Kansas City, KS: UP/MoPac Armstrong, UP Matoon Creek and UP/RI Armourdale Yards

UP Armstrong: (Satellite)

UP Matoon Creek: (Satellite)

RI Armourdale: (Satellite, the southern part of this yard was the Rock Island.)

Caoimhín Kevin Bunker posted three images with the comment: "Here's just one of those perfectly posed roundhouse photographs:  Union Pacific's Kansas Division at Armstrong, KS., c.1870s.  We see four beautiful Baldwin 4-4-0s and four handsome Rogers 4-4-0s, the eldest and smallest of which (making the most stack exhaust) had been downgraded to a switch engine and fitted with pilot footboards.  The engine crews also posing were justifiably proud.  Southern Methodist University Libraries - digital collections (online)"

Guillermo Bas: Not all the engines shown were 4-4-0s, KP 80 (third from the left) was an 0-6-0 switcher, Baldwin 2326 of 1870. She survived until 1916 as Shop Goat Cheyenne.

Rolando Maggi shared

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Dana T. Parker posted
The Union Pacific roundhouse at Armstrong, Kansas (ca 1870s), showing off its handsome engines...
Tom Hamilton: I assume that this is Armstrong yard in Kansas City, KS.
Dana T. Parker: Yes. Armstrong used to be a separate community, but was absorbed by Kansas City.
Rolando Maggi shared

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John Ott commented on Caoimhín's post
The Kansas Pacific started life as the "Union Pacific Railway Eastern Division" in hopes of siphoning off some of the congressional grant money and land offered to builders of a transcontinental RR. Here's one of the Rogers locomotives fresh from the factory, according to the Rogers order specs.
And he commented on Dana's post
Wrong "Union Pacific." Kansas Pacific Rwy started out corporate life as the Union Pacific Rwy. Eastern Division in 1863, but had no relation to the Union Pacific RR starting in Omaha. Started laying track in Kansas City that same year, changed name to Kansas Pacific in 1869, and reached Denver in 1870. The photo of the roundhouse in Armstrong, KS, was taken in 1873. Here's one of their early engines.

Andre Ming commented on Dana's post
I've always really liked this picture. I have this smaller non-cropped version that shows the original photograph I.D. plate.

1957 Shawnee and Kansas City Quads @ 24,000

This is how I learned about the Armourdale Yard.

Fans of Rock Island Lines posted

Terry Hinds: Flood of 1951. The Missouri River caused the Kaw river to back up. Heavy rains in the region caused bad flooding.

Labadie, MO: 1970 2.4gw Labadie Power Plant

(Satellite)

Mining #Shorts posted

West of St. Louis, four massive generating units rise above the Missouri River floodplain.

Together, they form the Labadie Power Plant, the biggest coal-fired power station in Missouri.

Commissioned in June 1970, the Ameren-owned facility carries a generating capacity of roughly 2,400 megawatts. That’s enough to supply electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes across the Midwest during peak demand periods.

The plant burns low-sulfur coal shipped mainly from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.

Labadie became one of the defining pieces of Missouri’s industrial grid during the second half of the 20th century. Even today, coal still dominates Missouri’s electricity mix, and Labadie remains one of the state’s most important generating assets.

But the station also became highly controversial.

Environmental groups and federal data have repeatedly ranked Labadie among the nation’s largest sulfur dioxide emitters and one of America’s biggest greenhouse gas sources. Debates surrounding ash ponds, groundwater contamination and air pollution placed the facility under growing scrutiny over the past decade.

Despite that pressure, the plant continues operating while many other large coal stations across the country shut down permanently.

That contrast says a lot about the current American power grid.

Even as utilities push toward gas, wind and solar, giant coal plants like Labadie still carry a major share of the electrical load when demand surges across the Midwest.

1972/73 Labadie Quad @ 24,000

Mooseheart, IL: Closed/Post Office/CB&Q Depot

(Satellite)

William Shapotkin posted

Received this Email from a friend (Steve Bahnsen) who is a Post Office fan. It regards the closing of the Mooseheart, IL Post Office -- the building of which was originally the CB&Q Mooseheart station. Now that the Post Office no longer uses the facility, wonder what the disposition of the building will be?

