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

Odessa, MN: Decrepit Wood Grain Elevator and Feed Mill

Wood: (Satellite)
Feed Mill: (Satellite)

Street View, Jul 2024

I'm guessing this is a feed mill.
Street View, Jul 2024

Wesley Peters posted two photos with the comment:
Grain Elevator Photography Trip 2, North Dakota/South Dakota/Minnesota.
Odessa, Big Stone County, MN.
Built before 1911 (exact year unknown).
Photographed on 7/20/2025.
Photos courtesy of Wesley Peters.
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The railroad was built by Milwaukee.
1953/55 Ortonville Quad @ 62,500

It is now owned by BNSF.
National Rail Network Map

Thursday, August 20, 2026

Waverly, NE: 1871 CB&Q Depot & Water Tower, Wood Grain Elevator and Lumber Yard

Original Depot: (Satellite, based on the aerial photo below.)
Current Depot: (Satellite)
Water Tower: (Satellite)
Old Elevator: (Satellite)
New Elevator: (Satellite)
Lumber Yard: (Satellite)

1871 Depot and Water Tower


"In 1970 it was moved to the largest of the city parks for many uses including a few years as a haunted house. In 2002 it was moved to the Camp Creek fair grounds (2mi East of Waverly)" [reddit]

I.e. Xam posted
Waverly NE

James Dobbins posted three photos with the comment:
Good morning all! 
I'm glad I found this page. 
In the photos is the Waverly, Nebraska depot saved from demo several years back. 
My grandpa retired from the Lincoln yard in '96, his dad worked for BNSF as well, and his grandfather too (CB&Q).
When my grandpa passed my uncle took care of the depot and showed it at the annual thresher show on the fair grounds (Camp Creek Threshers).
When my uncle passed they asked me to be the caretaker the best I can. So I've done some cleaning, and fixed up some of the kids stuff. 
I'm glad to share with you all what's here. 
With the 3 generations from 1894 to 1996 they held on to a lot. The depot has 3 rooms, and the luggage room has a model train set.
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Note the waterspout on the right side of the photo at the top of these notes and the water tower in the background of Photo 3 above. I'm glad to see that the water tower was also saved.
waverlyed

Robert Souder, Jul 2016

This is also on the Camp Creek Thresher's ground.
Stephany DeGarmo, Jan 2020

The grounds also has a 7.5" guage railroad club.
CampCreekRailroaders

I wonder what was stored in all of those bins on the north side of town. That property has been reused as a material handling facility.
May 1, 1965 @ 18,000; AR1VAZV00050079

The black rectangle parallel to the tracks and east of Lancashire Street was the depot.
1964/65 Waverly Quad @ 24,000

Old and New Grain Elevators


Even though there are sidings by the elevator, I don't think it is rail served.
Street View, Jul 2025

Their new site has chemicals and propane as well as more storage.
Street View, May 2025

Lots of propane. It looks like the co-op also supplies drainage pipes.
Street View, May 2025

Lumber Yard


I note this lumber yard because it is rail served.
Satellite

Note only does the industrial spur have fresh ballast, a satellite caught a lumber car in the yard.
Satellite