Clarinda, IA: Preserved/CB&Q Depot and Old Grain Elevator

Depot: (Satellite)

Old Elevator: (Satellite)

New Elevator: (Satellite)

Street View, Oct 2021

When I looked at a 1955 topo map, I was surprised that three out of the four "spokes" where already abandoned. In fact, two of them were abandoned so long ago that they are marked just "Old RR Grade." And there is another CB&Q route just a little bit to the east of here. (The one operational spoke, the one to the North, is labeled Burlington Northern. Since BN did not exist until 1970, this is an error on a 1955 map. Unfortunately, this is a rather common error on the topo maps.)

1955 Nebraska Quad @ 250,000

And the map is missing an "Old  RR Grade" to the south because Clarinda is the town where two routes from Missouri joined the route to the North.

1902 CB&Q via Dennis DeBruler and Dennis DeBruler

 

Michael Emerson Avitt posted
Clarinda Iowa in March 2004 - CB&Q. 2024 marks my 20th year as a member of the Railroad Station Historical Society.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Michael's post
That town used to have five CB&Q "spokes." But now it has none. It not only had north/south and east/west routes, it had a second "spoke" to the south. A 1955 topo map shows that only the spoke to the north still existed. It labels the spokes to the East and South (Bigelow) as "Old RR Grade." The spoke to the West is labeled "Abandoned," and the spoke to Corning is not even shown on the map. The 2004 SPV Map shows that the route to the North existed to at least 1970 because it was abandoned by BN. A 1985 topo map still shows the route to the North, but it is shown as abandoned on a 1993 topo.  https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/collection/knx_rail/id/298

This is the first time I have seen a store front attached to a grain elevator. This elevator would have been on the east/west CB&Q route.

Street View, Sep 2022

This elevator is across the road from the depot, and it would have been on a north/south route.

Street View, Oct 2021

When I looked at a satellite map, I learned that the above view is a small part of the elevator. Here is a view that shows there is some serious storage capacity behind what we see above. I also included the old elevator on the left. It is the red that is peaking through the tree.

Street View, Oct 2021