Lincoln, IA: Grain Elevator Built With Wood in 1966

(Satellite)

Aban/C&NW/CGW

Marc Mcclure posted three photos with the comment: "Lincoln Iowa. The last wood elevator built by Todd & Sargent."

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The Street View car did not go into the the town, but it looks like it is still standing.

Street View

Charlotte, IL: Grain Elevator on BLOL/IC+Wabash

(Satellite)

Bloomer is a rather famous shortline because it uses a CB&Q inspired livery.

Ken Morrison posted three photos with the comment: "Bloomer Line train spending the holiday weekend in beautiful downtown Charlotte, IL (NOT NC, lol)."
Paul Jones Just wait till Tuesday when 4 motors and 70 cars head south to Sibley to scale and top off before heading back to the CN in Gibson City.
Dennis DeBruler Thanks for the insight that not all rail served grain elevators need railroad scales.
Paul Jones Dennis DeBruler Bloomer and Alliance Grain are looking into up grading two elevators and the tracks to them so cars can be loaded to full capacity at each instead of part way then topping off at another. Probably won't happen for a year or so but is in the planning stage as of now.
Dennis DeBruler Paul Jones I forgot that it is not just a scale issue. The track needs to be able to handle 286,000 pound cars for full capacity.

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[That pile of rail gives true meaning to the term "railfan."]

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[The wooden elevator is north of IL-9.]

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Siding occupied by weed-sprayer. Absent a speeder, probably towed by hi-rail truck?

When a railroad still exists because of a grain elevator, the elevator doesn't need a loop track to serve unit trains because the whole mainline of the shortline is available as a siding to serve that elevator. However, loading a train must block the local roads for a while.

Update:

Junior Hill posted
Bloomer Line RR 7549 is getting ready to pull on a big cut of mtys at Alliance Grain, Charlotte, IL. 1/13/2011

This is not only another example of an Illinois town that is more elevator than town, it has the functionality split by the "mainline."

Alton, IL: Flood of 2019: Ardent Mills is surrounded by water

(see below for satellite)

John Foster shared
Flooding in Alton, Illinois as of 5/28.

It appears that the casino buildings may be designed to float given that the covered access ramps look like they are hinged. The casino can always power wash the parking lot after the waters go down.

Satellite

Update:

John Foster posted
Alton, IL flooding as of yesterday [6/7/2019].
Steve Abramson This has been going on for a few weeks. What a terrible flood.

Andrew Tuttle shared
David Budka The Mississippi River is making things tough for Ardent Mills! Both the Alton and Chester, Illinois mills are flooded!
Danny Farnsworth Is the red line on elevator the last flood level?
Charles Windham The Army Corps of Engineers says it expects water releases from reservoirs on the Missouri River to be above average through the summer and possibly until November. Currently, the release of water is more than twice the average for this time of year. That will worsen flooding downstream, where many levees have been damaged due to recent high water.
Eric Miller This was taken last year when I drove thru Alton, on the way to Chicago. I was on Hwy 100 following the river up to another highway and stopped to look back and take this photo. All of this would be way underwater now, too. https://www.flickr.com/.../in/album-72157688860450040/

Cuba, IL: CB&Q and TP&W Depots

(Satellite, CB&Q went north/south through here and the depots were in the southeast quadrant)

There used to be a huge coal strip mine east of this town. The mine was initially served by CB&Q and then later by TP&W. The CB&Q route is abandoned, and the TP&W route is now owned by the Keokuk Junction Railway.

Roger Kujawa posted
Cuba, Illinois post card. Toledo Peoria and Western and the Chicago Burlington and Quincy railroads. The Q depots were usually brown so I think the Q depot is on the right but not sure. You can see TPW cars on the interchange track in the back. The Burlington Line was originally the Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railroad from Galesburg to Havana Illinois. Part of the line survived into the 1980’s to serve local coal mines.
John Stell Both depots were in southeast quadrant of the diamond.
Dennis DeBruler United Electric Coal's Cuba #9 Mine was first served by CB&Q and then later also by TP&W.
https://towns-and-nature.blogspot.com/.../cuba-il-united...

Dennis DeBruler commented on Roger's post
They are now a clump of trees. The track in the foreground was the TP&W so I agree that the white depot is TP&W and the darker one is CB&Q.
https://www.google.com/.../@40.4906482,-90.../data=!3m1!1e3

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Andy Zukowski posted
Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad Depot At Cuba, Illinois. 1907
Zach Malcolm shared

Chris Tippey commented on Andy's post
I believe this is the same depot, but the details are different.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Andy's post
1948 Lewistown Quadrangle @ 1:24,000

Galva, KS: Grain Elevator with recent expansion and UP loop track

(Satellite)

Bob Summers posted three photos with the comment: "Another facility capable of loading 100+ hopper cars in central Kansas. This one is on the UP about 15 miles east of McPherson between Canton & Galva."
Dennis DeBruler It looks like there is a lot of ground storage in that first photo.

