Bedford Park, IL: C&JE Car Barn, Substation, and Yard

Bill Molony commented on his posting
The six-car Chicago & Joliet Electric Railway car barn, substation and yard at Archer Avenue and Roberts Road.
Bill Molony posted again
This is the building that later housed the Landmark Restaurant.
[It was built in 1910. Also called the Landmark Banquet Hall.]

Satellite

I waited too long to get my own pictures because it has been torn down (Bill's posting).

"Thanks for the last 44 years! As of December 28, 2014, The Landmark and Marlene's Catering has closed its doors." 

The Landmark originally was a Chicago & Joliet railway car barn. In the 1950s, the building became known as Club Elgin, a dime-a-dance hall. Its last use was by a beer distributor before becoming The Landmark in 1970. [ChicagoTribune]

The land now has a Speedway station.

Satellite

This is another example where the Bing street-view vehicle has had better coverage than the Google vehicle. I include a picture of the backside of the car barn because they "prettied up" the side on Archer Avenue.

Street View of the west side

Muscatine, IA: Rock Island and MB&S Depots

Don Gerdts posted

28 AUG 1926 - MUSCATINE RIVER FRONT

RI DEPOT TO THE RIGHT

MB&S DEPOT TO THE LEFT
J Pete Hedgpeth MB&S was the "Muscatine Burlington and Southern"..One track at Muscatine was and probably still is referred to as the MB&S MAIN. So typical of railroads...once a track or other facility had a name it never changed..ie One track might be callled the "New East"...which was probably 50 years old, but still younger than the "Old East"..which was 75 years old. Took awhile for a new guy to get used to this concept. There was an article in TRAINS or maybe it was "Classic Trains" about a guy who went to work at Muscatiine and pontificated at great length about the MB&S MAIN..I think, now that I'm thinking it was in an article about "Culver Tower"..which was a story in itself. Doug Weitzman who was a co-worker of mine was Division Supt on that territory when there was a fire at Culver. Doug said "If I ever find out who called the Fire Department I'm gonna fire him"

Don Gerdts The first person I ever heard call that track "The Monkey Nuts" was the late Muscatine Rock Island Agent Ed Fuller (March '68). Have yet to find anyone who knows why it was called that. Culver - an Operator, the BRAC Griever from Silvis and his partner-in-crime, were the cause of the hand thrown switches being installed and the demise of the positions in the Tower. Was working Muscatine when this happened

The road bridge has moved since 1938. It used to be an extension of Walnut Street. So the depots would have been between Sycamore Street & Iowa Avenue and between Mississippi Drive & the river. The 2005 SPV Map shows enough of Iowa that I can see that MB&S was closer to the river and paralleled the RI out of town to the southwest. It was an interurban that did make it to Burlington, but no further south.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Raymond Story posted
MUSCATINE IOWA
J Pete Hedgpeth: See that long and old hiway bridge in the background. It was finally replaced in the 70's after terrorizing my daughter on our trips from Chicago to Lincoln, NE by its rattling and banging as we drove over it and causing H J Heinz company to have to "float" the tomato hauling trucks every summer across the river on barges from the "Patches" on the east side of the river to the "factory" in west Muscatine where they were turned into Ketchup and juice.
Don Gerdts: MB&S Freight and Yard Office off to the right. When I hired out on the Rock Island in '68, what was the MB&S trackage was know as The Monkey Nuts. Have yet to find out why it was called The Monkey Nuts.

Raymond Storey posted two images with the comment: "MUSCATINE IOWA."

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Update: Flood of 2019:

Nancy Paul posted May 1, 2019
Our riverfront is flooded but the trains are still running....**Edit**.(this is in Muscatine Iowa, not Davenport and the "guy" in the background is a statue)
[My 2005 map shows this was Milw+RI and then ICE. I assume it is CP now.]

Como, CO: Denver, South Park and Pacific Roundhouse

(Satellite)

My wife is from Denver, and I really enjoyed our trip on US-285. Not only the river canyon but how flat the land was later in the trip. I've learned that "park" means a flat area surrounded by mountains. So when I was thinking of model railroading, I thought about a railroad that went southwest from Denver and across this park. Imagine my surprise when I learned there was a railroad that did this --- Denver, South Park and Pacific (DSP&P). It would be interesting how the founders had planned to go west from South Park to the Pacific.

