Pana, IL: IC and Big Four Union Depot

See the tower for more photos.

Bill Molony posted
Shane Petit Grew up there. The only thing left is a freight house and tower.
John Mitchell And C&EI

The red rectangle is the C&EI and B&O depots and the yellow rectangle is the IC+Big4 depot.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Dave Durham posted
Pana, Illinois, 1913.
Bill Edrington View looks east on the Big Four main line, with the C&EI curving off to the left. The Big Four train is eastbound towards Shelbyville and Mattoon, and appears to be stopped at the joint Big Four-IC depot.
Dave Durham Do you know what building is in the left corner Bill? Looks like a coal tipple maybe? Also, a total of 5 C&EI tracks...
Bill Edrington Dave Durham - Yes, it was a mine tipple, where C&EI gons were being loaded. Beginning in 1904, C&EI had trackage rights on the Big Four between Pana and Granite City as part of its Chicago-St. Louis route.
Dave Durham I couldn't tell for sure, there were a couple of different coal mines shown in this booklet; Penwell and another.
Bill Edrington Dave Durham - This was Pana Coal Company’s Mine No. 1, located just north and west of the business district. Pana Coal No. 2 was north of town on the IC. The Penwell Mine was farther south along the IC. The Springside Mine (Smith-Lohr Coal Company) was on the northeast side of town along the C&EI. Peabody Coal’s Mine No. 17 opened much later than the others, and was served by a spur off the Big Four that crossed Route 16 on the west edge of town.

See the tower for an overview aerial photos and a map. We must be looking at a northbound IC train. It appears the artist didn't bother to include the Big4 tracks.

Jacob Hortenstine posted
Pana Illinois tower and depot looking to the southeast

Update:

Bill Edrington posted
Original IC depot at Pana, which sat on the west side of the IC tracks, just south of the Big Four crossing.

Bill Edrington posted
The joint IC-Big Four depot, which sat in the southeast quadrant of the crossing. The double track in the foreground is the Big Four. Although the Big Four was the more important passenger road in town, the depot faced the IC and was built to an IC design. The baggage/express building can be seen in the right background.

Bill Edrington posted
View of the joint depot on the "town" side, looking west along the Big Four main line toward St. Louis.

Dave Cantrell posted
Shane Petit There was a derailment in the mid to late 70's at the grain elevator. Someone threw the switch and a northbound went onto a siding and hit some parked grain cars.

John W. Meachum posted
The train is westbound on the Big 4 westbound track at Pana, Il. The IC runs from perpendicular to the Big 4. The switching tower was three stories tall, but was cut down to two after, I believe, a fire. The Union Station that then served the Big 4 and IC is across the tracks from the tower. The small white building across the tracks from the tower is the original IC Freight building, The station and the freight building are gone, the tower is now two stories. It is no longer in use and is privately owned.

John W. Meachum posted
Pana Union Station is the low dark building in the right center. The freight building is to its right. Union Station is long gone. The freight building still stands, but barely. It is in sad shape. The tower still stands. the white building and the very left of the picture is the Big 4/NYC freight depot. The C&EI tracks are in the foreground.

This posting has more pictures and information in the comments.