Tamms, IL: 1899 C&EI+GM&O Depot and GM&O Railyard

(Satellite)

This town is on the C&EI route that goes to the Thebes Bridge across the Mississippi River.

Jesse Kerr posted

Need some assistance here folks. This is the historic Depot in Tamms Illinois. It use to be the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad Station.

The Village bought the building in 1982 when the Railroad was going to demo it. The village restored the depot using donations from local residents, completing the restoration in 1986.

The Village is looking for help on restoration. Any info out there on grants? Sponsorships? Charities?

Ken Morrison: lived up the street from it for a while. Also the GM&O station-unique in that it's bent in the middle to accommodate both railroads. in the late 70s, ICG was using the GM&O yard for car storage, but the C&EI (MP) tracks would see a visitor to the silica mill in town Sunday evenings...
[There are also some comments about who to contact for funding help.]

Dennis DeBruler commented on Ken's comment
1967 Tamms and 1978 Mill Creek Quadrangles @ 1:24,000

Street View

So did they place an IC Caboose on CE&I tracks to honor both railroads that used the depot? Is the caboose actually an ICG caboose of GM&O origins to correctly honor the other route?

Street View

The tree on the right hides the bend in the depot.

Street View

Joe Crane posted five photos with the comment: "TAMMS, ILLINOIS was once an important location on the GM&O. It was here the long trains coming out of the flat Mississippi Delta were broken up in a sizable yard into smaller trains for the charge northward up steep Alto Pass Hill and onto East St. Louis. The C&EI crossed the GM&O and that’s where the railroads shared a depot. The depot now serves as the Village Hall. All that’s left of trackage is what little you see from the C&EI line crossing the diamond."

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Driving Backroads posted
A recent shot of the old Tamms, IL depot, built in 1899. It was restored in 1986 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. 
Kolten Mulligan shared

Chad McCain posted
Tamms, IL. Rail depot built in 1899. Only a small segment of the cross track remains from the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad and the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad.
Joe Crain: https://www.semissourian.com/blogs/pavementends/entry/59211 [This has a couple of photos of this depot.]

Steven Hooker posted
Here is a photo of the Tamms Depot in 2013...

Dennis Croft commented on Steven's post
Here is a picture of the GM&O depot in Tamms Illinois.
Tamms, IL. Rail depot built in 1899. Only a small segment of the cross track remains from the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad and The GM&O railroad.

Paul Hieber posted five photos with the comment: "Driving the backroads I saw a sign for historic depot.  coming up on it I wondered why the depot was bent. walking around revealed.. a diamond! both lines abandoned. Illinois Central, Tamms, IL"

Louis A Webb: It’s actually Gm&o and c&ei.: It’s actually Gm&o and c&ei.

John Rose: The caboose is a Pennsylvania Railroad class N8.

Gary Sprandel: John Rose might not be the same one but IC had at least one N8. Saw it in their yard in Rockford Illinois in the mid 80s.

John Stuart Hale: Gary Sprandel, yes, the IC picked a few Pennsylvania cabooses up.

[The city owns the caboose.]

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