Saturday, August 31, 2019

Rockford, IL: Roper Whitney Metal Tool Co.

(Satellite)

Another example of the tool and die industry in Rockford, IL.
Lost Illinois Manufacturing posted, web resolution
Still named Whitney Metal Tool Company even though Roper Industries had bought them in 1961, this ad proclaims the company moved on March 25, 1968 to their present location, the 125,000 square foot factory on Huffman where they remain today. Rockford Mail, June 3, 1968.
Andrew Nix Roofing outfit down the street has a $100000 sheet metal brake made by Whitney.
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Friday, August 30, 2019

Mansfield, IL: NS/Big4/P&E vs. NS/Wabash and 4-Silo Grain Elevator

(Satellite)

P&E = Peoria & Eastern Railway

Raymond Storey posted
THE WABASH MANSFIELD ILL...1959
NS still operates the east P&E spoke to Champaign, the south Wabash spoke to the Wabash mainline at Bement, and the north Wabash spoke to the NKP/LEW route at Gibson City. NS also still operates the LEW route west of Gibson City through Bloomington to East Peoria.

While studying the satellite image, I noticed a skinny, square building along the connector in the southeast quadrant. It is a grain elevator with a rather different design. Did the flat walls between the silos create additional (small) bins?

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Villa Grove, IL: UP/C&EI Roundhouse, Coaling Tower and Depot

roundhouse: (Satellite)
depot: (Satellite, it was between Railroad Street and the tracks)

I included UP in the title because part of the roundhouse is still standing!

Jon Martin posted two images with the comment: "Villa Grove, Illinois."
Dennis DeBruler It appears to be hidden by a bunch of trees.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4...

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CEIRHS posted
This is what Villa Grove looked like in 1945.
Raymond Barr: So.. were the shops located at Danville proper?
CEIRHS: In Villa Grove there was a "wye" track behind the roundhouse that extended from the west to the south parallel to Sycamore Street south of the yard area. There was a "through track" between the buildings that allowed access to the roundhouse from the west end of the yard or from the wye track. The roundhouse was a 25-stall roundhouse and the turntable was 90 feet, which replaced a 70-foot TT that was moved to Pana in 1914 In reference to the other question, the main shop was Danville with Oaklawn started in 1903 under Frisco ownership to replace the former CD&V facility near Danville Junction. By 1909 the machine shop (erection bays), boiler shop, blacksmith shop, coaling station, transfertable and roundhouse were completed. All freight and passenger car work was still done at Danville Junction.

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Dennis DeBruler commented on Jon's post
The part that was torn down had longer stalls.

Bob Kalal commented on Jon's post
1939

Bob Kalal commented on Jon's post

A different print of the above photo.
Andy Zukowski posted
C&EI Railroad Roundhouse At Villa Grove, Illinois. 1903

Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Historical Society posted
Villa Grove, Illinois roundhouse many years ago.
I like the double coal tower with the overhead conveyer.
John M. Shriver: The old depot

John M. Shriver posted
Trackside view of Villa Grove IL CEI depot
[According to the comments this is another depot that the railroad tore down in the middle of the night. Probably in 1977.]
David Forbes shared

Andy Zukowski posted
Birdseye View of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Train yards at Villa Grove, Illinois which is located in Douglas County. 1909

Chris Elston posted three images with the comment: "The remains of the C&EI roundhouse and shops are about to come down in Villa Grove. A solar farm is going on the land."
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Dave Shunk posted ten photos with the comment: "This week they started clearing out all the old trees that have covered up the old railroad yard. Probably first time in ages any of it has been seen. They still have a lot to still clear out and if they remove it before they start demo of the old railroad yard I’ll take more pictures. I assume it too will be used for a solar panel field in the future for that new computer data bank company."
C&EIRHS shared
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Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Omaha, NE: 1899 and 1931 Union Stations and Power Plant

(3D Satellite)

I included the label rrCBaQ to explicitly note that they did not use Union Station. CB&Q had their own station on the other side of the tracks.

Jim Arvites posted
View looking east of the Burlington Depot on right and the old Omaha Union Station on left with an Omaha streetcar crossing over the CB&Q and Union Pacific tracks at Omaha, Nebraska in August 1911.
(Durham Museum)

Beatrice Area Railroad Enthusiasts posted
Union Pacific Station Omaha, NE

Street View

Marty Bernard posted three photos with the comment: "Omaha Union Station, May 1980   These are scans of Roger Puta's slides."
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The station originally boasted thirteen sets of tracks located to the south of the building and served the Union Pacific, Rock Island, Missouri Pacific, Milwaukee, Wabash, Great Western, Illinois Central and North Western Railroads. Combining its efforts with the Burlington Depot made Omaha the fourth largest railroad center in the United States.

The last passenger train departed Union Station in 1971 and the station closed its doors.

