Fairmont, WV: B&O Roundhouse, Railyard, Depot, Freight House and (WD) Tower

Roundhouse: (Satellite, once again, the filled in pits mark the foundation remnant.)

Railyard: (Satellite, only a fraction of the original tracks is left.)

Depot: (Satellite, according to Thomas' map screenshot below and the aerial photo. The Madison Street (Nickel) Bridge no longer exists.)

Freight House: (Satellite, the office part was east of the "Million Dollar" Bridge, and the baggage handling part was under the bridge.)

Tower: (Satellite, there used to be a lot more tracks here. This is one of two guesses.)

Donald Kerns posted
The old roundhouse that once stood in Fairmont West Virginia.
Linda Rutherford: Evan Cole The round house pictured is the second one or "new Roundhouse" constructed in the early to mid-1950's. I think it was built to accommodate the steam engine era and those larger locomotives. The entire B&O Fairmont (Bellview) Yard operation was gone and all its structures demolished in approx 25 - 30 years after the "new" roundhouse was constructed. In the early to mid- 1980's, if I remember correctly.
I grew up there, playing in the woods and along the tracks, climbing on cars in the siding, and walking across the trestle over the Monongahela River. I never dreamed the bustling yard would ever be gone but watched the demolition in adulthood. Candy and pop, and occasionally a hot dog from the Beanery. Paternal grandfather was a Conductor, and would lift us up into the caboose when the train stopped to switch into the yard and we'd ride the last feet - what a thrill! Maternal grandfather was a machinist. Paternal Uncle rose to be General Chairman of the United Transportation Union. Another Uncle was a Brakeman and killed at Barrackville while working switching empties into the mine.
Most of the neighborhood men worked there, too. Fairmont's long history with the B&O.
Frank Gozel: Fairmont - Nickel Bridge?
Linda Rutherford: The Nickel Bridge is further up river in Fairmont closer to WD Tower.

The B&O was on both sides of the river. It is not unusual to have tracks on both sides of a river, but normally they are owned by different railroads.

1958 Fairmont West and East Quads @ 24,000

Dennis DeBruler commented on Linda's reply about the WD Tower.
Is this the WD Tower? I see that a branch up Buffalo Creek to some coal mines used to leave the mainline here.
 https://maps.app.goo.gl/uJkWemDcBeirTkX59
[Update: or was this the tower's location?]

Thomas S Miller posted four photos with the comment: "Fairmont WV."

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2

3

4

These are the piers of the Nickel Bridge. "Nickel" was the name because the toll was a nickel.

Satellite

Thomas S Miller posted 16 photos with the comment: "B&O, Fairmont,WV.  A lost legacy."

Dick Spatafore: WOW,great pictures. I worked in the yard several years there on the track. A,B and C yards were the coal tracks. I think the scene by the bridge is nearing Gaston Jct. where the MR sub and the Fairmont Sub split with it going to Grafton and the MR going to Clarksburg via Shinnston. FDR stopped there once during his campaign. Our office was in the Roundhouse. The Fairmont is part of the original Old Main Line from Baltimore to the Ohio River thru Mannington WV.

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Thomas S Miller: Passenger station

The top 4 windows were in my grandfathers office.

2
WVNC Rails posted

Fairmont, WV is located in the former heavy industrial belt that extended south from Pittsburgh into West Virginia to Clarksburg. At its peak, it was a center of the northern coal region in the state in addition to heavy manufacturing such as steel and glass.

The B&O maintained a powerful presence n the city. Home to a large yard, facilities also included a turntable and roundhouse and a junction for diverging routes. WD Tower was located at the yard throat and also controlled movements on the FM&P (B&O line through Morgantown into Pennsylvania) and the Old Mainline between Fairmont and Wheeling via Moundsville. When this 1948 photo was taken, industry and mining were thriving with Fairmont teeming in rail traffic. Operators at WD Tower earned their pay. Image courtesy Doddridge County Historical Society

Thomas S Miller: My grandfather was coal traffic supervisor for the Fairmont district for 20+ years. At one time the busiest.

Randall Hampton shared

Darren Reynolds shared

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Bruce Elliott Railroad Slides Inc/Pocahontas Co. Society of Model Engineers: Taken from the second coal tower. This is before the roundhouse was rebuilt in the early '50s..

4

Thomas S Miller: Passenger station. “Million Dollar Bridge “ in the background. Nickel bridge on the left. [bridges]

5

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Bruce Elliott Railroad Slides Inc/Pocahontas Co. Society of Model Engineers: The largest coal marshaling yard on the B&O for seven decades !

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Bruce Elliott Railroad Slides Inc/Pocahontas Co. Society of Model Engineers: The original roundhouse with Buffalo Creek in the foreground. 

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Bruce Elliott Railroad Slides Inc/Pocahontas Co. Society of Model Engineers: The freight house is in the center behind the string of box cars. Passenger station is at the right.

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Bruce Elliott Railroad Slides Inc/Pocahontas Co. Society of Model Engineers: This is the new roundhouse, completed in 1954.

Ron Baker: Thomas S Miller. Location of this?

Thomas S Miller commented on Ron's comment

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Bruce Elliott Railroad Slides Inc/Pocahontas Co. Society of Model Engineers: A, B, and C yards (from near to far) and the Monongahela River.

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Thomas S Miller: My grandfather, Harry Stuart Fischer, coal traffic supervisor, second from the right, back row.

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Bruce Elliott Railroad Slides Inc/Pocahontas Co. Society of Model Engineers: Taken from the west end of the passenger station !

15
Bruce Elliott Railroad Slides Inc/Pocahontas Co. Society of Model Engineers: A Q-4b returning from a mine run off the line to Clarksburg. That is the freight house at the right.
[We can see parts of the office building as well as the freight handling buildings.]

16
Bruce Elliott Railroad Slides Inc/Pocahontas Co. Society of Model Engineers: This photo shows the second (new) roundhouse in tact. This photo was taken no later than the early '70s.

Mar 30, 1955 @ 29,000; AR1VEC000020087

Chicago, IL: Metra/C&NW Rogers Park Depots and Track Elevation

(Satellite)

I don't normally do commuter stations in Chicagoland, but the comments on this post provide interesting insight concerning the elevation of the tracks in Chicago in the early 20th Century.

Chicago & North Western Historical Society posted
Back in Chicago. We are looking at a 1915 or so photo postcard of the C&NW depot in Rogers Park, Illinois. Rogers Park is a neighborhood on the far north side of Chicago. It was/is served by the C&NW/METRA on the METRA north line. Times have certainly changed there!
Richard Fiedler shared
Richard Fiedler shared
Dennis DeBruler shared (unfortunately, someone made Chicago Area Railroad Historians private.)
After repeating the two photos below, David Daruszka commented:
In the railroads defense the ridership at most of the Chicago stations had dwindled due to the proximity of the CTA 'L' (which was a cheaper ride). The expense of maintaining large stations was not justified by the revenue they derived from the remaining passengers.
Barry Felcher: I used to watch trains pass the Rogers Park station in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Pacific type steam locomotives and the diesel powered 400s. My dad was a C&NW engineer.

David Daruszka commented on the above post
The station was raised when the tracks were elevated.

David commented on his comment
Then it was demolished.
Thomas Manz: David Daruszka What year?
David Daruszka: Unknown
Matt McClure: David Daruszka 1966 or 1967. As a RP resident, it was for certain gone by 1968.
 http://ultralocal.blogspot.com/.../rogers-park-station...

Jim Arvites posted

View of a northbound Chicago & North Western train at the Rogers Park station on 

the northside of Chicago in 1943.

(C&NW Historical Society)

Richard Fiedler shared

A contemporary view:

Street View, Nov 2021

Dennis DeBruler commented on the above post
It was halfway between Lunt and Greenleaf Avenues.
1938 aerial photo
 https://clearinghouse.isgs.illinois.edu/webdocs/ilhap/county/data/cook/flight6/0bwq07039.jpg

Comments on the above post
Making Mike's link "hot": https://www.chicagorailfan.com/elevate.html

David Daruszka commented on the above post
I found this photo of the station being lifted.

Chicago & North Western Historical Society posted
Someone wanted to know about all the railroad track elevation which went on in Chicago after 1895. Here is a photo of the work being done on the C&NW's west line to the east of Oak Park. Note in the distance to the east where the Lake Street "el" dropped down to street running. A concrete wall will be built just past the row of formings and the area between those walls will be filled in with the new tracks laid on top. Note also the trolley wires above the old line and the new Chicago Street Railway line. By the way, the C&NW Historical Society will present a program at the Oak Park Historical Society about the history of the C&NW in that area on February 4 at 2 PM.
Paul Petraitis: The Illinois Central was raised over a 3 year period roughly 1913-1916...
Aaron Grace shared
David Sadowski: Lake and Pine, where Chicago streetcars crossed over to the other side of Lake Street.

Beaver Falls, PA: Keystone Profiles/Republic Steel/Union Drawn Steel/Beaver Falls Cutlery

(Satellite)

David Holoweiko posted
Union Drawn Steel Co. 7th ave Beaver Falls PA became Republic Steel currently Keystone Profiles. Building has a long history dating back to 1866 right after the Civil War when it was founded as the Beaver Falls Cutlery company by the Harmonists of Old Economy.
Brian Stevens: Republic had facilities in Gary, Indiana and Los Angeles, California under The Union Drawn Division.

Brian Stevens commented on David's post

The Pittsburgh & Lake Erie went right by the plant and the Pennsy had an industrial spur that went over to the plant. Both mainlines still exist, but I don't see any rail service to this plant on the satellite image.

1953 Beaver Quad @ 24,000

They specialize in custom shapes and more exotic metals.

KeystoneProfiles_shapes

KeystoneProfiles_materials

Baltimore, MD: 1896 Preserved/B&O Mount Royal Station

(HAER; Satellite)

The North Portal of the Howard Street Tunnel is just south of the trainshed.

Street View, Jun 2011

Remember When: Maryland and Virginia posted
Mt Royal Station • Baltimore MD • Circa 1910!
Darren Reynolds shared

A view of the North Portal from the trainshed.

Photo from HAER MD,4-BALT,130--1 from md0909
1. VIEW OF NORTH PORTAL LOOKING OUT FROM UNDER MT. ROYAL STATION TRAIN SHED. - Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Howard Street Tunnel, 1300 Mount Royal Avenue, Baltimore, Independent City, MD

And a view of the shed and station from inside the tunnel.

HAER MD,4-BALT,130--2
2. View of Mt. Royal train shed looking out from under Howard Street Tunnel. - Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Baltimore Belt Line, Howard Street Tunnel, Beneath Howard Street from Mount Royal Station to Camden Station, Baltimore, Baltimore (Independent City), MD

Bill Rettberg Jr. posted
Interesting view of a light Geep at the east end of the Howard street tunnel in Baltimore, getting the green over the GP 30 led westbound that will now follow. Train shed is former Mount Royal Station.
Lenard London: Long hood Forward. Hoodie Doodie Doooon!
Steven Ford: 6603 is the engine they used on commuter trains . I rode on it at Mount Clare on a Saturday as they would use it for other purposes on weekends .

borhs, p4
The trainshed is 800' (244m) x 71' (21.6m). [I'm trying to remember if I have ever used the verb "is" instead of "was" when talking about a trainshed. I think this is the only extant trainshed that I know about.] This was the last major passenger station built by the B&O. "The opening of the Howard Street tunnel and Mount Royal Station did, in fact, speed up the Royal Blue Line service from Washington to New York to match the Pennsylvania Railroad’s running times"

There are five historical markers in the station explaining the preservation history. [hmdb]

They dug a hole for the shed, station and parking lot so that the station would be at track level, which, because of the tunnels, is below street level.

3D Satellite

A contemporary view of the trainshed.

safe_image for Howard Street Tunnel Expansion Project Launches via Dennis DeBruler
$466m for Howard Tunnel reconstruction and 21 other locations between Baltimore and Philadelphia

Knoxville, IL: Lost/CB&Q Depot

(Satellite)

 

John Stell posted
Former CB&Q depot at Knoxville Illinois in November 1969.  John Stell slide.
John Stell posted with the same comment

 

Andy Zukowski posted
Burlington Railroad Depot in Knoxville, Illinois. 1967

Ron Hatch: The building at this time was being leased by the lumber yard. That's why there's an overhead door "kit bashed" on the end.: The building at this time was being leased by the lumber yard. That's why there's an overhead door "kit bashed" on the end.

Thomas G. Morin: Nice wig wag signal too!

Bill Molony shared

safe_image for Thomas Dyrek Flickr, Photograph by John and Roger Kujawa, Thomas Dyrek collection.

Dennis DeBruler commented on the post
It looks like it was in the northeast quadrant of Hebard and Ann Streets and parallel to the tracks. https://maps.app.goo.gl/pw1Uztnmk1KhkTJ29
1940 aerial, https://clearinghouse.isgs.illinois.edu/webdocs/ilhap/county/data/knox/flight5/atch04020.jpg

As was typical for 1940, they used a wood elevator and a lot of small bins for grain storage.

Digitally Zoomed

As the elevator grew, the bins got larger.

Satellite

As expected, since BNSF is a Class I railroad, the elevator does not have rail service.

Street View, Jul 2023