Gibson City, IL: NKP 526 (GLP9), Depot, disposition of LE&W's east/west route

Photo from Robert Daly's posting

Photo from Robert Daly's posting

Charlie Whipp posted three images with the comment:

Two photos today of the old Lake Erie and Western RR's Gibson City, IL depot on the old Peoria Division which ran between Frankfort, IN and Peoria, IL. 

I used to try to remember to take at least a depot slide or two when visiting places like Gibson City, train or no train. Little wooden stations like this one were disappearing fast from the railroads as local freight agencies closed and the buildings became surplus. The tracks didn't have long to go before abandonment when I took these. 

LE&W once had a main line that stretched from Sandusky, Ohio on Lake Erie all the way through central Ohio, Indiana and into Illinois. It was once an vital part of the Nickel Plate Road, which acquired it in 1923 from the New York Central. 6-1989

Richard Fiedler shared

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A Roger Puta Photo
Marty Bernard: Nickel Plate Road (NKP) 526 (GP9) swtching way freight at Gibson City, IL on November 24, 1962.

I first learned about the Lake Erie & Western when I researched why I saw NKP 426 in Tipton, IN. LE&W had both a north/south and an east/west LE&W route through Tipton, IN. The east/west route is still owned by Norfolk Southern between Lafayette and Portland, IN.

Today's operation of the segments of the east/west route of the LE&W. The colors define the segments on the map below.

• NS (blue): East Peoria to Gibson City
• Abandoned (red): Gibson City to Cheneyville, IL
• KB&S (yellow):  Cheneyville to Lafayette, IN (It must have shared trackage with the Big Four between Templeton, IN to Lafayette.)
• NS (blue): Lafayette to Portland, IN
• RJ Corman's Western Ohio Lines (RJCW) (orange): Portland to Lima, OH
• NS (blue): Lima to Fostoria
• Abandoned (red): Fostoria to Sandusky

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