Omaha, NE: UP Nebraska Shops

(Satellite, gone)

Don Wetmore posted
Union Pacific Omaha, Nebraska Shops on April 29, 1986.
Photo by Don Wetmore
Don Wetmore: Most of the work transferred out of there around 1988. The business cars were still maintained there until the late 90s when that operation was moved to Council Bluffs.
Brian Hume: Who else spotted the steam engine?
[About a fourth of the way up in the middle to the left of the turntable.]
Don Wetmore: Brian Hume Big Boy 4023, now overlooking I-80 at Kenefick Park

Dennis DeBruler

https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...

Don Wetmore shared

Edwin Nygaard commented on Don's post
Here's a shot taken from the bridge, late Sept 1973

Dennis DeBruler commented on Don's share
That was a challenge to find. The photo is consistent with this topo map.
1985 Omaha Quadrangle @ 1:24,000

Dennis DeBruler commented on Don's share

That area has changed as much as the South Loop of Chicago.

https://www.google.com/.../@41.2675982,-95.../data=!3m1!1e3

American-Rails.com posted
Another view of Union Pacific's former shops in Omaha, Nebraska; June, 1981. American-Rails.com collection.

Peoria, IL: Edwards Power Station

(Satellite)

Trains going to this plant will be history as of 2022. More on that below.

I picked this scene from the video because it allowed me to determine the direction of the train based on...

Screenshot
David Jordan posted
BNSF Railway C-NAMPEB (Coal Loads, North Antelope Rochelle Mine WY to Peoria IL) rolls across Sanger Street in Peoria, Illinois late morning Friday, November 27, 2020. A TP&W crew will deliver it to Vistra Energy's Edwards Power Station (at Sommer). BNSF 6127 & BNSF 6119 were on the point; BNSF 4992 is DPU.

...this street view.

Street View

Since Edwards is south of this road crossing, this must have been the route the train took.

Satellite plus Paint

Dennis DeBruler commented on David's post

Which railroad owns the little yard north of Sanger?

https://youtu.be/zd0NOVbj9Ow?t=521

Where would BNSF Merchandise trains terminate?

David Jordan: Those three stub tracks are what is left of P&PU's 90 Yard. BNSF manifests use TZPR's East Peoria Yard.

Dennis DeBruler

So the BNSF trains cross the bridge and go to here.

https://www.google.com/.../@40.6601916,-89.../data=!3m1!1e3

David Jordan: Yes.

This plant will close in 2022 and Vistra Energy will "provide $8.6 million to communities around Peoria, Illinois, for workforce, environmental and public health projects." [UtilityDive]

"Unit 1: 136.0 MW (1960), Unit 2: 280.5 MW (1968), Unit 3: 363.8 MW (1972)" [gem.wiki]

power-eng
"The Edwards coal-fired plant has been in operation since 1960, according to reports. Unit 1 was retired in December 2015. Unit 2 and 3 were brought online in 1968 and 1972, respectively....Ameren owned the facility, until Dynegy acquired five coal plants including Edwards in 2013. Texas-based Vistra merged with Dynegy last year."
[Vistra now plans to close all five of its Illinois plants,]

"The plant still lacks up-to-date air pollution controls (Lyderson 2017)." Electricity from this plant is sold as capacity, not power. [ucsusa] That is, it is "on call" so it would be used just a little during the summer months. That would make it easy to replace it with a modern gas-turbines peaking plant. 

Cleveland, OH: Whiskey Island Unloaders before Hullets were developed

(Satellite)

Before self-loading ships where developed, Hulett ore unloaders were used on Whiskey Island. Before Hulett patented his unloader in 1889, Brown Hoists were used. See "Saving the Hulett Ore Unloaders and C&P Dock" for photos of Huletts on this dock.

Three of the four photos posted by Steve Vanden Bosch with the comment:

This photo of the railside of the Brown Hoists in Cleveland I thought just unique but when I looked further in the river is the Wiley M Egan and the David Z Norton. This photo is from the Library of Congress. 

The David Z Norton was built in 1906 by American Shipbuilding Cleveland and was scrapped in 1964 in Italy. 

The Wiley M Egan was built in 1887 by William Radcliffe in Cleveland abandoned and scuttled in 1919.

Fred Bultman: This is Whisky Island. At the time it was almost all ore docks, Brown hoists everywhere.

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Association for Great Lakes Maritime History posted
An image from a glass negative of a ship being unloaded at the Cleveland & Pittsburgh iron ore dock in Cleveland, Ohio circa 1901. The equipment being used was manufactured by the Brown Hoisting Machinery Co. of Cleveland (Image Source: Library of Congress – Detroit Publishing Co. Collection). 
An analysis of a high-resolution copy of the image identifies the vessel to be the Maia of the Minnesota Steamship Co. with a home port of Ashtabula, Ohio.
[I skip the history of the freighter and their history of the Brownhoist is here.]

