Towns and Nature: Bloomington, IN: IC Freight House & Depot and Limestone Quarries Branch

Freight House: (Satellite and Street View for freight house)

Quarry Branch Junction Wye: (Satellite)

Christian Goepel posted
Circa 1910 postcard view of the Indianapolis Southern Railroad depot at Bloomington, Indiana. IS was controlled by (and later acquired by) IC and became the IC Indiana Division. This handsome building is extant today.
Richard Koenig Funny that the postcard says "Illinois Southern" when it should be either "Indianapolis Southern" or "Illinois Central". As far as when the depot was torn down, I began hanging around there as a teenager around 1975 and it was gone by then, but I don't know when exactly it was razed.
Paul Lutz Maybe the text writer for the post card was just a bit confused. Bloomington Southern was the branch that veered off to the south behind the photographer & ran out to the Victor Oolitic quarry. Another portion of that is being developed as "The Limestone Corridor Trail." I got in trouble jogging on it yesterday since it isn't quite done yet :(. (was scolded by workmen). Current depot is still up but languishing with no current tenant that I'm aware of.

Kirk Reynolds commented on Christian's post
A full scan of the card. It was a beautiful depot.

Paul's comment above mentioned the "current depot."

Dave Arganbright posted
It's snowing trackside at the Bloomington station on February 3, 1983. My photo.
Paul Hillman So the icg had a station in Bloomington? Is this separate from the Monon depot? When did passenger service end on the IC?
Chad Quick Paul Hillman looks like March 01, 1945.

William Wheelock posted
Northbound ballast train at Bloomington, IN. October or November 1980.
Gerald Davenport: Was there still a switch job there at that point in time? I see the frog eye GP 10 sitting on the siding.
[There are quite a few interesting replies about what operation was left in 1980.]

Satellite

Dave Arganbright posted [Satellite]
SBD 8021 ducks under the IC in Bloomington in May, 1983. My photo.
[The CSX/SAL/L&N/Monon route is now the B-Line Trail.]

Dave Arganbright posted
SBD 8070 really smokes it up through B-town on January 31, 1983. My photo.
Richard Koenig Taken from the IC overpass...that can't be good for that prime mover, can it?Jason Lambert Typical EMD, burning a little oil.

Christian Goepel posted five photos with the comment:

Remaining buildings on the IC Effingham and Indianapolis districts are scarce today. Bloomington, Indiana, as it turns out, is a treasure trove in this regard. Pictured here is the freight house at 301 North Morton Street on the downtown lead, and the distinctive cut stone depot on the main line north of downtown. The latter building had been repurposed as a restaurant, but is now unused.
Anyone know what the two-story building is immediately to the east of the depot that appears to have been built of the same style and same timeframe (shown in the fourth image)? Perhaps, Richard Koenig can recall?

Richard Koenig That 2nd building came along after I moved away I'm afraid. May have had something to do with the first restaurant that re-purposed the site, but I'm not sure. The freight house downtown was renovated and houses, what, a title company now?

5, 1944 Illinois Division condensed profile showing Bloomington (detail for the photos above).

Dennis DeBruler commented on the above posting
A 2014 view.

Christian Goepel commented on his posting
But, there is a fly in the ointment: look what I found in Bloomington, IN, later today.

Dave Arganbright posted
8050 rounds the curve and passes the limestone cut that I liked to frequent in Bloomington on December 3, 1983. My photo.
John Stigall Is that just east of Rogers St? Looks like the spur to the freight depot ?
Richard Koenig Indeed.

3D Satellite

USGS 1956 Bloomington Quadrangle @ 1:24,000

Quarries Branch

Brian Robinson posted two images with the comment: "Abandoned Illinois Central spur that served the limestone industry in Bloomington Indiana. Most of this row that goes through town to the south is now a city street called Patterson drive. And south of country club drive it’s a rail trail. The mainline is part of the Hi-Dry Line."

Samuel Plew: The INRD offered this branch for sale almost immediately after starting up. An article posted in the H-T at the time offered it for a mere $75,000! I, being young and unestablished, tried desperately to buy it, seeking investors, talking to customers, sourcing gons and engines.

Pitty it wasn’t to be. Victor Oolitic built a gravel crushing operation ad assumed CSX would simply serve them off of the Monon main-which they chose not to. It even went to court.

CSX could have run up the branch to independent quarry, reversed onto the IC’s Indian Hill spur, then onto the IC’s Bloomington Southern to access V-O.

Samuel Plew: The North end had Rogers building supplies, now a medical colony. Rogers had 2 spurs that served lumber sheds, which I remember having 2 or 3 cars most of the time. Just a bit south was the concrete/cinder block plant which had 3or 4? Tracks. I only saw it full one time, but didn’t pass it daily, but it had 15-25 cement 2 bay acf hoppers, all IC. There was a short spur for asphalt at 2nd st. RCA was eventually a massive operation with multiple tracks serving numerous buildings far beyond the early assembly facility. A stone mill on the West eventually used by Ellitsville ready mix. Indiana warehouse on the east with 3 tracks for mostly GE appliances. Then Skeeter Jct., the interchange at McDoel yard. Along Victor pike the tracks drop into the creek bed and actually run in the water with a concrete wall separating it from the stream quite poorly. Heading further south it served Indian hill stone mill, Fluck mill(yes). A small 3 track yard was located by Fluck mill to sort cars. Then across a bridge and up a steep cut to a massive timber trestle still barely extant into Victor-Oolitic stone co. which had an unusual railroad derrick traveling on rails mounted on blocks to load 7 cars at a time. In later years V-O loaded 14 cars of pit run stone for great lakes break waters every Tuesday and Thursday. The trestle to V-O was so bad and decrepit that a car mover was installed on both sides and the cars were pulled by cable across the trestle as it could not. Support the weight of the locomotives…yet it still stands. A large boulder lay in the tracks when the switch to INRD occurred. They cited that as a major reason for sale or abandonment, but it wasn’t such a big thing that a locomotive couldn’t pull out and drop, they just wanted an excuse to not serve it. Funny they now embrace the stone industry.

Don Wagoner: I think 14 gons limit was due to Victor siding was only 14 long. Ketchum siding, north a bit only held @ 12.

There was enough room for one unit between the south switch and the tramway. We were supposed to only take one unit to switch with but sometimes took two when we could get away with it.