There was, for a time, talk of demolishing the building. Wiser counsel prevailed, however, and in 1973, Union Pacific Corporation donated Union Station to the City of Omaha. In 1975, a group of dedicated volunteers fought to save Union Station and made it the home of The Western Heritage Museum. In 1995, Chuck and Margre Durham led the charge for a major renovation of the structure that restored the current Suzanne and Walter Scott Great Hall to its original grandeur. In addition, mechanical systems, to include installation of air conditioning, were completely replaced, a new parking deck erected, and the station’s original Track #1 was covered over to allow for static display of Union Pacific rail cars.

[DurhamMuseum-history]
Fortunately, they realized that the waiting room for the station would make a wonderful Great Hall for a museum. And, like the Field Museum in Chicago, renting the Great Hall has become a revenue stream for the museum.

DurhamMuseum-rental

DurhamMuseum-rental
I noticed the river-front power plant in the 1911 photo at the top of these notes. That building has also been preserved!
3D Satellite
[This image was caught during conversion. Note the hole in the roof where the chimney used to be.]

Sarah Calderon, Apr 2018
I like it when a reuse pays homage to our industrial past.
Sarah Calderon, Apr 2018
This conversion was done recently. Note the date of 2016.
Jake Farrell, Aug 2016

Street View from Council Bluffs

12 photos, mostly interiors

Monday, August 26, 2019

Toronto, ON: Canadian National's Transfer Table

(Satellite, it was east of Longo's Leaside)

Toronto Railway Historical Association posted (source) four images with the comment:
On August 25, 1922, the first passenger car was out-shopped from Canadian National's new Leaside car shops. Mountain Observation car No. 15100 was rebuilt from ex-Canadian Government Railways sleeping car "Oakfield" and was one of ten converted by the CNR between 1922 and 1929. Construction on the Leaside shops was begun in 1917 by the Canadian Northern Railway to replace their Rosedale shops and yard located near the Don Valley Brick Works. The insolvency of the CNoR and its takeover by CN delayed completion of the facility until 1921. In the years following consolidation with the Grand Trunk in 1923, Canadian National closed passenger car operations at Leaside.Posting by Derek Boles, TRHA Historian.
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Toronto Railway Historical Association A good view of the 80’ x 372’ transfer table and 12-track car shop. The table served both the locomotive and car shops. Behind the car shop was a 140-car coach yard. Only one other railway transfer table was known to exist in Toronto, at Canadian Pacific’s West Toronto shops.


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Toronto Railway Historical AssociationThe new car was displayed at the Canadian National Exhibition as part of an eight-car 'all steel' trainset prior to being sent out west for use through the Rocky Mountains. The car was later named "Mount Edith Cavell" and was scrapped in 1947. Only one of these cars, "Mount Resplendent," remains and has been preserved at Heritage Park in Calgary.

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Toronto Railway Historical AssociationWhat was originally supposed to be the Canadian Northern Eastern Lines locomotive shops (now a Longo’s grocery store) is on the left behind the stores building. The car shop is located east of the transfer table on the right. The elevated track in the foreground brought coal hoppers into the boiler house, just glimpsed at left.



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Toronto Railway Historical Association Looking towards the car shop from the east end of the coach yard.

The Longo's grocery store reused the locomotive backshop building that was west of the transfer table.
Street View

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Chama, NM: Preserved Wood Coal Tower

(Satellite)

Rick Denton posted
COALING TOWER
SAND BLDG
Chama new mexico
Still standing.

At first, I thought this wood tower was a testament to the dryness of the southwestern air. Then I remembered that Chama is at one end of a preserved Denver & Rio Grande narrow gauge route. So its preservation is probably a combination of dry weather and some maintenance.
Nadine Clouse, Aug 2015

Burnett Crispell posted
K-36 No. 487 with a pilot plow sits by the coaling tower in Chama on the C&TS RR 8-31-2011

Andy Why posted, cropped
Coal tipple at Chama Yard, NM. The steam trains still run on coal here, but the tipple is no longer used. A front-end loader tips the coal into the tender.
 
Dennis DeBruler commented on Andy's post
They also have a wood water tower.
36°54'15.0"N 106°34'40.0"W

Looking at a satellite image, I noticed that they also preserved the wooden water tower. They have painted it yellow.
Kenneth E. Goff, Jul 2017

Andres Montoya, Jun 2018

Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, Inc. posted
The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is a National Historic Landmark. The railroad and the Friends have done an excellent job of keeping the 64 miles of the line as close to historically accurate as possible. 
The top photo shows the Chama yard looking north towards the coal tipple. The depot can be seen on the far left, with a boxcar on the track closest to the platform. In the distance, at the center, you can see the coal tipple and water tank. To the right is the still intact roundhouse. This photo was taken in 1940 by John W. Barriger, III. It can be found in the Friends’ Historic Photo Collection. RD010-094. 
The bottom photo, taken 83 years later, shows the railyard looking very much the same. The Cumbres & Toltec Passenger cars can be seen blocking the view of what is left of the roundhouse.

Shelby Burkhardt provided two photos from the 1970s as comments on the above post.
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