Thursday, May 7, 2026

Franklin, PA: 1843-50 Victory Blast Furnace

(Satellite, "very close to where Victory Run joins Sandy Creek.")

Old Blast Furnaces Overview

William Foster posted two photos with the comment: "Victory iron furnace just south of Franklin.  Link to video how to get there:  https://youtu.be/1GBBXYw0AtI."
Don Maier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDkNec7RiVk, Old Iron Furnaces of Venango & Clarion Counties, PA (1820 - 1850)
1, cropped

2

Jim Braun commented on William's post
Picture from 1910

Facebook Reel

Bedford, PA: Art Deco Gulf Gas Station

(Satellite)

Street View, Jul 2023

Vintage Gas Stations posted
Vintage Gulf Station:  Bedford, Pennsylvania
Barton Rasmus: Nice glazed clay tiles. Interesting deco design. Strange light fixture.
Syd Barrett: The fixture and pumps are later, were it mine I’d get period-correct ones.
Gary Slurkanich: Is that Dick Dunkles Gulf?
Beth Wishard: Gary Slurkanich yes. He retired a few years ago.

Ken Dye commented on the above post
August 2019

Mumford, NY: Lost/B&O/BR&P Depot

(Satellite, based on the topo map and photo below.)

BR&P = Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh

The Buffalo Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway Company updated

The Buffalo Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway Company updated

1950/52 Caledonia Quad @ 24,000

The route labeled "ROCHESTER DIV." was the BR&P. The route going south from where it crossed the Lehigh Valley is labeled Genesee & Wyoming.
1904/04 Caledonia Quad @ 62,500

So Mumford was less than a mile east of "P. & L. Jct.".
1958 via Dennis DeBruler

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Chesaning, MI: Lost/MC Depot and Grain Elevator

Depot: (Satellite, according to the photos below, it was close to the curve in the tracks. I did not drop a pin because I could not find it in the aerial photo below.)
Elevator: (Satellite)

Thumbwind posted
History of Chesaning Michigan - Big Rock Beginnings
Chesaning grew along the Shiawassee with mills, farms, rail service, and Main Street parades. See how a Chippewa place-name and early industry shaped a Michigan river town between 1900 and 1930.
Larry W Harrell shared
Chesaning.

thumbwind

thumbwind

thumbwind

The photos imply that the depot was south of Broad Street. So that rules out the obvious rectangle, which is now part of a parking lot. Was the depot removed before this 1954 aerial?
May 1, 1954 @ 23,600; AR1VDI000050151

The town still has a grain elevator, and the 2005 SPV Map indicates the tracks were owned by Tuscola & Saginaw Bay (TSBY). But the grain elevator does not have rail service.
Street View, Jul 2024

The town had a small railyard.
1943/43 Chesaning Quad @ 62,500

The diversion dam shown in a couple of photos in thumbwind has been replaced by a fish ladder. The grey structure on the right is a "Riverboat Playland."
Street View, Jul 2024

Adams, MA: Restaurant/Boston & Albany Depot

(Satellite, the B&A is now the Ashuwillticok Rail Trail.)

Dave Blaze Rail Photography posted
Station Saturday
For Station Saturday here's a look at the brick former Boston and Albany Railroad Adams Station and adjacent express office which both date from 1884, the station having replaced an earlier wooden structure dating from the line's construction.  Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 the well kept station is now a popular restaurant AJ's Trailside Pub.  
The tracks once ran on this side, dating from 1846 when opened as the aptly named Pittsfield and North Adams Railroad (a wholly owned Western Railroad subsidiary). As late as 1951 the New York Central served this station with two round trips on this Boston and Albany (the Western's 1870 successor) branch line that reached 18 1/2 miles north from a connection with the mainline in Pittsfield. The little NYC 'Beeliners' (as Budd RDCs were referred to on that road) made their last revenue runs in March 1953 though occasional excursions rode these rails in later years. The branch passed from NYC to PC and then CR until the later sold it to the Boaton and Maine in 1981. It held on another 11 years until all but the northern five miles down to Adams were ripped up by Guilford in 1994, with another mile cropped back a year or so later. Guilford and Pan Am continued to provide freight service to two moderate sized customers near Zylonite station, about 4 miles south of North Adams. 
MassDOT purchased the line in 2015 with Pan Am retaining the freight rights and BSRM running passenger excursions on weekends when freight trains (now operated by Genesee and Wyoming's Berkshire and Eastern Railroad) are not running. MassDOT even reconstructed one mile of previously removed track into downtown Adams ending about 3/10ths of a mile ahead to the north. The tracks share the corridor for that last mile with the north end of the popular Ashuwillticook Rail Trail which now occupies the abandoned right of way down towards Pittsfield through Lanesboro and Cheshire in a nice example of 'trails with rails.' 
To learn more about the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum and and their wonderful little excursion on the surving stub of the line check out their page.
Adams, Massachusetts
Saturday September 20, 2025

Street View, Sep 2025

Photo, Dec 2016

Jacksonville, IL: Old Gas Stations

(Satellite)

Vintage Gas Stations posted
Jacksonville, Al highway 21 .I don't what station it used to be ,so maybe someone can let us know .
Revis Edmonds: American/Amoco originally built by predecessor company Pan-Am.

It was a car wash shop.
Street View, Jun 2014

It was restored by 2022.
Street View, Mar 2022

They found a Coke machine as well as two pumps.
Street View, Mar 2022

Someone stole the globes?
Street View, Oct 2023

And then stole the pumps and Coke machine?
Street View, Oct 2025

While looking for this station, I found some others.


This one is now a used car lot office. This station was probably built before WWII.
Street View

Car washing seems to be big business in this town.
Street View

I'm guessing this one was 1960s. I wonder how many islands it used to have. It is just south of the station at the top of these notes. 
Street View

I'm guessing this is late 20th Century with updated pumps. I can't tell if the extra nozzle is for diesel or E-15.
Street View

While I'm at it, I added a couple of representatives from the 21st Century.


This one was purpose built to sell gas. But I've heard that gas is so competitive that these stations make their profit on the in-store sales.
Street View

I don't know if this was built for gas sales or if it was a convenience store that added gas pumps.
Street View

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Jewett, TX: Nucor Steel Bar Mill (Including Rebar)

(Satellite)

Brian Olson posted two images with the comment: "Irony.  US Steel's American Bridge division supplied the original 50 ton EAFs to Nucor Jewett facility in Texas in 1975."
Jonathan Haynes: They used Fuchs eafs also.
Brian Olson: Jonathan Haynes I they have a completely new high bay now. I'm sure the American Bridge furnaces are all gone and the area is used for some other purpose now. They did their job.
1

2

Satellite

The railroads were CB&Q and MoPac.
1982/83 Jewett Quad @ 24,000