"Here are some notes and photos about the recently closed post office in Mooseheart, a rather novel operation. While on a recent Sunday drive along the Fox River 38 miles west of Chicago, I decided to visit Mooseheart to get another picture of their post office.  That never happened because the guard told me their post office was closed in April of 2026!

Mooseheart was developed by the Loyal Order of the Moose fraternity in 1913 for the use of its member's children as a school.  It is in a rural setting between Aurora and Batavia along Illinois Highway 31.  A separate post office was established in 1914.When it was converted to a Classified Branch of the Batavia post office in 1973, Mooseheart was a First Class office. An accompanying picture shows the post office building as it existed for many years. Off hand I cannot identify the white flag that was flying.  Perhaps it was the Bicentennial flag in 1976 or even the Illinois flag for some reason. 

Of interest is the postmark in my collection that used two words "Moose Heart." The office was always named as just one word "Mooseheart".  That is used on all of their street signs yet today. In later years the office was opened four hours daily by a clerk from Batavia.  And since this was a Branch and not an independent post office it could be closed at will with no justification required."

Dennis DeBruler commented on William's post
This is a reminder that the CB&Q used to go up both sides of the Fox River. 1950 Aurora North Quad @ 24,000

Mound City, IL: CGB & ADM Grain Elevators, IC Depot and Old Gas Station in Mounds, IL

CGB: (Satellite)

ADM: (Satellite)

Depot: (Satellite)

Old Gas Station: (Satellite, this is in Mounds, IL.)

The CGB elevator is on the left, and the depot is on the right. In the center background is a remnant of its downtown.

Street View, Nov 2025

A closeup of that downtown remnant.

Street View, Nov 2025

Both of the Mound City elevators are rail-to-barge.

CGB:

Street View, Nov 2025

ADM:

Street View, Sep 2023

I see that CGB has a couple of big grain piles. 

Satellite

This confirms that the railroad along the river was the Big Four's Cairo or Egypt line. But that railroad was abandoned a while ago. So how do the trains get to the elevators? This map shows that there was a shortline that provided access to the Illinois Central. And a satellite image shows that that route is still intact to the CN route.

1953/59 Cairo Quad @ 62,500

Roger Kujawa posted eight photos with the comment: "Mound City, Illinois; Illinois Central depot and ADM SW1001 locomotive."

Roger Kujawa shared

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Roger Kujawa posted five photos with the comment: "Mound City, Illinois.  Consolidated Grain and Barge locos at the north end of the plant. There is a switcher and another GP locomotive in one of the plant buildings."

Roger Kujawa shared with the same comment.

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Old Gas Station

While checking out the nearby Mounds, IL, to confirm that they still have some stores or residents in Mound City, I found this old gas station. This is on the original US-51 route.

Street View, Nov 2025

The diamond above the garage door reminded me of Sunoco. But that doesn't fit. So I don't know what brand this station pumped.

1000logos

Port Byron, IL: Lost/Milwaukee Depot and "Will B. Rolling" Statue

(Satellite, my guess based on the aerial photo below.)

Andy Zukowski posted
Port Byron Depot during flood of 1965
Richard Fiedler shared

Dennis DeBruler commented on Andy's post
It was a Milwaukee Railroad depot. 1950 Port Byron Quad @ 24,000

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

I think this statue repurposed the depot's land. This "Will B. Rolling Stature" was installed between 2013 and 2015. I'm sure the depot was torn down long before that. I've noticed that Google's AI is smart enough to blur faces, but not smart enough to tell the difference between statues and people.

Street View, May 2023

Chicago, IL Depot: (Metra 11th/IC 12th Street Suburban) Station

(Satellite)

Robert Daly posted six photos with the comment: "IC's Twelfth Street suburban station was a plain structure perched over the electric tracks just north of Central Station. It was approached from Michigan Avenue and Grant Park by an increasingly rickety wooden walkway.  Metra replaced it with the much nicer Eleventh Street-Museum campus facility. See photos for details and dates."

