Leland, IL: CB&Q Depot and Grain Elevators

Depot: (Satellite)

Old Elevator: (Satellite, an old wood grain elevator was on the green oval.)

New Elevator: (Satellite)

Andy Zukowski posted
CB&Q Railroad Depot at Leland, Illinois. 1903
Andy Zukowski posted again
CB&Q Railroad Depot in Leland, Illinois. 1908 [So which date is correct?]

Jacob Drexler: Which direction is this looking?

Jimmy Fiedler: Jacob Drexler i believe to the east? The depots where all located on the north side of the tracks

Richard Fiedler shared

Jimmy Fiedler commented on a post about the CB&Q depot in Batavia, IL.
JM Berrian chief mechanical officer of the Chicago & Aurora RR came up with its standard design. Probably made prefab in a shop or factory in Chicago somewhere then assembled on site in Batavia in 1854. A few examples of this design still exist closet one is in Bristol (Yorkville) which is a home. I think Leland illinios has one but was modernized thru the years. Pictured below is the one in Bristol.
[And Jimmy has another comment that dates the historic photo as probably late 1880s.]

There were four concrete silos added to the double wood grain elevator that was west of Main Street.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Andy's post
An aerial photo from Apr 1, 1969 with a scale of 14,400. The 1903 depot has been replaced by a mundane rectangle. And there were wood grain elevators still standing on both sides of Main Street. I think Andy's photo was taken from the grain elevator on the east side of Main Street. [AR1VCBO00030022]

John Burt posted
CB&Q Depot at Leland. 1910.
Jimmy Fiedler: that's a standard plan Chicago & Aurora RR depot
Thomas Whitt shared

 

Marty Bernard commented on Thomas' share
Here is what it looked like when I was substituting for the vacationing agent in July 1963.

If a slightly newer photo has better resolution, I'll go for the resolution. But in this case, I also got the oldest photo available from the Federal government to see if the dormer on the depot was already gone. It was. (The Illinois aerial photo site that has even older photos is not working correctly.) And I noticed that the concrete silos had not been built yet.

EarthExplorer: Jun 2, 1956 @ 60,000; ARA550330141333

 

Marty Bernard posted two photos with the comment: "Inside the bay window at the CB&Q Depot at Leland, IL, July 1963.  I was the substitute station agent while the regular agent was on vacation."

Bob Davis: Did you send and receive Morse code as part of your job? And that typewriter reminds me of the one in the Santa Fe Los Angeles Radio Shop. One of the techs said it was the oldest typewriter he had ever seen. "How old was it?" "When the survey party came to lay out the first railroad yard here, there was an abandoned native village on the site. Inside one of the native huts was this typewriter, with an unfinished letter to the 'Great White Father' in Washington DC, complaining about how the white man's iron horse was taking over their homeland."

Marty Bernard: No Morse Code Bob. We had telephones. Anyhow no need to talk to the dispatcher from Leland.

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Marty Bernard posted

While she looks like she is peeking around the depot, she is really flying with the Nebraska Zephyr on July 26, 1963.

CB&Q 9926A was an E7A built 9/1947and retired 9/1969.

Marty caught part of the old elevator.

Marty Bernard posted
The Old Gal Leads
CB&Q F3A 131A leads 3 red ones in on July 9, 1963, that is a first generation diesel is in charge of the bigger/brighter new guys. This F3A was built in 1949 and heads Train 66 at 1:48 p.m. at Leland IL.

Marty Bernard posted two photos with the comment:

About the Ak-Sar-Ben and the American Royal Zephyrs One Day

Normally the Ak-Sar-Ben Zepher and the American Royal Zephyr ran combined Galesburg to Chicago.  On July 9, 1963 they ran separately as first and second Train 30.  I caught them both at Leland, IL while substituting for the regular vacationing agent. Leland is on the Aurora to Galesburg double-track main (much closer to Aurora).

Photo1. CB&Q E7 9932A blows through Leland, IL on July 9, 1963 with the first Train 30, the eastbound Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr, a Lincoln to Chicago train. "Ak-Sar-Ben" is spelling Nebraska (Neb-ras-ka) backwards.

Photo 2. CB&Q's Second 30 on July 9, 1963, the American Royal Zephyr with an E7 at Leland, IL.  A Chicago and Kansas City train named for the American Royal, one of the Midwest's largest and oldest livestock exhibition, professional rodeo, and horse show.

Why two sections?  Possibly that day there was so much express/package/freight/mail that a second section was necessary.  Or maybe the American Royal was running late so the Ak-Sar-Ben ran first.

Marty Bernard shared

[I include these railfan photos because they capture the Kent elevator and part of the depot.]

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Street View, Aug 2023

Some more silos and a lot of bins have been added since 1969. Especially since this elevator does not have rail service.

Satellite

Street View, Aug 2023