reynolds posted four photos with the comment: "B&O/N&W   'XN' tower..Leipsic, Ohio"

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"XN" tower was not an all B&O tower N&W Shared expenses and ran the tower. I think B&O had one shift..

Photo by: Terry Miliczky September 1979

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Interlocking machine and model board "XN" tower

Photo by: Wally Matters (No date)

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Not too much longer and the CPLs will come down...

"XN" tower 2016

Photo by: Eric Davis

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Looking down the B&Os main line at "XN" tower you can see the CPLs...

Photo by: C.H.Geletzke Jr. November 1, 1978

Mattoon, IL: Big Four Roundhouse and Railyard

Rick Ralston posted
1920s Small Photo Snapshot; Transfer Table, Mattoon IL
Railroad Yard, Coles Co.

If a town has a transfer table, that means it is going to have a big roundhouse and a backshop. I finally found Big Four's yard on the east side of town (below). I zoomed in on the backshops (further below). It appears the transfer table runs down the middle of the pictures. (The resolution of these photos from an airplane always makes me appreciate the resolution we now get from a satellite.)

Raymond Storey also posted

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

The yard is now 8 ball diamonds and some other park facilities. The Big Four RoW leaves town as the Lincoln Prairie Grass Trail.

Satellite

The above aerial images where from a .jpg file. Below I checked a .sid file to see if it had better resolution.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP using .sid file

For completeness, I also tried the .tif file.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP using .tif file

I don't notice any loss of resolution due to the image compression algorithms.

USGS 1937 Mattoon, 1:62,500

Update:

Jacob Hortenstine posted

NYC roundhouse Mattoon Illinois

Jacob Hortenstine posted
New York Central yard Mattoon Illinois
Ron Loge How did the NYC operate thru Mattoon? Crew change between East St Louis and Terre Haute? Any locals or switch jobs based out of here?
Thank you in advance.
Bill Edrington Mattoon was almost exactly halfway between Indianapolis and East St. Louis on the NYC, and was the crew change point between those two cities. It was also the headquarters of the railroad's Illinois Division for many years, until that division was consolidated with the Indiana Division and the headquarters moved to Indianapolis. It was a base for both road and yard crews. There was also a local crew based at Hillsboro to switch industries there and work the "Old Line" between there and East Alton (abandoned between Litchfield and East Alton in 1965).
Brandon McShane As you can tell from the photos, perishables off the Cotton Belt connection in East St. Louis were a large part of the traffic base.

Chris Suerdieck posted
Mattoon, IL ca:1964.  Big Four tracks at east edge of Mattoon.  Mervis Scrapyard and Kennet-Murray & Company Stockyards.  The Big Four built the stockyards in the fall of 1941 and leased the operation to the Kennett-Murray Company.  The stockyards had the capacity to ship 20 car loads of livestock per day.

St John, KS: Combine Collection and Grain Elevator

John Blankenship posted
Kanza Coop elevator at St John Kansas. This is the BNSF line that runs to Trinidad Colorado.....then south and re-connects with the main west coast BNSF line at Dalles New Mexico.

This is the fourth of six pictures that John posted of this elevator. I was going to pass it up as yet another Kansas elevator until I read his comment:

Notice in the 4th photo...there are five old John Deere combines in the foreground. The first one is a 95 square back............... a 55.........a 45 hi-lo...........a 40 square back....and a 55 hi-lo..

John Van Haecke And only one with a cab.

I found a Google Photo that shows the back side of those combines.

The siding that used to serve the elevator is now severed. Note on the right below that the original wood elevator is still standing.

John Blankenship posted

Porter, IN: Pere Marquette Depot

Joseph Stachler posted

More scans courtesy of the Westchester Township History Museum.

Porter, IN: NYC/Michigan Central Depot

Joseph Stachler posted

More scans courtesy of the Westchester Township History Museum.

Chesterton, IN: NS/NYC/LS&MS Water Tower, Pans and Depot

(Street View for the depot from the road in the vintage photo)

Wayne Hudak posted two photos with the comment:

Chesterton, 1997. Right across from the Northside Diner right after the BNSF merger. New GE's to be delivered in Chicago still in ATSF paint, hastily relettered for BNSF sitting on the Coffee Creek bridge. Nose door was open, engineer saw me and closed it for photos. Then asked me if I wanted to come up. HELL YEA! By the time I packed away all my equipment (I even had a video camera) they got the call to move on! crap!
B&W photo is same location 91 years earlier. Photog is on top of a railcar. Northside Diner would be out of camera to the right. Of course it didn't exist in 1906. I would be standing just to the left by where the water stand is for my photo. 111 years later the Railroad Park (now Thomas Park) still exists!

The water tower is of particular interest because it has spouts on both sides.

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Joe Barron also posted

Raymond Storey posted five photos with the comment: "Chesterton Ind...Photo credit Alan Coslet."

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[Note the track pans.]
Raymond Storey also posted
Joe Barron also posted, but without the brown petina and lettering
Raymond Storey also posted a B&W copy

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Brent Keen posted
One of my favorite picture of downtown Chesterton. The road in the crossing is calumet rd. Picture is from 1906Wayne Hudak Called Valparaiso Road at the time. Building on right is most likely a pump house for the water tank, taking water from Coffee Creek. Photo is also a favorite of mine.

Of the three railroads that Calumet Road crosses, this is the one that is near Coffee Creek.

Joseph Stachler posted
More scans courtesy of the Westchester Township History Museum.Brent Keen Couple years ago scrapers stole the copper gutters off the building.Brent Keen The building is on historical register when they where stolen the town had to replace them to original specs.

Since it is on a historical register, it is still standing.

Joseph Stachler posted
More scans courtesy of the Westchester Township History Museum.

Both of these pictures are labeled Lake Shore Depot. But they are clearly not the same building. Is the second picture an older depot or is actually a freight house? It has freight doors and a loading platform rather than a bay window for the agent's desk.

Joe Barron posted
Lakeshore & Michigan Southern Railroad (later New York Central) trackpans near Chesterton. The trackpans were designed to allow the tender to fill with water by means of a scoop, without stopping. 1915.

Raymond Storey posted

Raymond story posted four photographs with the comment: "CHESTERTON IND...SOURCE PORTER COUNTY HIST SOC"

Tim Shanahan shared

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7 photos

6 photos