Steve Vanden Bosch posted seven photos with the comment:

This photo from the Detroit Publishing Collection is captioned Unloading at Ore Docks Cleveland in 1900. In this photo shows and unknown and another in front of it front right is the John Craig and right is the Chauncy Hurlbut. 

John Craig was built in 1888 by John Craig in Trenton Mi.  She was lost when she sprung a leak and went ashore near Ontonagon, MI, Lake Superior, on November 21, 1906.

Chauncy Hurlbut was built in 1874 by Simon Langell in St Clair Mi. She was lost when she also sprang a leak during a gale on Lake Superior, September 6, 1908, and was beached ten miles west of Whitefish Point; no lives lost. Was bound from Lake Linden, MI for Toledo, OH, with copper cargo and schooner D.K. CLINT in tow.

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Given the building in the left background, this dock would be on the river rather than the lake side of Whiskey Island. I don't know if it was on the Old River or the main river. And I don't know if it is an ore or a coal dock.

Association for Great Lakes Maritime History posted

The barge Constitution being unloaded by Brownhoist ship unloaders in Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1900-1920 (Image Source: Library of Congress – Detroit Publishing Co. Collection). The name of the photographer is not included in the notes for the image.

Brownhoist hoists were built by the Brown Hoisting Machinery Co. of Cleveland, which began designing and manufacturing ship unloading machines for bulk commodities in 1880 as the Brown Hoisting & Conveying Machinery Co.

Information Source:

https://utahrails.net/up/cranes-derricks-companies.php

https://www.constructionequipment.com/.../alexander-brown...

[The description continues with the history of the barge.]

In the early part of the 20th Century, the steel mills were closer to the lake. And there were coal docks along the river.

1903 Cleveland Quad @ 62,500

Whitefish Bay, MI: 37 Freighters Trapped in the Ice

(Satellite)

Richard Thomas posted
A little throwback photo. An aerial view of thirty-five freighters trapped in the ice of Whitefish Bay on April 15th, 1937.
[The comments indicate that a spring thaw and North/West winds caused a ice jam. They were there for a couple of weeks.]
Milo Banbury: In 1937, they opened the season early and got every bulk loader loaded with iron oar for the war effort. Despite minor difficulties like this, they broke the tonnage record that month!
Eric Pieper shared
Danny Thompson shared
Ronald Picardi: It's known as a blockade caused when the wind has caused an ice pack that has blocked access to the Soo Locks.
Mike Harlan shared
Jack Bunker: My Grandfather & Father were both out there on the Favorite breaking ice for them.

Pat Jehl commented on Richard's post
Then 1944 comes and all is well on the great lakes.
[That explains the comment: "Richard Gillespie: And the Mackinac wasn’t around yet!" This ship must be the Mackinaw ice breaker, which was built in 1944.]

Cleveland, OH: Water Transport on the Cuyahoga River Overview

Unlike Chicago's Chicago River, Cleveland's Cuyahoga River is still used by ships.

(Update: just two days later I found the notes I thought I already had concerning ships on the Cuyahoga.)

Mark Hinsdale posted
Have managed to take a few ship pictures in amongst all those trains...
Here's the "David Z. Norton" in the Cuyahoga River Turning Basin at Cleveland OH. Hard working Cleveland has always been a favorite city of mine.

 

Rare History Photos posted
An aerial photo from 1967 shows plumes of industrial waste flowing in the Cuyahoga River and emptying into Lake Erie. Cleveland, Ohio.
[As you can probably imagine, there are a lot of comments about the EPA.]

Bev Shaw posted
Cleveland Ohio circa 1924
[Ships were a lot smaller back then so a lot more were needed on the Great Lakes. Fortunately, their smaller size allowed them to fit into all sorts of nooks and crannies along the shore for winter layup. As a size comparison from 1955, let alone 1924: "In 1955 Sandusky loaded 1123 lake freighters with 8.1 million tons of coal. It would only take 270 of today’s much larger freighters to haul the same amount." [History]]

Bill Kloss posted
Iowa assisting Stephen B. Roman to her berth at Lehigh Cement in Cleveland. 5/23/2017
She started life as a package freighter for Canada Steamship Lines then was eventually converted to a cement carrier [in 1983]. She only runs in the Great Lakes.

Bill Kloss commented on his posting
English River is the only other one of this class still sailing. She also carries cement, but for LaFarge.

