Mattoon, IL: Lost/Conrail/Big Four Depot and Freight House

Jacab Hortenstine posted
NYC passenger station Mattoon Illinois
Alex Wood Also IL Division offices!
Steven Johnston So it was the building east of the IC passenger station?
Jacob Hortenstine yes
Alex Wood It was there until 2004. They also had a good sized yard where the Mattoon park and ball fields are now.
[In fact, we see the IC depot on the right side of both of these photos.]

 

Update: Jacob Hortenstine posted
NYC Mattoon Illinois
Charlie DeWeese Worked in the NYC depot several times in MX relay office on the second floor 1959 - 1963.
Bill Edrington Upper-level north end of the IC depot is at right. Not a union station, but if you were changing trains between the Big Four and IC, you didn't have to walk far.
Andrew Stiffler When were the NYC rails and depot removed?
Jacob HortenstineGroup Admin raised early 1980's depot last couple years [written in 2017]

Chris Suerdieck posted

Recent eBay score. Westbound NYC EMD E8A at Mattoon, Illinois Big Four Passenger Station, ca: 1955.  #4095 was the last E8A the NYC purchased, in 1953.

By the time of day this could have been the 9:10am Knickerbocker or the 1:30pm Southwestern Limited.

Note the corner of the canopy on the back of the nearby Illinois Central Passenger Depot.

Photographer unknown.

Bill Edrington: Great picture. Based on the angle of the sun and the shadows, my money’s on #11, the Southwestern Limited.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Below I used blue to mark the IC depot, yellow for the Big Four depot and red for the Big Four freight house. With the two stories on one end and the double row of boxcars next to it, the freight house is rather obvious.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Satellite

Update:

Jacob Hortenstine posted
New York Central Mattoon Illinois

Rick Giles commented on a posting
Here's a view of the Big Four depot in Mattoon shortly before it was demolished.
Rick Giles Brian Marra sad they couldn't find a use for it but I understand it was in very bad shape inside due to lack of maintenance on the roof and, of course, vandalism. Mattoon was Illinois Div.headquarters and home of the Illinois Div. dispatcher and was home to the second oldest installation of CTC on the New York Central which controlled an area from Midland yard near Paris, Ill to the signal station at Tower Hill east of Pana, Ill.
Scott Trostel It was July 1911 when the Big Four announced that locomotive work would be transferred to Beach Grove, Indiana. Two years later the car shops were downsized and that work was transferred to Bellefontaine, Ohio.
Bill Edrington Scott Trostel - the work just kept moving east. When the Terre Haute & Alton Railroad was built in the mid-1850s, its shops were located at Litchfield. In 1871, after the line had been consolidated into the Indianapolis & St. Louis, and Mattoon was established as the crew change point between the I&StL's namesake cities, the shops were moved to Mattoon. I never knew when they were transferred to Beech Grove and Bellefontaine. Thanks for that info.
Chad Quick Mattoon, Illinois was a crew change point at one time I believe. That is one huge depot there.
Bill Edrington Brian Marra - check out Craig Sanders' book on Mattoon and Charleston area railroads: https://g.co/kgs/jEk3r9

Rick Giles commented on a posting, cropped
Here's an in service photo of the depot with what I believe is Amtrak's WB National Ltd. stopping at there.
Bill Edrington Rick Giles - yes, both pre-Amtrak PC passenger trains and Amtrak #30/31 would occasionally detour via the Big Four side west of Terre Haute if there was track work or a derailment on the PRR side, and would make a stop at Mattoon for passengers who would normally board or detrain at Effingham. I remember being at Pana Tower one day in 1969 and being very surprised to see the westbound "Spirit of St. Louis" come barreling through town on the Big Four.
Mike Wagner That blue and white building on the left iS now the YMCA. There was also once a connection basically down the embankment to the Illinois Central, whose tracks are behind and below the photographer.

Jacob Hortenstine commented on a posting
Mattoon Illinois freight house in background??
Bill Edrington Yes, that's the Big Four freight house, which sat on the north side of the tracks. Passenger station was on the south side.

Bob Kalal commented on a posting
So the Big Four ran east west thru Mattoon?? if so here are some shots of the yard, which is now the ballfields.
Dennis DeBruler That excerpt looks familiar: http://towns-and-nature.blogspot.com/.../mattoon-il-big...

Jim Arvites posted
A postcard view from the early 1920's of an eastbound New York Central passenger train at Mattoon, Ilinois. The NYC crossed over the Illinois Central mainline and depot at this location.