Mattoon, IL: Big Four Roundhouse and Railyard

Rick Ralston posted
1920s Small Photo Snapshot; Transfer Table, Mattoon IL
Railroad Yard, Coles Co.

If a town has a transfer table, that means it is going to have a big roundhouse and a backshop. I finally found Big Four's yard on the east side of town (below). I zoomed in on the backshops (further below). It appears the transfer table runs down the middle of the pictures. (The resolution of these photos from an airplane always makes me appreciate the resolution we now get from a satellite.)

Raymond Storey also posted

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

The yard is now 8 ball diamonds and some other park facilities. The Big Four RoW leaves town as the Lincoln Prairie Grass Trail.

Satellite

The above aerial images where from a .jpg file. Below I checked a .sid file to see if it had better resolution.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP using .sid file

For completeness, I also tried the .tif file.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP using .tif file

I don't notice any loss of resolution due to the image compression algorithms.

USGS 1937 Mattoon, 1:62,500

Update:

Jacob Hortenstine posted

NYC roundhouse Mattoon Illinois

Jacob Hortenstine posted
New York Central yard Mattoon Illinois
Ron Loge How did the NYC operate thru Mattoon? Crew change between East St Louis and Terre Haute? Any locals or switch jobs based out of here?
Thank you in advance.
Bill Edrington Mattoon was almost exactly halfway between Indianapolis and East St. Louis on the NYC, and was the crew change point between those two cities. It was also the headquarters of the railroad's Illinois Division for many years, until that division was consolidated with the Indiana Division and the headquarters moved to Indianapolis. It was a base for both road and yard crews. There was also a local crew based at Hillsboro to switch industries there and work the "Old Line" between there and East Alton (abandoned between Litchfield and East Alton in 1965).
Brandon McShane As you can tell from the photos, perishables off the Cotton Belt connection in East St. Louis were a large part of the traffic base.