<update>

Interestingly, promoters had high hopes of the railroad eventually opening dual lines to the Pacific coast via Salt Lake City and the Grand Canyon. [american-rails]

DSP&P had routes that went north and south out of Como. See Breckenridge Depot for more information about the branch to the north. UP gained control of the DSP&P, and it no longer had the goal of getting to the Pacific. The railroad's purpose was to access the mining traffic in the mountains.

</update>

Larry Mangan posted
The Denver, South Park and Pacific roundhouse at Como, CO in 1885. Tough work.

Larry Mangan comented on his above posting
It was still this solid in 1984 when I took this. I believe it is being restored, or at least preserved these days. See http://www.southparkheritage.org/.../boreas-pass-railroad...

Jeff Ramsey posted

Image of the Colorado & Southern Railway’s Como Mechanical Department machiime, car shop and 19 stall roundhouse in Como, Colorado circa 1900.

 Today the surviving 6 stall stone roundhouse (to the left) is the oldest operating locomotive roundhouse in the United States.

Robert Aumann: Nice photo! Location?

 

Dennis DeBruler commented on Robert's comment
https://maps.app.goo.gl/AvNojbaUDBSdGaBN8

Walt Hutton III posted
Como, Colorado. Narrow gauge Denver, South Park and Pacific. My photo.
Loren Schultz Beautiful photo. Readers may like to know that the Roundhouse is back in service and the narrow gauge line is being rebuilt. You can find updates and photos on the Facebook pages: South Park Rail Society also Como Roundhouse, Railroad Depot and Hotel Complex.

Looking at the satellite image, I'm saddened by all of the vacant lots. Looking at the plants in the above photo, farming doesn't seem to be an option for this area. So when the railroad was abandoned, this town was devastated.

Chris Ness posted

Como Roundhouse. Denver, South Park, & Pacific railroad.

Ended service 1937. The tracks removed 1938. (Being restored since this photograph.)

Como, CO 09/11

Bryan Burton Photography posted
The roundhouse and turntable with the hotel and depot in the background at Como, CO. 8/6/22.
Walter Michl: Anything in the roundhouse?
Bryan Burton Photography: Walter Michl Steam locomotive Klondike Kate (being rebuilt) and a couple cars.
Jan Hervert: Great photo and it has a Ford 2N or 9N tractor in front of the roundhouse! (It is painted similar to an 8N, but looking at the wheels, it is likely a 2N or 9N.)

Richard Crabtree posted five images with the comment:

The Denver South Park & Pacific railroad built this lovely stone roundhouse with Italian Masons  way back in 1881. She is still standing proudly today!

Photo 1 &2) the DSP&P Roundhouse Sep 2023 

Photo 3) IColorado & Southern No. 22 2-6-0 Mougul built by Brooks Locomotive Works in 1882 as DSP&P No. 35 "Dillion" 

No. 22 is at the C&S Roundhouse and table surrounded by C&S yardmen and brass. Circa 1900 

Denver Public Library Digital Collection 

Photo 4) 1910 Colorado & Southern map of the yard 

Photo 5) inside the DSP&P Roundhouse ar Como with DSP&P Box Car  & Klondike Kate Sept 2023

Richard Crabtree shared

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Frank Doerle posted five photos with the comment: "Had the opportunity to visit the Como Roundhoue in Colorado last June. The pictures are of Klondike Kate being rebuilt inside the roundhouse and their Armstrong Turntable."

Jeff Ramsey: The 1881 Denver South Park & Pacific - Colorado & Southern locomotive roundhouse in Como, Colorado is the oldest operating roundhouse in North America.

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Charleston, IL: NKP (Clover Leaf) Coaling Tower and Roundhouse

The Big Four went east/west across the north part of town, and it is now the Lincoln Prairie Grass Trail. The Nickle Plate is now the Eastern Illinois Railroad (EIRC).

Larry Love posted
This photo was taken in Charleston on July 6, 1947.