About a year later, the Stephen B. Roman was headed overseas to be scrapped.

PictonGazette
The Stephen B. Roman bulk cement freighter (McKeil Marine photo)
[It has been replaced by a ship that has nearly twice the capacity.]

Screenshot (source)
[Notice that the boom is still going down and the hatch crane is moving as it gets underway.]
Dan Meyers shared
Darren MacCallum: That’s insane, are you tugged in and out, or is this all on self-navigation? Do you need a Pilot on board for this transit?
Aidan Hall: Darren MacCallum All the mates and captains on the Great Lakes have their pilotage licenses. So, yeah you do have to have a pilot on board, we just don't have to pay for external pilots.
Rarely do great lakes freighters use tugs. Generally they only use bow/stern thrusters.
James Lee: Why would they build the mills so far upriver?
Mark Oviatt: Because when they built the mills the boats were much smaller.
Dennis DeBruler: There was at least one mill built close to the lake (Otis Iron and Steel in the 1870s), but when it was time for it to expand it had to go upriver to find enough cheap land. And I presume that once you channelize the river to support that mill, other mills could take advantage of it. At one time, USS, Republic and Jones & Laughlin all had mills along the river. Today's mill is the result of LTV's merger of Republic and J&L.

June 2025. I had always thought in terms of the difficulty of the tight curves of the river. But river's can also have a current. I added a red line as to where I think the freighter got wedged. I presume he was trying to get to the Lafarge Plant on the Old River (reference).

Satellite plus Paint

Lance Aerial Media posted 14 photos with the comment:

Pictures from During and after Recovery of the Sunnanvik Cement carrier after it became stuck across Cuyahoga River on Friday morning. The river flow rate was at its highest in the last year over 10k cubic feet per second. Still waiting to hear final report but the @uscg @uscggreatlakes was able to coordinate with @greatlakesgroup a quick and safe recovery, freeing up the channel in only a few hours. Ships are now navigating again on the river. 

From Channel 5

A Coast Guard spokesperson said the ship’s captain told investigators it was only his second time on the Cuyahoga River and that as he attempted to back the freighter into a section of what’s called “Old River,” he encountered stronger currents than he expected, running the ship aground and sending it into the boardwalk.

The MV Sunnanvik is operated by Canada Steamship Lines.

In a statement, the company thanked the agencies that responded to the incident and said none of the cargo was damaged or discharged into the river.

No injuries were reported either.

The Coast Guard estimated damage to the ship and boardwalk at more than $250,000, classifying the incident as a “serious marine incident.”

Roger LeLievre shared

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A video from a ship going upbound I wish it was about half this speed.

American Spirit waiting for an ice breaker to take it to Toledo for the winter, 14 photos.

Janey Anderson shared a 2:56 video of the Mark W. Barker on the river.

Annawan, IL: Rock Island Depot and Grain Elevators

(Satellite, depot and grain elevators no longer exist)

These photos are another example showing that grain elevators were almost as important to a railroad town as the depot.

 

Trent Briggs posted

Raymond Storey posted two photos with the comment: "ANNAWAN ILL."

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[The town used to have at least two grain elevators.]

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Andy posted better resolution and exposure of the first photo above. And provides a photo credit.

Andy Zukowski posted
Rock Island Railroad Depot in Annawan, Illinois, circa 1910, photographed by C.R. Childs.

Erik Rasmussen: The group of men on the right are working on the switch! Note the jack at the switch point and how they’re gathered at the switch stand.

Sam Bailey: Erik Rasmussen Changing a switch tie. Evident where ground broken on opposite side and those 4 men are pulling it toward them.

Richard Fiedler shared

Steven Hooker shared

Pinterest
[Once again, people were skinny back then. Note the ramp on the left of the grain elevator. Rather than dig a dump pit, they built a ramp so that the wagons would go above the ground to dump into the leg. Digging pits before backhoes were developed would have been a pain. Although building that ramp could not have been easy either. I think the semaphores at the depot are for train orders.]

I tried to extract comparable areas from the old aerial and the new satellite to determine if this town grew or shrunk. It lost an industry that was on the northwest side of town, but it has grown. I'm sure it helped that I-80 passed close by. There no longer appears to be a grain elevator in this town.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Satellite

I'm putting the date of the photos in the early 1900s because of the length of the dress and the smallness of the locomotive and train. It appears the grain elevators were gone by 1938 because I don't see any buildings south of the tracks with long shadows. Did the grain business move to the Hennepin Canal that is just north of town? I believe the depot is the building just west of Canal Street on the north side of the tracks. But I don't understand why the dormer for the bay window is on the side away from the tracks.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP