St Charles, IL: C&NW Branch, Depot and Freight House

(Satellite, southwest quadrant of Walnut and 1st)

A lot of industries were established along the Fox River because of the water power. The C&NW had a branch line that went North along the river and terminated at a depot and freight house in St. Charles. The C&NW also had two branches that went south along the Fox River.

The following maps and photos were provided as comments on a post.

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This 1983 map shows how the industrial spur served Geneva.

Comment on a post

This topo map provides an overview of the C&NW branch line through Geneva and St. Charles.

1949 Geneva Quad @ 24,000

Dennis DeBruler commented on "map a."
The building that was built on the former railroad property has a façade that makes it look like a series of old buildings.
 https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4...

Baraboo, WI: Badger Army Ammunition Plant, was the World's Largest in 1942

(Satellite, I had to keep zooming out because I kept seeing more remnants. It covered a lot of land.)

I knew that Baraboo, WI, had the Circus World Museum, but I was unaware that a little south of town there is the Museum of Badger Army Ammunition.

BadgerOrdanceHistory
Telling the story of the World's Largest Ammunition Plant in 1942.
[The photo is of just the north half of the plant.]
It cost $65m ($1.24b in 2021). The farmers were cleared off the land and construction began by Mar 1, 1942.

Bob Koch posted
Badger Army Ammunition Plant Powerhouse, Baraboo, Wisconsin. Served during WWII, Korea, Vietnam. US of A's biggest ammo plant in the 40's. Maintained in ready status until 1997. Fuel oil powered boilers. Toured in middle school in 1990. Would drive by as a kid and one stack would be belching. Majority of the plant including this building demolished in 2012 and remains public land today. Photo copyright Skillet Creek Media.
Dennis DeBruler: http://www.badgerordnancehistory.org/

As I expected with an ammunition plant, a lot of the buildings are small and uniformly spaced from each other to avoid a chain reaction of exploding ammunition storage buildings. The buildings are small to reduce the amount of ammo lost and reduce the size of an explosion if a building were to explode. We already saw rows of ammo storage bunkers in the Joliet Arsenal.

USGS: May 22, 1956 @ 23,600, AR1VKG000010025

1958 North Freedom and 1959 Baraboo Quads @ 24,000

C&NW had a short spur from the east and Milwaukee had a longer spur from the south at Mazomanie.

1957 Madison Quad @ 250,000

East Pittsburgh, PA: and Wilmerding, PA: Westinghouse Electric and Air Brake Companies

Holtec/Electric: (Satellite)

Wabtec/Air Brake: (Satellite)

Westinghouse Electric

3D Satellite

onview

The plant was just Northeast of the George Westinghouse Bridge.

1933 Photo from U of Michigan Lincoln Highway Collection via BridgeHunter via Dennis DeBruler

Jeff Yinzer Wood posted three photos with the comment: "Inside the old Westinghouse air brake mill that is now Holtec. That's the original crane from its start."

Andrew Stewart: Actually that was Westinghouse Electric in East Pittsburgh, Westinghouse Air Brake is still in operation in Wilmerding.

Bill Aguilera: Riveted fish belly. Ours in the department were installed in 1912 and running also.

Linda Hudson: We used to load MPC units (tanks) that went to nuclear power plants out of there Holtec ...the power plants put the nuclear waste in them.

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Westinghouse Air Brake

3D Satellite

Independence, IA: 1854 Wapsipinicon Mill and Rock Island Depot

Mill: (Satellite)

Depot: (Satellite, it was east of 2nd Ave and south of the tracks)

Street View

Dave Durham commented on his post
CRI&P Depot, Independence, Iowa, 1909

1973 Independence Quad @ 24,000

 

IndependenceIA
"The Wapsipinicon Feed Mill and Dam became operational in 1854. The 5-story structure is 122 feet long, by 62 feet wide and was used at first as a flouring mill. As wheat production slowed down, it became more economical to produce 'Wapsi' brand poultry and stock feed."

SilosAndSmokeStacks
"The Wapsipinicon Mill is one of Iowa’s largest grist mills, towering six stories above the Wapsipinicon River. This museum interprets the grist milling process from 1870 to the 1940s and features original buhr stones, milling equipment, early agricultural artifacts and hands-on exhibits."

 

TripAdvisor

The fourth paragraph says this mill was run with a turbine that used a 2' pipe with a 7' head and that generated 140 horsepower.

Darrin Ochsner, Jul 2022

The river was running high in July 2017.

Roger Fischels, Jul 2017

In 2008 and 2010 there was flooding that caused damage.

MillPictures
"*Update: Again in 2008 and 2010 there was major flooding on the Wapsipinicon River which caused damage. FEMA, through the historic branch, was able to help with the meal floor and foundation - which is still an ongoing project. The historical society is now looking for additional grants for the roof. Updated picture shows the mill during the flood of July 2010. Photographer-Mark Blaker, Independence, Iowa. Leanne Harrison 03/12/2011*"

Cosmos Mariner, Aug 2017

1:58 @ 0:25

Cleveland, OH: Aquarium/Power Plant

(3D Satellite, 22,482 photos!)

The aquarium is a repurposed power plant, which explains the smokestacks. It is nice that they have preserved them. I could not find a history of the building on their web site. Between the two stacks we see the abandoned B&O Bridge #463.

Street View

Jeremy Schenker posted 16 photos with the comment: "We went to the Greater Cleveland Aquarium today! I did not know it was an old Power Plant. It is pretty neat how they incorporated some of the old plant into the aquarium."

David Adkins: 20 some yrs ago they had bars and comedy clubs in there. It was a pretty popular place. One of the bars was “The howling at the moon saloon.”

Jack Haney: The power plant was for the lakeshore railway. There was another plant in Avon Lake by the presently decommissioned Genon Power Plant.

Chris Snyder: The maritime museum in Erie PA did the same thing except they left one of the steam turbines in place. It was also an old power plant. It has more of a powerplant feel to it than the cleveland aquarium

Sam McFarland: I had my wedding there!

Max Kaminski: There's no way that PVC firemain meets code.

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Clinton, IN: 1904 C&EI Museum/Depot and 1914 Freight House

Depot: (Satellite)

Freight: (Satellite)

Just a couple of blocks east of the freight house, the railroad crosses the Wabash River.

The depot was built in 1904 and is currently owned and operated by Little Italy Festival Town (LIFT). [IndState] This depot replaced a wooden depot built around 1870 by the Terre Haute and Evansville Railroad Co. "Local trains ran daily to mining locations just outside the city." Passenger service ended in the late 1960s, and the depot was renovated in the 1990s. The freight house was built in 1914 and restored in 2013. [csxthsociety-pdf]

Street View of Track Side of Depot

Street View

 

Mark Hinsdale posted
Clinton IN (Chicago & Eastern Illinois)

Ted Dorsey posted ten photos with the comment: "The Chicago & Eastern Illinois railway station in Clinton Indiana (on the Chicago-Evansville mainline) last saw passenger service in 1968.  But the good folks in Clinton had the wisdom to preserve the depot, even convert it to a mining and railroad museum.  The line is still a very active CSX artery, with service from Chicago through Woodland Junction, Danville, and on to Terre Haute.  But alas, no passenger service.   7-22-22"

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1 of 3 interior photos of the coal mining part of the museum, csxthsociety

The only street view driver visit to Clinton caught the 2013 renovation in progress. This view shows how extensive the renovation was. It looks like CSX is also going to renovate some track somewhere.

Street View, Jul 2013

I.E. Xam, Apr 2015

The 2010 photo vs. the 2013 photo shows that there was a reason they completely replaced the roof.

Global Earth, Aug 2010

GloBal Earth, Sep 2013