Sunday, October 29, 2023

Columbia, IL: Lost/GM&O/M&O Depot

Depot: (Satellite)
Old Grain Elevator: (Satellite, the foundation is now grass. It's shadow was apparent in the 1968 aerial.)


Bill Seibel posted
M&O Depot, Columbia, IL. Later to become the mighty GM&O.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Bill's post
It appears that it was a little southeast of Locust Street, https://maps.app.goo.gl/b2WbvAvUmPmeX6G49.
1946 aerial. The RoW is now a paved path through town. [AR1CB0000040014]

The industrial spur into town is very confusing because I can't see it in the 1946 aerial photo. This spur also shows up in a 1951 topo. I used this copy because it shows it better. Did the spur get built between 1945 and 1951? I find that hard to believe because it would have destroyed some buildings. But I also find it hard to believe that a couple of cartographers would invent a spur out of thin air. So, I'm very confused.
1954 Columbia Quad @ 24,000

The only other aerial photo available was 1968, so I checked it out. I still don't see the spur. But, because of the shadow, one of the industries on the other side of town was a grain elevator.
EarthExplorer: Mar 17, 1968 @ 24,000; AR1VBZG00020029

Four of several images posted by Kaskaskia-Cahokia Trail with the comment:
Paralleling the KCTrail, the beautiful GM&O Rebel ran through Waterloo and Columbia, Illinois until 1958. The  first photo is a drawing of the train passing the Columbia Depot. The arrival-departure board from the Columbia Depot pictured shows the Rebel has been Annuled ( officially canceled and spelled wrong-Annulled)) on October 14, 1958.
The Gulf Coast Rebel was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad (GM&O) between St. Louis, Missouri and Mobile, Alabama. It operated from 1940 to 1958. Unlike the similarly named Mobilecand Ohio Rebels, the GM&O Gulf Coast Rebel used conventional locomotive-pulled equipment and the initial train was decorated in the old M&O silver, gray and red. After the acquisition of the Chicago and Alton the Red and Orange paint scheme was adopted.The train was the last GM&O service south of St. Louis, Missouri when it was discontinued on October 14, 1958. The streamlined Alco DL 105-109 diesel locomotives were designed by Otto Kuhler and appeared on the railroad scene in 1941.
This right-of- away was originally the St. Louis and Cairo Railroad Company. ThevThe Mobile and Ohio Railroad, whose tracks  extended from Mobile, Alabama to Cairo, Illinois, acquired the St. Louis and Cairo Railroad Company on February 1, 1886, and at once set to work to broaden the gauge. This was accomplished in November of 1886, when Mobile and Ohio trains were operated on the wider tracks. The Mobile and Ohio was then able to  haul passengers and freight from Mobile, Alabama  to St. Louis, with  ferry service at Cairo before a bridge was built over the Ohio River. The M&O merged, in 1940, with the Gulf, Mobile and Northern to become the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad.
[Most of the remaining images are of the locomotives used on the service.]
a
Monroe County History Museum: I am wondering if this is one of the Columbia artist's colored drawings - Diane...

b
Bill Edrington: Arrivals/departures board at Sparta.

c

d



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