Jacob Hortenstine shared a photo
At 5:20 PM on July 6, 1947, NKP 646, Class H6-e 2-8-2 Mikado built in 1943, pauses for refreshment at Charleston, Illinois. Nine more years of service lie ahead. NKPHTS Magazine Fall 1998. Photo by Richard Cook. www.nkphts.org
Rob Hale This is the only steam related picture of Charleston, IL I've ever seen. I grew up near here and really expected to find more photos of the town since the NYC and NKP mains crossed there. There also used to be an interurban that ran between Mattoon and Charleston the paralleled the NYC main.

Raymond Storey posted
The NKP..Charleston ILL...1946

Larry Love commented on his posting
Here is the Clover Leaf round house.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Satellite

It appears that Charleston is the headquarters of the EIRC.

Satellite

This arc is probably a trace of the turntable.

Pittsburgh, PA: The Point in 1896+1910 and Later.

See north about the bridges over the Allegheny River and south about the bridges over the Monongahela River.

No wonder the fleeting area is on the south side of the Ohio River.

Donnie Tennant Jr. posted
Monongahela River is melted but Allegheny River is not. The Mon flows north towards Pittsburgh bringing up warmer water from the south. The Allegheny River flows in a unique, generally northward direction for about 80 miles from its headwaters in Potter County, Pennsylvania, into New York State, before turning sharply southwest. It continues this southwesterly path back into Pennsylvania to merge with the Monongahela River at Pittsburgh bringing colder water from the North.

John OBrien: There is also no river traffic on the Allegheny to break up the ice so that would help.

Will Moore: The Allegheny River is fed from the Allegheny Reservoir which goes all the way up to I-86 in New York State. That water is 34° right now at Kinzua Dam. The Mon has tried freezing over, but the Army Corps of Engineers has been working to keep it broken up.

Robert Jay: The Mon is deeper. The Allegheny is shallow therefore freezing faster.

Flint Huggins: Allegheny is shallower. That’s why it’s still frozen. Not warmer water.

[A lot of comments state that the Mon is harder to freeze because of all of the pollution. And several more comments point out that there is no barge traffic on the Allegheny so no ice breakers are run on it.]

Comments on Donnie's post

Heinz History Center posted

#TBT to 1896: A view of the Point from Mount Washington.

Today's #throwbackthursday photo is featured in #Pixburgh: A Photographic Experience and is from the Allegheny Conference on Community Development Photographs.
Dennis DeBruler shared
Another bunch of tows waiting for "coal water."
Georgeann Held: World Largest Inland Port at one time ! More tonnage Passed the Point than went through the Panama Cannel !
Barbara Ritts: Check out the bridge going from the Point to the North Side. It sure looks like a covered bridge!
Dennis DeBruler

Author

Barbara Ritts It was. It was called the Union Bridge and was opened in 1876. It was removed in 1907 because of its low clearance.

http://pghbridges.com/articles/PA3-01.htm

The suspension bridge was built in 1877.

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted

Young boy looking out over the three rivers and "The Point" in Pittsburgh in the late 1800's.

(Photo from https://www.facebook.com/stuff.thatsgone/)

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted

Barges loaded with coal at "The Point" in Pittsburgh in 1910.

(Photo from Shorpy via https://www.facebook.com/WQEDPittsburgh)

Fred Copeland: Reminds me of when I worked at Dravo corporation "We made these barges and Viking tow boats on Neville Island.

Note all of the steamships and coal filled barges. Obviously they were doing serious shipping on the Monongahela River.  (Update: I learned from the post below that they are waiting for "coal water.") It looks like the other bridges are about as low as the covered bridge on the Allegheny River. Furthermore, it looks like the metal bridges on the Allegheny still exist. (Update: in fact, they are the "Three Sisters Bridges."

Bridges Now and Then posted
Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle, 1970. "The majority of Renaissance I work was completed a decade ago, but the final stages of the grand plan are finally in place, the removal of the Point and Manchester Bridges and the final completion of Point State Park. This photo shows the dismantling of the Point Bridge. By 1974, work on the Park will be complete, including the fountain that will reside at the confluence of the three rivers, right at the tip of The Point." (Brookline Connection)

3D Satellite

History's Mirror posted
"Pittsburgh's Point: From Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt in the 1750s to the iconic Point State Park of 2020. This transformation reflects Pittsburgh’s journey from a colonial stronghold to an industrial powerhouse and modern urban center. Now a serene oasis with lush green spaces and the iconic fountain, it honors its rich history while embracing contemporary progress.

