Eldorado, IL: Aban/Sou/Big Four+Aban/CSX/L&N+CN/IC Union Depot and Junction

(Satellite)

Raymond Barr posted
The interlocking pipe roller oiler man squatting in the foreground is taking a moment to scope out all of the activity going on at the Eldorado Illinois Union Depot. It appears that a large crowd of people dressed in their Sunday best is about to board a L&N train headed North on the Shawneetown branch. One can speculate that they are off on some sort of excursion.
The depot was built sometime around 1895; and there are many interesting details on the locomotive that could more closely date this photo. The only thing I miss seeing here is the depot dog.
The track running across the picture is the former Cairo & Vincennes and by now the Big Four (CCC&StL).
 - Photo comes from the collection of Jennifer Oliver Winkler-
[I would not have noticed the pipeline signalling if Raymond hadn't mentioned the oiler.]
Deanna Stark: Photo isn’t hard to date. Front-end unit seems to have link-pocket coupler, but the air brake line dates it to sometime after the 1890s, maybe up to 1910 or so. Edwardian era clothes too!
Andrew Roth shared

Because both Big Four's Egyptian route and the L&N's route are now trails, it is easy to find the old junction on a satellite map. I'm glad that Raymond mentioned that the depot has been remodeled because I would have never guessed that building used to be the depot.

Raymond Barr posted two photos with the comment:

Eldorado, Illinois -- We once had a passenger depot and interlocking tower built in the classic Big Four (CCC&StL) style. The depot is still there - somewhere under that metal box! The concrete bike path to the right was the former L&N Shawneetown branch. At one time, the ICRR also called at this "Union Station".

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Street View

Steven Gilroy Does the fertilizer plant ever see rail service anymore? I know they still have their siding and have heard that they do, but when I was last down there in July the rails were rusted over and had plants growing up between the sleepers.

Raymond commented on his own posting
Yes it does. Within the last couple of weeks CN has spotted at least a dozen potash hoppers. Come spring, anhydrous tankers will roll in. As a matter of fact, this week machinery rolled in and laid and tamped in new ballast here in Eldoardo.
[American Coal must be generating the revenue to pay for the maintenance of this CN branch. This branch connects with the Edgewood Cutoff.]

I'm guessing this is the fertilizer plant. Did the IC then use trackage rights on the Big Four to get to the depot?

Satellite