Lincoln, NE: BNSF/CB&Q Hobson Railyard

(Satellite)

This is the classification and locomotive service yard. On the northeast side of town is BNSF's Havelock Shops.

Gary Binder posted
Here's another vintage view of the CB&Q hump yard and freight facilities at Lincoln, NE. Again we are looking east across the yard. The white building in the center distance is the ice house. Notice the clean ATSF boxcar and the meat reefers in the yard. Photo by W.E.Haydon, R.L. Schmeling Collection
[Note the string of at least five refers. I can easily see Armour. I think the bright red one four cars down is Swift. Because of "another", I searched the group for "Gary Binder," but I did not find any more yard pictures.]

Paul Biwer, Dec 2017

The distances in the above photos are really compressed. It took me a while to find the bridge in the foreground.

3D Satellite

Those "black things" in the hump yard are car retarders. They slow the cars so that they won't hit the cars in the hump too hard if a track has filled up.

Street View, Nov 2022

Given how many coal-fired power plants have been shut down in recent years, I went further down the overpass to verify that all of those coal cars were full and not just in storage. Except for one empty train rolling through, the cars are full. 

Street View

1964 Emerald and Lincoln Quads @ 24,000

Note only does the turntable still exist, but part of the roundhouse is still standing. Although the roundhouse is no longer used to service locomotives. Note that the turntable is a truss design rather than the usual steel-girder design.

3D Satellite

Hobson Yard classifies 900 cars a day into 32 tracks. There are four arrival and four departure tracks, each holding 120 or more cars. There are on-line fueling racks for the coal trains passing the north and the south sides of the yard. While 50 coal trains and some intermodal trains pass the yard each day, 17 to 20 daily manifest jobs originate or terminate here, with six locals serving the areas within 100 miles, and seven daily long distance freights each way to or from Minneapolis (Northtown), Galesburg, Kansas City, Denver, Pasco, Tulsa, and Casper, WY.

With the 32 classification tracks in the center of the yard, there are six receiving tracks to its west (beyond the hump), with the departure tracks to their north. The arrival tracks are south of the classification yard, with a six-track grain yard south of them There is also a flat-switching North Yard, with fourteen tracks, as well as locomotive maintenance facilities in the northeast corner of the yard.

[DonWinter]

Map via llcgs, which is a history of the railroads in Lincoln.

Originally, CB&Q's yards were downtown.

1897 Lincoln Quad @ 125,000

Hobson Yard moved the freight trains to the West by 1964. I copied a 1980 map to show that the passenger train facilities still existed in downtown.

1980 Lincoln Quad @ 24,000

Since the passenger service facilities became obsolete, those railyards have been replaced with buildings.

Street View, Sep 2022

Champaign, IL: Railroad Hub

Ellipse Kirk posted

Ellipse's comment:

This is an early 1900's map of Champaign showing the interconnected RR facilities. The ICRR station is on the east with the IC tracks diagonally NE to SW. The "Big 4" (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company) station was NW of that. Wabash trains also used the Big 4 station. A block SW of the ICRR station was the Illinois Traction station, which ran both streetcars and the Interurban. Today along the old IC tracks in downtown RR fans can see the 3 stations that served those tracks still there. The Oldest station has been re-purposed as the Black Dog Saloon, and the 1920's station is offices and shops, and there is a big new inter-modal station on the south end, actively hosting the City of New Orleans, The Illini, and The Saluki north & south daily. If I don't miss my guess, this is the only set of three sequential mainline railway passenger station buildings extant. The Traction station building is still there as well, though the Traction RR went away in the '50's. If you're near Champaign, as IC railroad fans I think most members of this group would enjoy seeing this cluster of stations.
The old IC freight depot building is still also there, NW of the current Black Dog, and one of the Traction RR barns is near where the Big 4 station was, if you come to visit.

If you access the "posted" link in the caption, you should be able to link to the full resolution picture. Note that all of the action is in Champaign instead of Urbana because of the IC tracks. The Big Four was formerly the Peoria & Eastern. I know that it went to at least Indianapolis.

I did not realize that Wabash came to town. It was a branch that came up from Sidney. You can see the curve on the west side of town were it branched off. And if you zoom out, you can see tree lines southeast of Deers and Mira.

Albert J Reinschmidt comment
All 3 stations are visible in this shot.

Albert J Reinschmidt comment: Don't forget the old dynamometer building on campus

Campaign, IL: IC's Roundhouse and Freight House

1869 Birdseye Map from ChampaignHistory

T. J Blakeman has found pictures and maps of the Illinois Central roundhouse that was built circa 1855 and razed between 1911 and 1914. The posting also includes some pictures of the freight house and the base of a water tower.

Because the roundhouse created a lot of smoke near the downtown shops and hotels, IC built new facilities 2.5 miles north and used the downtown land for a new freight house and a new depot.

1940 aerial view of the downtown facilities.

1940 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

The new engine servicing facilities were at the north end of the yard that was built north of the town.

1940 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

The roundhouse is gone, but the yard is significantly bigger than it was in 1940. This is very unusual. Most big yards during the war now have far fewer tracks or have been converted to intermodal yards.