 

Victor Layer posted
Pittsburgh - Confluence of Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers.
Jay Krajcovic shared

That has to be the Duquesne Incline in the foreground. And the Wabash Bridge in the background.

Dennis DeBruler posted

While researching the Point Bridges that were in Pittsburgh, I came across this Detroit Publishing Co. photo, circa 1900-15. It shows the importance that riverboats, railroads and street cars once had in that area.

LC-D4-15633 [P&P]

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016802438/

Robert Swenson: Awesome photo…. Waiting for the creeks to rise.
Don Sanders: Robert Swenson. Waiting for "coal water," and then all hell broke loose.
Dennis DeBruler: Robert Swenson So they are waiting for the wet season so that there is enough water in the Ohio River to provide the needed draft. I remembered that this was well before the 9-foot channel project was built. But I never realized how they queued up waiting for the rains to come.
Dale Zubik: Largest Inland Port at one Time

An intermediate generation of Point bridges.

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted
View of the Pittsburgh skyline where the three rivers meet in the 1940's.

Stuff Thats Gone: Gulf tower 1932. Only building not covered in soot.

𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻: 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗻𝘀𝘆𝗹𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗮 posted
The Golden Triangle in the 1960s! 

This is the first view of the point I've seen looking downstream. It is an illustration of how important railroads were during the interesting turn of the century.

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted

Old photo looking at the "Point" where the three rivers meet in Pittsburgh. Today the same area is known as Point State Park.

(Photo from Doris Lodkey via https://www.facebook.com/groups/132768683480072/)

Pat Morrison: Those buildings on the Allegheny side of the point were known as 'The Terminal Buildings' It is my understanding that they were where boats could load or unload cargo. They were torn down in the mid 1950s as the new point was being upgraded. The block house went through a lot of stages. At one time it was rented out for people to live in.Lots of more info at Fort Pitt museum right there at the point.

It was the Pennsy Railroad that served the point. (B&O was north of the Allegheny River.)

1951/51 Pittsburgh West Quad @ 24,000

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted

Comparison photo showing "The Point" in Downtown Pittsburgh in 1950 and a photo taken only 4 years later of the same location in 1954. The gateway buildings have already been constructed and the entire point including all the railroad tracks has been wiped clean. The Fort Pitt Blockhouse was the only thing saved. The Penn Lincoln Parkway was completed but the Fort Pitt Bridge had not begun construction.

(Photo from https://www.facebook.com/Stuff-Thats-Gone-102126983241634/)

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted

Comparison photo showing "The Point" in Downtown Pittsburgh in 1946 and then again in 1950. The demolition and transformation of the point to create Gateway Center occurred in record time.

(Photo from https://www.facebook.com/stuff.thatsgone/)

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted

Photo showing the 333-foot crane, at the time the largest in the world, being used for construction of a new Hilton Hotel at the Point in Downtown Pittsburgh in 1958.

(Photo from https://www.facebook.com/pittsburghpostgazette)

Joseph Noll: Why did they get rid of the house next to the block house after leaving it there during the entire demolition?

Patrick Boyle: Joseph Noll Because they built the Fort Pitt Museum, so the DAR House no longer had a purpose. Plus, the road beside it would be gone as well.

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted

Point State Park with a view of the newly constructed bridge going to the North Shore of Pittsburgh. Many people called it "The Bridge To Nowhere". Today that same area of the North Shore is the home of Heinz Field, Carnegie Science Center, Three Rivers Casino and many hotels, restaurants and offices.

(Photo from Richard Calabrese via https://www.facebook.com/groups/132768683480072/)

Bridges Now and Then posted
Pittsburgh’s Point, 1969. The bottom two bridges, the Manchester Bridge, left, and the Point Bridge would be demolished in 1970. (PghBridges .com)

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