Baltimore, MD: Lost/Pennsy Union Junction and B&P Junction Towers

Union Junction: (Satellite, based on the aerial photo below.)

B&P Junction: (Satellite, based on the aerial photo below. The platforms used to stop at Calvert St.)

The Union Junction Tower was geographically west of Pennsy Station North, and the B&P Junction Tower was east of the station. It is interesting that they are called junction towers because there is no junction. They both control the mainline tracks feeding into the station.

Based on the Guilford Avenue Bridge in the background of some of the photos, the name of the eastern tower was evidently changed from B&P to Union sometime in 1985. Consequently, some of the photos listed under Union Junction Tower are in fact of the former B&P Junction Tower. I've added a [B&P] note to those photos that I believe belong in the eastern tower list.

Pennsy Union (Western) Junction Tower

Mark Hinsdale posted
In May, 1983, an Amtrak Northeast Corridor "Regional" train from Washington D.C., is about to depart Baltimore, Maryland for Philadelphia and New York, behind AEM-7 #946.  The north end of the Baltimore station complex was controlled by the operator in Union Junction Tower, seen to the right.  B&P Junction, another tower at the opposite end of the station, controlled the southern approach.  Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore was always a busy place, with trains coming and going frequently, and the occasional freight or maintenance movement usually filling in during the slack periods. May, 1983 photo by Mark Hinsdale
Mark Hinsdale shared

The following eighteen photos are from NorthAmericanInterlockins.

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2 [B&P]

3 [B&P]

4 [B&P]

5 [B&P]

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12 [B&P]

The above and below 1985 photos confirm that both towers were labeled Union Jct.

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Pennsy Union/B&P (Eastern) Junction Tower

The following five photos are from NorthAmericanInterlockins.

Both Towers

This confirms that there was never a steel-arch bridge west of the western tower. Note that the platforms used to extend to Maryland Aven on the west side of the station and stopped at Calvert Street on the east side.

Feb 21, 1966 @ 24,000; AR1VBLA00010130

Trains going West are going timecard South, and trains going East are going timecard North.

Amtrak via Railway Age via Progressive Railroading via Dennis DeBruler

Eminence, KY: Municipal Building/L&N Depot

(Satellite)

Depot Ave. is built on the former L&N right-of-way. This view is from Depot Ave.

Street View, Nov 2024

Street View, Nov 2024

Russell Saunders posted, cropped
This was the depot built by the Louisville & Nashville R.R. Co. in Eminence, Kentucky.  Today it serves Eminence as the municipal building.
Randy Early shared

1954/55 Eminence Quad @ 24,000

Elliott, IL: Lost/NKP/LE&W Depot and Wood Grain Elevator

Depot: (Satellite)

Elevator: (Satellite)

There at least two grain elevators in this image. The depot is on the left. I question the accuracy of the depot being green.

Richard Fiedler posted
Richard Fiedler shared

It looks like the wood elevator has been replaced by a leg.

Street View, Sep 2024

1957/58 Gibson City Quad @ 62,500

1940 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Houston, TX: Union Station and Houston Astros Daikin/Minute Maid Stadium

(Satellite)

Street View, May 2022

Threshold 360

Russell Kaye, Dec 2016

Ross Williams, Nov 2018

While researching the BNSF Milby Railyard, I discovered that the 1956 courthouse is gone, but the headhouse of the Union Station is extant. Any depot headhouse that has survived in a big city is worth noting. The Houston Astros retained the headhouse when they turned the train shed and passenger train tracks into their ballpark.

1955/57 Settegast Quad @ 24,000

The roof of the stadium is retractable. This view shows the roof rolled to the side on elevated rails.

Street View, Mar 2026

And this view shows the roof in the closed position. Most of the views with a closed roof have a cloudy sky and probably threaten rain. I wonder why it is closed in this view because there is not a cloud in the sky and they should not have to run the air conditioning in October considering how many views had the roof open. It looks like Minute Maid did not renew the naming rights. Daikin is "a leading air conditioning and refrigeration" company. (The quote comes from a Google Search results. I could not find where Google found that claim.)

Street View, Oct 2019

Another view of the roof in the open position. We can see the upper and lower parts of the roof have their own rails.

Street View, Mar 2026

And this view caught it in the closed position with the empty elevated rails.

Street View, Sep 2022

I knew that the Houston Astros moved out of the Astrodome, but I didn't know to where they moved until now.

Houston, TX: BNSF/Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Milby Yard

Turntable: (Satellite, saving the location of another turntable because the yard is now abandoned.)

Street View, Nov 2022

Erin Bristow posted 11 images with the comment: "BNSF has abandoned their yard/shop on Milby street in downtown Houston. Stopped by today, turntable is flooded and sadly the homeless have already moved in.  Construction crews are prepping for demolition soon.  Its the only turntable in the Houston area.  Wish it could be saved by the future developer and kept as an historical landmark.  🫤"

Roger Eyrich shared

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This yard probably initially serviced locomotives for passenger trains to Union Station and then locomotives for freight trains that were handed off to the Houston Belt & Terminal Railroad.

1955/57 Settegast and Park Place Quads @ 24,000

In case a developer wipes this yard clean, this is what it looked like.

Satellite

I knew that CB&Q had a route from Colorado to Texas, but I thought that route terminated in Fort Worth, TX. So how did BNSF get to Houston? The answer appears to be the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, which went from Fort Worth to Galveston. That railroad was serious about the "Gulf" part of their name, the railroad went west and south of Houston to get to Galveston. It did have a branch going North from Alvin to access Houston.

1956/63 Houston Quad @ 250,000