Hamlet, IN: Junction (HA) Tower: CFW&E/Pennsy vs. Aban/NYC/Kankakee Belt/II&I and Wood Feed Mill

Tower: (Satellite, according to the track diagram below, it was in the southeast quadrant of the crossing.)

Feed Mill: (Satellite)

CFW&E = Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern

Kankakee Belt

II&I = Indiana, Illinois & Iowa

US-30 (Lincoln Highway) Overview

Most of US-30 across Indiana was not part of the Lincoln Highway because the Lincoln Highway went northwest from Fort Wayne to Elkhart and through the northern Indiana towns to the south suburbs of Chicagoland.

Darren posted five images with the comment:

Conrails "Hamlet" (HA) tower (Ex-PRR/NYC)

Hamlet, Indiana

Aaron Combs: Believe the Kankakee line was abandoned 1980.

Daniel C Carroll Jr. shared

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5

1958/60 Hamlet Quad @ 24,000

Feed Mill

The feed mill was along the former NYC tracks.

Jessi Danford, Oct 2024

Ryan Fontanez, Apr 2024

Farm Fertilizers & Seeds Inc

The town has a large ag support business.

Satellite

The grain elevator not only has a fall projector, but it also has its own locomotive.

Street View, Aug 2025

The locomotive used to belong to Wisconsin & Southern. 

Street View, Jun 2023

In addition to the original silos, the elevagtor now has some big bins. And we can see in the satellite image that it has some big round piles.

Street View, Aug 2025

This was the original US-30 cutoff between Fort Wayne and Chicagoland.

Street View, Jun 2023

This is the view from the current US-30 route. It goes well north of town.

Street View, May 2022

Parker, SD: Wood Feed Mills and Grain Elevator

Feed Mill: (Satellite) 

Wandermore in South Dakota posted
Steve Smith shared

From a guy travelling around south dakota taking photos of many different buildings.

To get the grain to top of the elevator did they use some sort of small buckets attached to a belt ?

Monte Ferbee Rodacker: Yes. It's called a leg.

Sam Walter: This is a wonderful video if you have a few minutes. Shows all the inner workings and whatnot.

https://youtu.be/VGqZn5s_q_Y?si=hege8DNSJeF-NJV_

The Chicago & North Western used to pass north of the wood feed mill. This looks like a more modern feed mill that is a couple blocks west of the wood one.

Street View, Oct 2024

And Nutrien Ag Solutions also sells a lot of chemicals.

Satellite

Grain storage is handled by an elevator that still operates along the former Milwaukee Road tracks. This elevator has a fall protector.

Street View, Jul 2021

BNSF now owns this Milwaukee Road route.

sddot

Baltimore, MD: 1912 Eastern Avenue Sewage Pumping Station

(Satellite)

The building still has its smokestack.

Street View, Jun 2011

Street View, Sepo 2023

Part of it is now a public works museum.

Street View, Jun 2019

Back when it received coal from barges.

Image via pwexperience

Matt Finlay, Oct 2019

pwexperience

pwexperience

Facebook Reel

West Yellowstone, MT: Coldest Town on US-20 and Winter Road Closures in Yellowstone National Park

(Satellite)

US-20 Overview

Exploring Historic Route 20 posted

West Yellowstone, Montana is COLD!   Yes, it is one of the coldest communities in the lower 48 and the coldest climate community location along US Route 20. (Inside Yellowstone NP is colder).  For east coast friends, Mount Washington, NH has the same climate.  The photo looks like mid-winter to many, but it was likely taken in the spring.

West Yellowstone, Montana features a subalpine climate with long, very cold and snowy winters, with short mild summers Annual snowfall is around 166".  The record high has reached 99°F while the coldest is -66° F.   

With this said, West Yellowstone is a vibrant, western community with an active downtown.  It is designed to attract tourists with many shops, great restaurant's, museums and outdoor activities.    Daily winter tours into YNP depart through March.