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Dennis DeBruler commented on Bob's post
The jump form bins have been built in the last few years because they don't show on the satellite image.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...
Bob Summers Looks like construction equipment on site and no railroad tracks so I believe this image was made during the initial build was nearing completion.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Bob's post
You've taught me to look for gaps between the bins to confirm jump form construction.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4...

Garry Bley, Oct 2016

Update: the current (captured Dec 2019) satellite image shows the construction has finished and the ground piles are being loaded.

Satellite

Bob Summers commented on his post
My original post last may featured the jump form annex to this train loading elevator on the UP between Canton & Galva Kansas. This view shows the original slip form structure, built less than 20 years ago I think.
Rich Reed So a brand new elrvator custom designed for unit trains hmm.
Bob Summers Exactly Rich Reed With the exception of a few old terminal elevator facilities that are located in grain producing areas, and capable of handling a very large number of inbound truckloads, and also capable of loading unit trains - virtually all of the grain train loading facilities are new facilities!

Silica, KS: Grain Elevator with tile and jump-form bins

(Satellite)

Bob Summers posted a couple of photos with the comment:

Another example of the evolution of country elevator design over the years. Slip form concrete costs were prohibitive at the country elevator level except for the highest volume locations until after WWII. The industry needed fire proof alternatives to the lower cost wooden country elevators. Bolted or welded steel bins was one option. There were also some country elevators built of tile or brick. The original part of this elevator was built pre WWII with small concrete tiles reinforced with the metal bands on the outside. When we (Garvey Grain) bought the former Bosse Grain facilities in the late '70's we put in a faster leg, grain drier and I think a year or two later we added the 2 corrigated steel bins. The current owner, Gavilon Grain, added the two jump form bins on the right of the photo.

Bob Summers The rail line is still there but apparently used to store railcars as from the highway appears to be cars for several miles with breaks where the township roads cross the tracks. Connects with the K & O just east of Ellinwood.
Bob Summers The rail line is still there but apparently used to store railcars as from the highway appears to be cars for several miles with breaks where the township roads cross the tracks. Connects with the K & O just east of Ellinwood.

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Dennis DeBruler commented on Bob's post
That is the first time I have seen a fall protector in the truck scale area. I've just seen them over the railroad hopper loading area.
https://www.google.com/.../@38.3518409,-98.../data=!3m1!1e3
For trucks, they use a remote controlled probe while they are on the scale. (Oct 13, 2014)

Cleveland, OH: 1876 Union Station

(Satellite, it is now the parking lot south of the NS tracks.)

That was an impressive structure for 1876. In 1930, it was replaced by Union Terminal.

Rick Fleischer posted
Cleveland Union Station 1876.

 

I saw a map that labeled the location of the long, skinny rectangle that is west of 3rd Street and below the NS/NYC/LS&MS tracks as Union Sta. (Unfortunately, I can't remember where I saw that map.) It seems to be the union of two NYC railroads, (LS&MS and Big Four). The Big Four used the track that curves south and crosses the river down by Carter Road. Did Pennsy also use this station? (Update: yes. In fact they continued to use it after the Cleveland Union Terminal was built. [case])

1953 Cleveland North and South Quadrangles @ 1:24,000

In addition to the NYC/LS&MS and B&O #464 Bridges, this photo shows the Union Station.

Wayne Koch posted
Cleveland OH Railyard NYC PRR 1949.
Geoffrey Morland shared

B&O and Erie had their own stations south of Detroit Avenue.

Thomas Wentzel posted

Cleveland Ohio 1928 looking north and east towards Cleveland Union Terminal Tower.

Two other train sheds are showing. The one on the left is at the Erie RR passenger station.

The other at center-right is a two-level shed at B&O passenger station.

I found confirmation of the Union Station location and that the other long skinny rectangle further west was the Union Freight Depot. (Back in 1896, 3rd Street was named Seneca.)

Key via 1896 Vol 1 via "cleveland+cuyahoga"

Boby Johnson posted
Dave Lep shared
Jim Kelling shared
Cleveland lakefront Union Station (replaced)

Dennis DeBruler commented on Jim's share
Thanks for the identification. This 1876 station was west of 3rd Street between the NYC/LSMS+Big Four tracks and the Pennsy tracks. It is now a parking lot:
 https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5022553,-81.7021068,446m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu
1953 Cleveland North and South Quadrangles @ 1:24,000

Schenectady, NY: NYC Coaling Tower

(I don't have time to research where this yard was)

The tower is of such an unique, high-volume design that I wanted to save the photo.

Paul Garrow posted (source)
A new and powerful J-1 d awaits the call for service in December, 1929 shortly after being constructed by AIco-Schenectady.
Vance Roth Photo -NYCSHS Collection) — with Jimmie Wright and Mickey Wright.Dick Mackinnon When you look at the size of the coal pockets and then throw in the water tanks, etc. you can see how attractive dieselization was to the railroads and the avoidance of all the maintenance which came with steam. These engines also had to be pulled from service several times a year and were inspected and then rebuilt. A great but dirty, grimey technology with which many of your parents worked. My paper route on Eastern Avenue and Wendell encompassed the homes of many boiler makers from ALCO and who frequently were on strike.

