All traces of the K&S are gone on the satellite image. That is when I decided to take a look at a 1940 aerial photo. That is when I learned the RR Aban Map route is a little too far north. OpenRailwayMap has an accurate route, but I can't figure out how to get a specific URL to the location.
The oldest topo map available is 1948 and the K&S does not appear as an old railroad grade.
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| David Cantrell posted Big 4 Depot, Interlock Tower, and Light Plant at Gardner, IL |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on David's post The depot was still standing in 1940 so I could confirm that this view is looking West. |
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| Jeff Geisler posted [I think we are looking Southwest along the GM&O. I think we see the GM&O depot in the background on the right side of the tracks. That puts the tower in the southwest quadrant. But the aerial photo makes it look like the tower was in the northeast quadrant. I'm going with the ground photos rather than the aerial photo. Note how the signalling pipelines that go East along the K&S first go southwest along the GM&O, then cross the tracks and come back northeast to turn east.] |
It is interesting how the farmers west of this field were able to erase all evidence of the K&S RoW but we still see the diagonal route across this field. Strip mining has, of course, erased evidence of the RoW east of here.
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| Satellite |
It also looks like the strip mining company moved the Mazon River to the west. That would have been a trivial task for the dragline that this coal mine had.
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| 1940 Aerial Photo from ILHAP |
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