Places we love:   Museum of the Yellowstone , Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center , @morningglorycoffee  , The Buffalo Bar and their Pot Roast Sandwich,  Eagles Store.  

@destinationyellowstone 

166" of snow = 13.8' = 14.2m

In terms of  a tourist stop, I didn't find any fudge shops. But I did find Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream. And there are a lot of gift shops in that town.

 

The town has a lot of rustic motels. It even has the previous generation of roadside lodging that consisted of cabins.

Street View, Apr 2018

And it has a museum.

MuseumOfTheYellowstone

And it has a couple of snowblowers.

Street View, Aug 2024

Street View, Apr 2018

But the snowblowers can't keep up with mother nature. When I was trying to figure out were US-20 was east of West Yellowstone, I noticed that the roads in Yellowstone National park are closed. US-20 shares the US-191 route until it gets to Yellowstone Lake. Then it shares US-14 to the east all the way to Greybull, WY.

Satellite, accessed Feb 2026

The earliest any of the roads open is Mar 15. Some stay closed until May. I guess you get to West Yellowstone using US-191 from I-90 in the Winter.

Satellite

I remember when I studied the new bridge for US-212 over Yellowstone River that the route was important because it is the only road in Yellowstone National Park that is plowed during the Winter.

Lorain, OH: Three Former Gas Stations

Sunoco: (Satellite)

Sinclair: (Satellite, I could not find this one.)

Citgo: (Satellite)

Citgo

Street View, Sep 2023

Sunoco

Street View, Jul 2016

Allen Bender posted three photos with the comment:

3 Old Gas Stations in Lorain, Ohio

1. Reid Avenue,  was a Sunoco & Gulf Station and even a Florist. 

2. Old Sinclair Station @ Grove & East 28th Street

3. Benny's which was an old Citgo Station on Reid.

None of the 3 currently have gas pumps but are still there.

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2, cropped

3, cropped

Old Saybrook, CT: Amtrak/NYNH&H Lost Junction Tower and Depot

Tower: (Satellite)

Depot: (Satellite)

Stu Nicholson posted

New Haven Railroad Tower at Old Saybrook CT

Long guarding the junction of what is now the Northeast Corridor and the New Haven's Valley Line along the Connecticut River, the Old Saybrook tower is no longer there but I caught this memory of it back in the early 1970's.

Street View, Aug 2024

1958 Old Lyme and Essex Quads @ 24,000

Owaneco, IL: Lost/B&O Depot and Wood Grain Elevator

Depot: (Satellite?)

Elevator: (Satellite)

Thomas Scoville posted
The Baltimore & Ohio depot at Owaneco in June 1975. This building has been preserved at a museum in Taylorville. Unknown photographer, Thomas Dyrek collection.
[I couldn't find a museum, let alone the building.]
Richard Fiedler shared

I could not find the depot on this aerial. Note how IL-29 used to go around town rather than through it. The curved road behind the depot in Thomas' photo implies the depot was on the southeast side of town, but I don't see a building there. There is a smudge of the correct size north of the tracks and on today's Main Street. But if that is it, we should be able to see the grain elevator in the background of Thomas' photo.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

The grain elevator in the aerial is extant, and the elevator has grown considerably considering that it lost rail service quite a while ago.

Street View, May 2024

Street View, Jul 2024

Streator Junction, IL: Junction Shack: Santa Fe vs. TP&W

(Satellite)

Jimmy Fiedler updated

John Burt: Near Eureka.

John Burt commented on Jimmy's post
Another view taken in May of 1969.

Dennis DeBruler commented on John's "Near Eureka." comment
So that is where Santa Fe joined TP&W to use their tracks for a few miles to the west. 1958 Peoria Quad @ 250,000

Fortunately, the junction was above the upper bend in US-24 so that I could locate it on a satellite map. 

1958 Peoria Quad @ 250,000

There are very few diagonal lines to show were the Santa Fe tracks used to be.

Satellite