Maize, KS: Alfalfa Pellet Plant

(see below for satellite)

Bob Summers posted
Until the 1970's alfalfa dehy plants were dehydrating and pelletizing alfalfa to ship like grain to dairys and feeders across the country. This is what is left of the Bert & Wetta facility just west of Maize Kansas on the former Missouri Pacific railroad.
Marc Mcclure A lot of them across Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and Oklahoma at one time.Bob Summers Yes. As a grain trader we did not trade alfalfa pellets but would see their markets in the Grain & Feed Journal regularly.David Budka Back in the 1990s there was still an operating alfalfa dehydrator in Fremont, Nebraska south of East Jackson Street, and west of Union Street. It is gone now.Michael R Morris I remember the aroma of alfalfa mills along US-30 in Nebraska in the 1960s when I was a kid on vacation.
Decades later in the Detroit suburbs I was perplexed as to why many of my friends would return from parties having done nothing but dehydrate alfalfa.
I was so naive.John Harker There was one in Lake Park Iowa. For a long time. A peculiar aroma that I kinda rediscovered in later years. 
One still in operation in Priam Minnesota just outside of Wilmar Minnesota.Dennis DeBruler So what stopped this market? Switching from hay to corn because of deep-well "circle" irrigation?Bob Summers Probably energy costs to dehydrate (the '70's were the days of the OPEC embargo and natural gas was being rationed) and railroads began favoring large multi car shipments in their tariffs. Still a lot of alfalfa used as need ruffage in the feed rations, but is now mostly chopped and trucked to feeders in the region.

3D Satellite

Pretty Prairie, KS: Former Security Branch Elevator with bolted steel construction

(Satellite)

Bob Summers posted
Another pre WWII affordable fireproof alternative to wood elevators was bolted steel. The former Security Elevator branch in Pretty Prairie Kansas was on a branch line of the Santa Fe (we affectionately referred to as the "South Hutchinson to Indian Territory") which has been abandoned for many years.
Dennis DeBruler Thanks for including the name of the railroad that used to service the elevators in your descriptions. I see this is now a storage part Pretty Prairie Coop.
Judging from the satellite images, they have a feed mill a couple of blocks north and a slip-form storage elevator in the next block north.

The farmers should have decent cell phone coverage in the fields because the headhouse makes a great cell phone antennae tower.

Using Street View, I could not find a decent sized grain dryer in this town.
Bob Summers We do not use grain driers for wheat, so will only find driers where handle significant quantity of corn or grain sorghum. What you see in the satellite image is a warehouse for bagged feed and/or lubrication products. No feedmill at this location, which is a branch location headquartered in Garden Plain Kansas.
Dennis DeBruler Bob Summers I was thinking it was a feedmill because of all of the small bins. But when I view it with Street View, I see the "bins" are tanks.

It is interesting to learn the differences between Plain States and the Midwest elevators.

I was not aware that wheat did not need drying. Wheat is no longer raised in the Midwest.

In the Midwest, it is common for a small town to have a feedmill, but no storage service. Stroh is a good example:
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...

Bob Summers In this region most of the co-ops were just one or two locations prior to the trend toward mergers picked up momentum in the '70's. Most had feedmills, at least at their main location. Now the typical multi location co-op will have one large feedmill serving all of their locations. Here in winter wheat country we harvest in early summer and the grain dries naturally before it is harvested. Our fall harvested crops may require drying unless it goes to the large commercial feedlots. They accept a higher moisture content grain that they can put in large "trench silos" and put into their feed rations throughout the season.

Rusty Rex Great shot Bob. A lot of these in our area are getting torn down by a scrap dealer. This one in Pretty Prairie looked almost identical to the Ramona, KS one that was recently razed.
Bob Summers I think this elevator and the one in Kingman that has been repurposed into a ready mix plant are identical. We (Security) acquired it from Collingwood Grain "back in the day" because they had acquired it in a package and Mrs. Collingwood thought they should have a competitor in the communities they had facilities. A different mindset from what one finds nowadays!

Street View

Bob Summers posted
Current view [5/26/19] of nearly 50 year old photo of this elevator I posted last week.

Ashley, IN: Groundbreaking for plastics-to-fuel plant

(Satellite, somewhere along the railroad tracks)

Brightmark Energy is building a plant that should create 136 new jobs and use a breakthrough technology to turn plastics that we currently have to put in a landfill into useful products such as "ultra-low sulfur diesel, naptha blend stocks and commercial grade wax." The plastics they can use include "plastic film, styrofoam and children's toys." [WANE] Most of the plastic packaging we get can go into our recycle bin. But plastic bags and styrofoam are prohibited. Our local grocery store accepts plastic bags for recycling, but styrofoam things still have to go into our trash can.

Another win for this project is that it is being built in a "farming town" so it will supply jobs for farmers that have lost their job due to the growth of tractor horsepower. And those jobs will help retain secondary jobs in town such as retail and churches.

WANE

WANE

BrightmarkEnergy