Monday, August 24, 2026

Madison, WI: (MX) Tower: Milwaukee vs. C&NW

(Satellite)

Photo via NorthAmericanInterlockings
[Looking Northeast along the C&NW.]

Dave Martens posted two images with the comment: "This is the location of the former MX tower in Madison Wisconsin - thought to be the only crossing of two railroads (Milwaukee Road and Chicago & Northwestern) in the middle of a lake. Both lines are still active. Additionally, a roadway (John Nolan Drive) has been added as seen in my photo. The RR line paralleling the road is the former CNW line (former CNW depot is nearby) and the RR line crossing it is the former MILW line.  A Don Ross photo of the tower during the steam era is linked here (https://donsdepot.irm.org/dr0001/cnw344.jpg) and Google Maps view is also included."
[Actually, it is the northern part of the John Nolan Drive that parallels C&NW. The sounthern part parallels the Milwaukee.]
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DonsDepot

wihap

1959 Madison West and 1969 Madison East Quads @ 24,000

I include this map to demonstrate that the National Rail Network Map can have a lot of errors. Pink is supposed to mean CPKC, while all of the grey lines that I checked are labeled WSOR. I'm not listing all of the errors, just the ones that caused me the most confusion. The route to the West is labelled WSOR, but it is CPKC. The route to the southeast has the self-contained error of being colored CPKC but having a label of WSOR.
National Rail Network Map

Given the errors in the above map, I went to some primary sources. Note that WSOR has some of the C&NW routes as well as Milwaukee routes.
WATCO via WSOR via Dennis DeBruler

cpkcr

Lidgerwood, ND: Wood Grain Elevators

North: (Satellite)
South: (Satellite)

North Elevator


Street View, Oct 2021

The small bins and leg have been removed.
Street View, Aug 2025

South Elevator


Street View, Aug 2025

The big dryer is hidden by the tree in the above view.
Street View, Aug 2025

Street View, Aug 2025

The big dryer was built in Aug 2021. Note the blue jacks at the base of the dryer. They build a new ring at the bottom and then jack the whole thing up to make room for another ring.
Marvin Olivares, Aug 2021

Both Elevators


Wesley Peters posted five photos with the comment:
Grain Elevator Photography Trip 2, North Dakota.
Lidgerwood, Richland County, ND.
North Complex- Farmers Co-op Elevator Co. False-front headhouse built in 1963, Slettebo Construction Co. 50,000-bushel capacity. Annex built in 1964, T. E. Ibberson Co. 63,000-bushel capacity.
South Complex- GTA Farmers Elevator Co-op. False-front headhouse built in 1975, Jacobson Construction Co. 110,000-bushel capacity.
Photographed on 7/19/2025.
Photos courtesy of Wesley Peters.
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The northern elevator used to be next to the SOO railroad, and the southern one was next to Great Northern.
1907/07 Wyndmere Quad @ 125,000

Today, the southern (GN) tracks are connected to the northern (SOO) tracks east of town, and the SOO route is now owned by Dakota, Missouri Valley & Western Railroad.
National Rail Network Map

Sunday, August 23, 2026

Claire City, SD: Wood Grain Evevator

(Satellite)

Street View, Mar 2025

Wesley Peters posted four photos with the comment:
Grain Elevator Photography Trip 2, South Dakota.
Claire City, Roberts County, SD.
Farmers Grain & Fuel Co./Farmers Co-op Elevator GTA. False-front headhouse built in 1974-1975, Hogenson Construction Co. Bushel capacity unknown. Middle headhouse built in 1913. 25,000-bushel capacity. Annex built in 1967, Hogenson Construction Co. 60,000-bushel capacity.
Features Hogenson's signature mint green office and driveway.
Photographed on 7/19/2025.
Photos courtesy of Wesley Peters.
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See New Effington for information about the railroad.


Castleton-On-Hudson, NY: 300-Year Old Art Studio/Grist Mill Destroyed by Flood

(Satellite)

weather
300-year-old mill collapses in NY Hudson Valley floods
10" (25.4cm) of rain in less that 24 hours

Before. The Schodack Creek that is to the left of this building is way over its banks in the above view. And the water is flowing down Muitzeskill Road.
Street View, Sep 2025

Facebook Reel

The building is no longer a grist mill. It is the art studio for Laura Lee Ross, and she lost much of her life's work. She now has a gofundme
A news report that includes the flood's impact on her building.
news10

Saturday, August 22, 2026

Chicago, IL: 1916 Ashburn Flying Field Proceeded Midway Airport

(Satellite)

The terminal was at 83rd and Cicero. The airport was between Cicero & Pulaski and 79th and 87th Streets. It is now the Scottsdale Neighborhood of Chicago.

