Friday, October 31, 2025

Indiana, PA: Bar/B&O/BR&P Depot and Jimmy Stewart Museum

Depot: (Satellite)
Museum: (Satellite)

Street View, Nov 2023

I.e. Xam posted
Indiana PA- BR&P,1904

The Buffalo Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway Company updated
Inspection Train at Indiana Pa in 1927. The little Atlantic locomotives were relegated to service such as this, and some locals by this time. I wonder if a 19-year-old man named Jimmy Stewart was still around town at that time!

Robert Shaw IV, Aug 2025

Ken Morris, Apr 2022

Farmersville Station, NY: Lost/B&O/BR&P Depot

(Satellite)


Note the water tower behind the depot. The depot was between the tracks and Elton Road.
The Buffalo Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway Company updated
Farmersville circa 1910.

The topo map doesn't help.
1963/64 Freedom Quad @ 24,000

This aerial photo also did not help. I guess it was already gone.
May 17, 1961 @ 28,000; AR1VAEO00010041

Given that it was gone before the 1960s, I got the oldest map I could find. Back then the railroad was labelled BR&P instead of B&O. It looks like it was a little closer to Church Street than Back Road. It looks like the slab foundation and platform are still there in the aerial photo.
1924/24 Franklinville Quad @ 62,500

East Mosgrove, PA: Lost/B&O/BR&P Depot

(Satellite)


The Buffalo Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway Company posted
BR&P station at East Mosgrove. The trestle over the Allegheny River is in the foreground.

This photo is looking East. In the above photo, we can see the cut that was made in the river bluff on the far side of the river.
History's Mirror posted via Dennis DeBruler



Thursday, October 30, 2025

Bay City, MI: Michigan/Monitor/Columbia/German-American Sugar Company

(Satellite)

Michigan Sugar Company posted
THROWBACK THURSDAY: Aerial photo of what was then the Monitor Sugar Company factory in Bay City taken during the 1967 sugarbeet slicing campaign.
The factory was built in 1901 by the German-American Sugar Company with an original slicing capacity of 400 tons per day. The factory was designed by architects Pratt & Koepke and constructed by American Copper, Brass and Iron Company of Chicago. Over the years, the company would undergo two name changes: in 1917 it was changed to Columbia Sugar Company and in 1932 it became Monitor Sugar Company.
Michigan Sugar Company took over operation of the factory in 2004 after growers from Monitor Sugar Company merged with growers from Michigan Sugar Company to form the cooperative that still exists today.

1967/69 Bay City Quad @ 24,000

Street View, Jul 2019

In 2024 a $109m Molasses Desugarization Facility was added so that the plant can extract 90% to 95% of the sugar inside beets. [RouteBayCity]

1 of a few interior shots of the new facility via HeyBayCity

Following are some photos of the already existing plant.

Jared Gosselin, Jun 2022

Nick Burns, Nov 2019

Evil Adams, Nov 2017

Is that air horn in the upper-left corner an alarm that the computer can trigger in case something goes out of specification? I know that AT&T switching offices used a big bell for alarms.
Evil Adams, Nov 2017

Martinsville, IL: Pennsy (Vandalia) Depot and Marathon Tank Farm

Depot: (Satellite)
Tank Farm: (Satellite)

Andy Zukowski posted
Vandalia Railroad Depot in Martinsville, Illinois.  C1910
Richard Fiedler: It was uncommon for depots to have living quarters for the agent’s family upstairs in Illinois.
Paul Brewer: Still stands as a museum, though perhaps not in the original location.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP
Dennis DeBruler commented on Paul's comment
 I think this is the original location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/9i9MiYso2dE7ftUB8. Where is the current location?

The tank farm used to cover a lot more land.
1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

This grain elevator implies that there was another railroad in town on a north/south route.
Satellite

But I could not find such a railroad on the oldest topo map I could find. Nor on my 1928 Railroad Atlas.
1936/36 Casey Quad @ 48,000

Browns, IL: Lost/(IC+Southern) Depot

(Satellite it was in the northeast quadrant of the crossing of the IC and Southern.)