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Looking northeast from the site of Central Station, 9/26/87.

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View looking northwest from Grant Park, 9/26/87.

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Ticket office, 9/26/87.

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Looking west along the walkway from Grant Park, 9/26/87

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Northbound platform, April 1970.

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New bilevels, 3/4/72.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Robert's post
This post helped me understand why old photos of the north side of Central Station had a clear façade, but newer photos had a walkway across the front. That walkway provided access to the 12th Street Suburban Station. The walkway is not present on a 1929 topo map, but it does appear in a 1938 aerial photo.
Overview posted by David M Laz,
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ILLRRHISTORYBUFFS/posts/1971479686411521/

A closeup of the walkway.

Illinois Central Railroad Scrapbook And Occasionally Other Railroads posted

Alco PA's were pretty rare at Chicago's Central Station.  After all, the IC never owned any.  The New York Central's Big Four subsidiary did serve Central Station, and the NYC did own several PA's, but the Big Four trains were typically (but not always) pulled by IC locomotives while on IC rails between Kankakee, IL and Chicago.

This is one of the few photos I've ever seen of a PA at Central Station.  The photo taken on June 6, 1951 when GE's "More Power to America" train was on display at Central Station.  This 10 car train  was put together by GE and featured 2,000 products and innovations (all designed and built by GE, of course) that were intended to showcase new ways of "making, distributing, and using electric power".  Of course, the goal was to boost power consumption, which in turn would boost sales of GE equipment.  To heck with conservation - the train's goal was to boost electric consumption!

Pulling the train was an Alco PA2/PB2 set that doubled as a demonstrator for Alco (remember, at the time Alco and GE were in a partnership to build diesel-electric locomotives).

Admission to the train was "by invitation only", and was open only to big shots in the electrical, railroad, manufacturing, distribution, aerospace, and military fields (ie, those who influenced purchasing).  On the IC the train visited several cities (somewhere I have a list). 

After the train's 1950-51 tour the locomotives were sold to the NYC and were scrapped by the mid-1960s.

While poking around on the Internet I ran across an old GE film put together by GE to promote the film.  It's not the best quality but it has some rare color shots of the locomotive.

Cliff Downey coll

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CAwy4pgLpg

Paul Webb shared

You can tell by the periodic black horizontal lines over the easternmost tracks that they are the electrified suburban service. Those lines are the bridges that hold the catenary wires. Photo 5 above has a view of one of those bridges, and Photo 6 has a nice angle on some of the wires.

Mar 29, 1952 @ 23,600, AR1SA0000040050

Newberry Springs, CA: Whiting Brothers Gas Station

(Satellite? I could not find it.)

US-66 Overview

Any gas station that still has old pumps is worth noting. But I could not find it on Google Maps. I spent more time looking for it than I care to admit.

Lost Corners posted

📍 Location - This abandoned Whiting Brothers Gas Station is located in Newberry Springs along Historic Route 66 in the Mojave Desert, east of Barstow, California.

⛽ History

The station was part of the Whiting Brothers chain, a well-known roadside fuel company that operated across the American Southwest during the mid-20th century. The Newberry Springs location served Route 66 travelers during the highway’s busiest years.

🛣️ Decline

After Interstate 40 bypassed much of Route 66 traffic in the 1970s, many small roadside businesses in the area began to decline, including this station.

🏚️ Current Status

Today, the building remains abandoned and weathered by the desert climate. The site has become a popular photography location for travelers exploring forgotten Route 66 landmarks.

The silver lining of not being able to find this station is that I found some more Route 66 history.

The Barn (Satellite)

Street View, May 2024

Howard Fox, May 2026

Newberry Springs Route 66 Marker (Satellite)

Street View

Old Henning Motel sign (Satellite)

Street View

Bagdad Cafe (Satellite)

Street View

What was this? (Satellite)

Street View

Santa Fe Caboose (Satellite)

This caboose is in an RV park. The BNSF/Santa Fe tracks are a little north of here on the other side of I-40.

Street View

Ruins of Mrs. Orcutt's Home (Satellite)

Alvin bustamante, Sep 2024