Glenn Ragaishis posted
Ashburn Airfield was located just east of Cicero Ave at 83rd Street and was Chicago’s first airfield. Estimated date of photos is 1920. Today, the neighborhood of Scottsdale occupies the site.
Bill Price posted
Ashburn Airfield opened in 1916 at 83rd St. just east of Cicero Ave. on the southwest side of Chicago. This view is looking north. Considered Chicago’s first airport, it was supplanted by Municipal Airport (Midway). Early aviator Charles Lindbergh used the airfield as well as early US Mail operations and pilot training for WW1.

"Ten miles southwest of the loop, Ashburn was home to Chicago’s first airport. Ashburn Flying Field opened in 1916 in what was then a rural area. It served as a training camp for the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps during World War I. Ashburn Flying Field closed in 1939." [wttw]

1938 Berwyn, 1929 Englewood and 1929 Blue Island Quads @ 24,000

It looks like it actually used just a small part of that land close to Cicero and 83rd. 
1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

2:57 video @ 0:09
Chicago's First Airport - The one before Midway

New Carlisle, IN: 1990 I/N Tek & Kote Steel Mill and Viterra/Gavilon Grain Elevator

Steel Mill: (Satellite)
Elevator: (Satellite)

Viral Media posted
New Carlisle Tek - Kote Plant
The Cleveland-Cliffs Tek and Kote facility in New Carlisle, Indiana, receives substantially all its feedstock from Cleveland-Cliffs’ facilities in Indiana Harbor [East and West] and Burns Harbor via daily Norfolk Southern unit trains. The trains run daily from New Carlisle to 60 miles west to the Indiana Harbor Facility in East Chicago, Indiana, and back again. The Cleveland Cliffs Indiana Harbor complex is one of the largest integrated steelmaking facilities in North America.
The plant in New Carlisle was built in 1990 as a joint venture of Inland Steel Industries and Nippon Steel. 
ArcelorMittal later acquired Inland Steel. In 2019, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. completed the acquisition of substantially all of the operations of ArcelorMittal USA LLC and its subsidiaries, forming the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America. The Tek and Kote plant is now part of Cliffs.

railroad_journal posted three photos with the comment:
Cliffs Tek + Kote
Each morning Norfolk Southern B09 (turn) unit train departs with empty open coil cars and gondolas filled with steel scrap for recycling. After reaching East Chicago the empty cars are dropped and returns loaded with steel coils. The Cleveland-Cliffs Tek and Kote facility in New Carlisle, Indiana, receives substantially all its feedstock from Cleveland-Cliffs’ facilities in Indiana Harbor and Burns Harbor via daily Norfolk Southern unit trains.
Each morning the empty coil train leaves the New Carlisle yard to travel about 60 miles west to the Indiana Harbor Facility in East Chicago, Indiana. The Cleveland Cliffs Indiana Harbor complex is one of the largest integrated steelmaking facilities in North America.
The coil steel unit trains that supply the New Carlisle, IN are usually about 40 open coil cars with 3 to 5 coils per car depending and width and weight. Cliffs Tek performs continuous pickling and tandem rolling through the Continuous Descale Cold Mill (CDCM), and continuous annealing, temper rolling, and inspection through the Continuous Annealing Processing Line (CAPL) in order to provide material to Cliffs Kote for galvanizing or galvannealing. In the adjacent facility, Cliffs Kote, uses separate lines to produce 500,000 tons of hot-dip galvanized and galvannealed and 400,000 tons of electrogalvanized sheet annually. The principal are automotive and appliance markets. 
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Viral Media posted two photos with the comment:
Unit Steel Train Power
NS 9839 GE C44-9W and NS GE ES40DC tied up in the Cliffs Tek + Kote yard in New Carlisle, Indiana in 2020. The locomotives are always tail-to-tail as this unit train is a “Turn” – it brings empty coil cars to the Indiana Harbor Steel Mill in East Chicago, Indiana, and returns loaded with coils.  The train is known as Norfolk Southern B09 New Carlisle, Indiana to Michigan Avenue Yard - East Chicago, Indiana. The locomotives always overnight in New Carlisle.
The Cleveland-Cliffs Tek and Kote facility in New Carlisle, Indiana, receives substantially all its feedstock from Cleveland-Cliffs’ facilities in Indiana Harbor and Burns Harbor via daily Norfolk Southern unit trains. The trains run daily from New Carlisle to 60 miles west to the Indiana Harbor Facility in East Chicago, Indiana, and back again. The Cleveland Cliffs Indiana Harbor complex is one of the largest integrated steelmaking facilities in North America.
[The rest of the description is a repeat of the above post's description.]
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Grain Elevator