Andy Zukowski posted
Illinois Central Railroad 2-8-0 at the Railroad Depot in Browns, Illinois. 1951
Don Wagoner: The PD&E

Larry Candilas commented on Andy's post
MP 205.1 Mattoon District; located where it crossed Southern RR; 1945 track chart

Dennis DeBruler commented on Andy's post
Given the "L" shape of the depot, I wonder if it was a joint or union depot with Southern.

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Littleton, IL: Lost/Macomb, Industry & Littleton Depot

(Satellite)

See Industry, IL, for a lot more information on the Macomb, Industry & Littleton Railroad. As the name implies, the railroad terminated in this town.

Andy Zukowski posted
The only photo of the Littleton Depot is this shot, taken looking south with Broadway in the foreground. WIUSpecial Collections.

Note the wye south of town to turn the locomotive since this was the southern terminus for the MI&L. The main road bent, but the railroad continued straight south.
1923/23 Rushville Quad @ 62,500

Since the photo at the top of these notes is looking South, the depot was in the southeast quadrant of Broadway and the tracks. That is consistent with this aerial photo.
1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

I'm surprised that I can't see the water tower. 
Digitally zoomed to photo resolution

The town's grain elevator is a rather big grain elevator for such a small town. I'm surprised that Google Maps doesn't have a label for who owns it.
Satellite

Street View, Aug 2024, looking from Broadway St.

Street View, Aug 2024, looking from Post Road.

Chickasha, OK: Antique Auto Club/Rock Island Depot, BN Caboose and Old Fire Trucks

Depot: (Satellite)
Caboose: (Satellite)
Fire Truck: (Satellite, Google Maps moves my pin. It is parked under the awning.)

Street View, Apr 2022

The BN caboose on the left in the above view is a reminder that Frisco also used to go through this town.
1966/67 Chickasha Quad @ 24,000

Ken Madison posted
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Depot. 
Chickasha OK. December 2010
This view of the depot is normally blocked by Union Pacific trains but I caught it where all the tracks were clear and with the mid morning sun,

I almost got a clear view of the depot. The other three views did have a train in front of the depot.
Street View, May 2023

The trackside views show that the agent's bay window was just to the right of the main waiting room.
DeEtta Eroh, Jun 2021

Chickasaw Country Tourism, Jul 2018

James, Nov 2022

Chickasaw Country Tourism, Jul 2018

They have more than one fire truck because this is a ladder truck.
Kevin Stewart, May 2017

A 1970s paint job is not going to last forever. Was this a Frisco caboose or some other merger component?
Bud B., Jan 2020

And, of course, the grain elevator in Ken's photo caught my eye. It looks like an abandoned feed mill.
Street View, Jun 2023

Boston Mills, OH: Old Pure Gas Station

(Satellite)

Street View, May 2019

Jim Bobel posted
Restored Pure gas station in Boston Mills, Ohio. In the Cuyahoga National Park.

Street View, May 2019

Robert Kanieski, Sep 2025

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Stronghurst, IL: Grain Elevator

(Satellite)

Steve Biever posted
Eastbound at Stronghurst. Sept. 17, 2025.

It amazes me how large some grain elevators are even though they don't have any rail service. This image is tall because I included all of the shadow for the north bin.
Satellite

While trying to determine if the building on the right in this view was the Santa Fe depot, I noticed what looks like a feed mill just to the left of that building in the far background.
Street View, Jul 2025

So I checked it out.
Street View, Jul 2025

Google Maps labels this as Ideal Ready Mix, but this facility looks like a feed mill. In fact, the yellow sign on the door reads "Alpha Feed Mill." A ready-mix concrete supplier would have piles of material laying around. 
Street View, Jul 2025

A view of the north end of the main elevator.
Street View, Jul 2025

The big bin on the right of the above view is distorted. So this is a more realistic view of those two bins. I wonder how many bushels those bins can hold.
Street View, Jul 2025