Overbrook, KS: Big Isolated Grain Elevator

Satellite

Cade's comment "Overbrook Farmers Co-Op, no longer served by the railroad."

It is interesting that Cade did not include pictures of the two steel bins that were added. They significantly increased the capacity of the elevator.

This is a rather large and active elevator considering that it no longer has rail service.
In 1928, it was served by a branch of the MoPac.

Cade Smith posted

Cade Smith posted

Cade Smith posted

Cade Smith posted

This is a big grain elevator to still be operational with no rail service.

Cleveland, OH: CSX/B&O Roundhouse, Clark Ave. Railyard and Midwest Railway Preservation Society

Roundhosue: (Satellite)

Railyard: (Satellite)

Dan Konkoly posted three photos with the comment: "B&O roundhouse in Cleveland, Ohio in the flats. Still exists today but with less stalls. Currently housing Reading T1 2100 (4-8-4)for ASR, GTW 4070 (2-8-2) for MRPS."
Dan Konkoly: As a follow up.... here's an 8mm film I found on youtube. It has gtw 4070 being readied at this roundhouse/yard for an excursion in 1973. In case anyone is interested, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPPgnJhehHs... [In the background a bridge is up at 0:15 and again at 4:48. They start moving with the train at 7:10. Two bridges are up at 7:27.]

Rick Shilling also posted these two with the comment: "Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Roundhouse, Clark Ave Yards, Cleveland, Ohio."

Thomas Wentzel shared

Thomas Wentzel shared

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It looks like there was a steel mill or two in the background.
Scotty Fahnestock posted
Michael Maitland: Corrigan steel on this side of the river and Republic on the other.
Don Weitzman posted
The B&O roundhouse Cleveland Ohio

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Rick Fleischer posted
B&O Clark Ave. roundhouse, Cleveland, Oh. Part of it is still standing. It is home to Grand Trunk Western H-6a Mikado 4070, and Reading T-1 2100. Both are undergoing restoration for operation.
Wayne Horvath 80-foot turntable here. Ore trains for Republic Steel were handled by Mikados; as GP-9s were delivered, they were often teamed up with the Q4's.
William Ingham Wayne Horvath how did they get the T1 in/out of there with only an 80 foot turntable? Need at least a 100 foot turntable and a good engineer to turn a T1 with tender.
Richard Shulby William Ingham -Could it have been moved in after separation from tender? Common practice when doing heavier maintenance.
Lutz Racing 🚂 The Midwest Railway Preservation Society Gives Roundhouse Tours In The Summer, and Their Next Event Is 'Santa At The Roundhouse' November 30 - December 1 2019 & December 7&8 2019!!! 🚂 https://www.facebook.com/MidwestRailwayPreservationSociety/

zzz

Street View, Oct 2022

Scotty Fahnestock posted four images with the comment: "The former B&O roundhouse Cleveland, Ohio today the Midwest Rail Preservation Society."

Jim Arc: The part being slowly renovated is owned by MRPS. The other part is owned by CSX, and leased by MRPS. Stall 2 is rented by the group restoring Reading 2100.

Paul Noble: The restoration of the 2100 is not far from being complete. Their website claims they only need $170,000 to finish. That's not much. Probably a year or two.

They could probably work out an agreement with CVSR to operate between Independence and Akron. CVSR, which operates on the former B&O CV&T branch runs right past the roundhouse. No expensive and logistically difficult deadhead moves over hostile freight railroads.

Jim Arc: Paul Noble ... CSX still owns the yard, and the track to the Willow wye.

Paul Noble: Jim Arc True. But it is a lot closer and easier than going a couple of hundred miles on foreign roads. CSX doesn’t give us any static about deadheading NKP 765 over that line.

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Tom Leunig posted ten photos with the comment: "Midwest Railway Preservation Society in Cleveland. This is the old B & O Railroad roundhouse.  They are restoring two steam locomotives."

Alec Frasier: 4070 is owned by MRPS. 2100 is owned by American steam.

Richie Morgan: Tom you have an address?

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Dennis DeBruler answered Richie's question
West side of 3rd Ave. a little south of I-490. https://goo.gl/maps/74T31WRFZ1chQ8Xs8

Toledo, Area, OH: SA/Stanley Tower: CSX/TT vs. CSX/Big4/TOC

Satellite

I labeled the "town" Toledo Area because this area is still rural. Most of the development in the Toledo area is north of the Maumee River.

TT was Toledo Terminal and ran east/west through this junction. TOC was Toledo & Ohio Central. It became part of the Big Four and thus became part of the NYC. In addition to the north/south route that went south to Stanley Yard and then Fostoria, OH, TOC also had a route leaving this junction towards Findlay, OH. Since the TOC route to Fostoria paralleled the Hocking Value route to Fostoria, Penn Central abandoned it south of Stony Ridge.

Howie Castellucio posted

Howie's comment:
SA tower, Stanley tower just north of Stanley yard in Toledo.
Would visit old Bob Sapp. An original NYC operator!!!
I was there on one of his last days. Before he retired. He usually was a vocal character during work. That day......I think ol Bob just may have shed a tear somewhere during that last shift I visited him . On that warm Sunday morning in 1994. 
Pictures of the tower were taken that day. Old Bob wouldn't let me take a photo of him.
He always had a pot of hot coffee though. The spoon would almost stand up in it!

Howie Castellucio posted

Howie Castellucio posted

Skip Cubbedge posted "Inside Stanley Tower (And More!)" video. It is trains rolling by until 5:38, 7:28, 8:46 (but just talking and thinking), 11:48 (some coffee drinking). I had trouble hearing the conversations. But you can easily hear the "pounding of the diamonds."

Milwaukee's Galewood Yard, Freight House and Roundhouse

The information that was in this posting as been consolidated with a posting in the correct blog.

Chicago, IL: Merchandise Mart

MWRD shared, 1949

Most people know the Merchandise Mart as the worlds largest building when it was opened on May 5, 1930 (mmart). But it must have opened before it was completed because Marchitecture states "At the time of completion in 1931, the Mart was the largest building in the world at four million square feet." It remained the largest building until 1941 when the Pentagon dethroned it. (ViewOnCities)

Facebook
Resolution

Note that you can see the Kinzie Street RR bridge in the down position in the center of the photo just to the right of the cold storage building.

I know of it as the building that displaced the C&NW Wells Street passenger station. To get the two blocks it needed in a downtown location, it was erected on the air-rights of the C&NW railroad yards. As a side effect, it help beautify the river front by hiding the rail yards. (mmart) The bridge to this station was a bottleneck, so C&NW wanted to build a new station west of the river anyhow. So leasing the air-rights was a win-win.

Monique Kielar Lyle posted, 1928

My motivation for writing this posting now is that I came across some construction photos

Posted by Bill Weiss and Uraiwan Dutkiewicz, 1929

Jeff Nichols posted, August 1930
Aerial photo of the Merch Mart, August 1930.
Source: Detroit News Photo Collection,
Wayne State University.

The 1931 date for completion must be wrong, because it looks done in this August, 1930 photo. But the thing that caught my eye is that you can see how the land is still industrial west of the building and how the tracks go under the road and building. The Kinzie Street RR bridge is on the left by the cold storage building.


Evidently each Christmas Season they used to light it up with additional lights because I came across these photos for 1953 (note the tree in the middle), 1954 (note the Lindbergh light on the old Palmolive building), and 1967 (note the religion neutral "PEACE ON EARTH").

Update:

Eric Dudi Huebner posted
Merchandise Mart Roof
Flying Carpet promotion for floor covering show.
1957

Mike Tuggle posted
Wolf Point and Merchandise Mart in 1954.
[Note the coating of black from coal soot. It was still white in the above 1930 photo. In the 1949 photo at the top, you can also see the lower stories are darker than the upper stories.]

MWRD posted from:
Linda Connelly posted
1928. "Site of the Merchandise Mart"

Cindy Anthony Drabing shared, 1929

Raymond Kunst posted from an album
Sharon Avendano shared a David M Laz post
Merchandise Mart under construction as of December 30, 1929. The exterior did not stay clean for long!
Eileen Priest Worked there in the 1990's and had assigned parking in the 2nd lower level of the underground parking area. Massive support columns were evenly spaced throughout the entire "floor". There'd be a column, then 2 parking spaces, another column and another 2 parking spaces, and so on. The columns ate into the striped space set apart for the car so parking could be tricky if the person in the space next to you parked weird.
Leonard Lelko Largest building in the world at one time . Pertaining to floor space .

Pierre Hamon shared
Linda Connelly posted
The Merchandise Mart under construction, seen from the Lake Street Bridge in 1929. Chicago Tribune Archives.
Garry Buzard Wasn't the Merch Mart the largest office building in the USA until the Pentagon was built?
Michael Durkin The Merchandise Mart has 4 million square feet of floor space while the Pentagon has 6.5 million square feet.
Ana Guera Built in 1930 by Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White. For Marshall Field. It was supposed to be a wearhouse for his department stores, but it was built around the great depression. Sold it in 1945 to Joseph Kennedy for 17 million, 13 million than the original cost. In 1998 the Kennedy's sold it for over 450 million. 2nd largest building in America in floor space. For many years carried its own zip code. (60654)
Ronald Wiggin When I worked there in 1969, I found out that all the radio studios had been torn out replaced by giant color TV studios. Sorry I missed the radio period. I heard that Amos and Andy came out of Chicago. Also due to Chicago being about the center of the country and the broadcasts being on copper cables wrapped to about 8 inches round before the insulation casing, those cables spread out from that point to all over the country like a spider web broadcasting from Chicago. Lots of radio personalities lived in Chicago. Not to mention that due to radio being so big in Chicago, the advertising agencies were major there, more than NYC, and is still there.

Raymond Kunst posted from an album

FP Martinez posted
[Years of coal soot.]

This video has a lot of information about the Mart. I highlight the part about the C&NW freight yard that was under the building.

30:31 video @ 18:22 (source)

A 1930 view of the river side. What amazes me is how low the buildings were so that you could get a clear shot of the river side from so far away.