Viral Media posted
GAVILON GRAIN ELEVATOR
A westbound Norfolk Southern empty coal train with BNSF run-through power on the NS Chicago Line passing New Carlisle, Indiana. BNSF 5740 GE ES44AC leads with BNSF 5679 GE AC44CW trailing. The coal gondolas reporting marks are DEEX (Detroit Edison Co.). The train is passing in front of the Gavilon Grain elevators which is a prominent landmark in the area. Founded as Lake's Farm Service, Inc. in 1968, it was acquired by DeBruce Grain. In 2010, DeBruce Grain was acquired by Gavilon. Gavilon's history dates back to 1874 when Peavey Company built its first grain facility in Sioux City, Iowa. Gavilon employs 2,000 people around the world and is the second largest grain handler in North America based on storage capacity.
[According to a Google Maps' label, this elevator is now owned by Viterra.]

In the lower-right corner is the center cab locomotive that it would use to load cuts of hopper cars.
Satellite

This view shows the two large jump-form silos that we can't see in the trackside photo above.
Street View, Aug 2019

Viral Media posted
Passing Huge Grain Elevator
Eastbound freight passing the massive Viterra Grain elevators in New Carlisle, Indiana on the Norfolk Southern Chicago LIne. BNSF 3800 GE ET44C4 is on point with NS 9487 and NS 9689, both GE C44-9W locomotives trailing.
The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad’s Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily along the south shore of Lake Erie and across northern Indiana.  In 1998, its ownership was split at Cleveland, Ohio, between CSX Transportation to the east and Norfolk Southern Railway in the west. Now from Cleveland, west to Chicago, the line is known as Norfolk Sothern’s Chicago Line.

Viral Media posted
PASSING TIME
A westbound Norfolk Southern Intermodal on the NS Chicago Line passing a unit grain train in New Carlisle, Indiana. The intermodal has NS 4196 GE AC44C6M is on point with NS 7685 GE ES40DC trailing. The train is passing in front of the Gavilon Grain elevators, a prominent landmark in the area. This is a very busy time of year at the elevator, preparing unit grain trains with grain from the fall harvest.

Viral Media posted
WESTBOUND FREIGHT
The freight is passing a Plymouth MDT 35 Ton industrial locomotive at Gavilon Grain in New Carlisle, Indiana.  While the ground has a dusting of snow, the critter has a dusting of grain dust. This is a busy time at the elevator building unit trains. The westbound train has just passed through South Bend, and is an hour outside of Chicago. NS 4015 GE CC44C6M is on point with NS 9555 GE C44-9W and NS 1075 EMD SD70ACe trailing.  NS 4015 GE CC44C6M was rebuilt in GE Erie in July 2016 from a C40-9 that was originally built in 1995. This is a example of the Norfolk Southern “DC to AC” program repowering their fleet for the more efficient future.

Friday, August 21, 2026

Wagoner, OK: Lost/MoPac/SIMS Depot

(Satellite)

Ken Madison posted three photos with the comment:
Train Depot Tuesday, Wagoner, OK,  October 2004, November 2005
Today's depot is the Missouri Pacific (MoPac) depot that was located at the Union Pacific, formerly MKT/MoPac, diamond on the south edge of downtown Wagoner OK.
This was the 2nd depot, build date unknown, that replaced a wood depot. Unfortunately it was demolished in October 2009.
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Google Earth, May 2008

I got an aerial photo by habit before I realized that 2009 is recent enough to be covered by Google Earth. Since I got it, I might as well include it.
Feb 20, 1973 @ 24,000; AR1VDEP00020007