Beardsley, MN: Wood Grain Elevator

(Satellite)

Street View, Jul 2024

Wesley Peters posted three photos with the comment:

Grain Elevator Photography Trip 2, North Dakota/South Dakota/Minnesota.

Beardsley, Big Stone County, MN.

Beardsley Farmers Elevator Co. False-front combination headhouse/annex built in 1971. Bushel capacity unknown. False-front annex built in 1978. Bushel capacity unknown. Both by Hogenson Construction Co.

Photographed on 7/20/2025.

Photos courtesy of Wesley Peters.

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The big bin on the right of the street view at the top of these notes is on the left in this view. 

Street View, Jul 2024

Both bins on the left in the above view were built recently because we can see the foundation for them on the right side of this satellite image.

Satellite

beardsleyfe

The railroad was built by the Great Northern.

1918/18 Beardsley Quad @ 62,500

BNSF still owns the route to this town.

National Rail Network Map

But I don't know why they still own it because the elevator does not look like it can fill covered hoppers. But the siding on the right does look much better than the "mainline" on the left. Does BNSF provide carload service for something?

Street View, Jul 2024

Milbank, SD: Wood Grain Elevator and 1929 Valley Queen Cheese Factory

Elevator: (Satellite)

Cheese: (Satellite)

Street View, Nov 2023

Wesley Peters posted

Grain Elevator Photography Trip 2, North Dakota/South Dakota/Minnesota.

Milbank, Grant County, SD.

Farmers Union Grain Terminal Association. False-front combination headhouse/annex built in 1975, Hogenson Construction Co. Bushel capacity unknown.

Features Hogenson's signature mint green office and driveway.

Photographed on 7/20/2025.

Photo courtesy of Wesley Peters.

John Harker: Now Farmer owned

Milwaukee built the railroad. BNSF now owns the mainline, and Sisseton Milbank Railroad (SMRR) owns the branch to the north.

1973/76 Milbank West Quad @ 24,000

SMRR is a subsidiary of Twin Cities & Western Railroad Company (TC&W).

tcwr

The cheese plant is big, but I don't see any rail service. They have 12 docks and so much truck traffic that there is a building in the lower-left corner to handle the red tape for the drivers.

Satellite

ValleyQueen
“Two Swiss immigrants and an unexpected stop for gas.”
82,000 cows produce 1.8 billion pounds of milk to produce 200 million pounds of cheese each year.

ValleyQueen_about-us
"Today, we remain privately owned. We proudly employ more than 370 people in our small community. And we’ve become a key partner for national and global food processors looking for quality cheese and whey products to bring their own products to life."

It looks like they use Jersey cows instead of Holsteins because they want the higher fat content.

ValleyQueen_producers

Knox, IN: Two NKP Steam Locomotives near Starke county Farm Co-Op

(Satellite)

Steven J. Brown posted
Nickel Plate 2-8-2 587 and Nickel Plate 2-8-4 765 are heading to Chicago pulling the Norfolk Southern Independence Limited to the NRHS Convention in Chicago somewhere in, near or around Valparaiso, Indiana - July 20, 1993.

Jason Cook: I'm not 100% certain but the only elevator that I can find on the NKP out that way is the Starke County Co-Op between Knox and Valpo.

Steven J. Brown: Jason Cook The train appears to be in a curve. The track looks straight through there (now). I could be missing something.

Dennis DeBruler: Steven J. Brown Facebook didn't think this comment was relevant. I found it later. As I have noted, you were using a strong telephoto lens a little east of the elevator. I don't think vibration reduction for lenses existed back in 1993. I'm trying to figure out how you avoided camera shake. You couldn't use a tripod for that shot.

Ben Nicholas: A historic moment when two NKP steamers pulling a train together. It's too bad 587 is still in pieces but hope someone returns her to steam.

Sou Railman: The very last Independence Limited.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Jason's comment
A telephoto lens exaggerated the curve that is east of the elevator, https://maps.app.goo.gl/qSPDWc46DftZNDzw6.

This confirms that the elevator has two steel bins between the silos and the tracks as shown in Steven's photo.

Street View, May 2024

Ellensburg, WA: NP Depot and Intermodal Yard

(Satellite)

Street View, Jul 2012

Mark Cook posted, cropped
Northern Pacific Station Ellensburg WA

1958 Ellensburg North and South Quads @ 24,000

The  BNSF still owns the NP route, and the Milwaukee route is abandoned.

National Rail Network Map

The town not only has a small railyard, it has an intermodal yard.

Satellite

They have at least two of the container lifts that are needed to load and unload containers.

Street View, Sep 2022

Olney, IL: B&O and IC Depots

B&O: (Satellite)

IC: (Satellite)

Kerry Holtz posted two photos with the comment: "The B&O depot in Olney, Illinois."

Robert Karl Bullard: I question that the bottom photo is the B&O in Olney. Possibly the IC in Olney.

Marty White: Robert Karl Bullard you are correct

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The IC did street running on Kitchell Street.

1949/49 Olney Quad @ 62,500

The B&O depot was probably the rectangle north of the tracks and west of Whittle Ave. In this excerpt, North Street is along the top and Fair Street is along the right side. I think the rectangle that was east of Whittle Ave. and west of Fair Street was the freight house.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

I had to include more around the IC depot because the Hurn Lumber Company has changed that area a lot. The track in the city park is a good anchor between then and now. West Street is along the left and Chestnut Street is along the bottom. I think the rectangle in the northeast quadrant of Butler Street and Kitchell Ave. was the IC depot. The buildings that were on the land now occupied by the City Fire Department were probably the grain elevator in the IC depot photo.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Marlette, MI: 1890 Museum/C&O/PM Depot and Grain Elevators

(Satellite)

Street View, Nov 2024

John Maher, Apr 2019

Thumbwind posted

Marlette Train Depot - Beautifully Restored History

The Marlette Train  Depot is a beautiful and well-restored example of a late 1800s rural Michigan railway train station. Today its a historical marker and museum.

https://thumbwind.com/2021/09/02/marlette-train-depot/...

The town has a big grain elevator that is rail served.

Street View, Nov 2024

I got this other view of the two old grain elevators. It looks like the close one is made with brick that is painted white.

Street View, Nov 2024

And it appears to be a feed mill.

Street View, Nov 2024

The storage elevator used to have a grain pile.

Satellite

The railroad is the Huron & Eastern Railway (HESR).

National Rail Network Map

hesr via Dennis DeBruler

Gouverneur, NY: NYC Depot and Freight House

Depot: (Satellite)

Freight: (Satellite)

Tim Mayers posted two photos with the comment:

Gouverneur, NY -

A postcard that was canceled in 1936 of the New York Central Railroad train station in Gouverneur, NY,. Compared to a picture I took yesterday, Wednesday July 15th,  2026 of the same train station in Gouverneur NY. It's amazing that the station still exists with the state of disrepair that it's in.— with Doug Vensel.

Tricia Bullock Bush: Have you seen my post about saving this? We need people that want to work on it. It can be saved!

John L Garcia shared

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Street View, Jun 2025

While looking for the depot, I found the freight house.

Street View, Jun 2025

1956/58 Gouverneur Quad @ 24,000

This route is now owned by CSX.

National Rail Network Map

Sugar Creek, MO: 1905 Central Plains Cement and Limestone Mine

(Satellite)

Mining #Shorts posted

Sugar Creek looks like a coal operation from the outside: a deep shaft, underground workings and industrial-scale output. But the material leaving this Missouri mine is limestone, the essential raw feed for cement production.

Located beside Kansas City, the operation supports Central Plains Cement’s Sugar Creek plant. The site’s roots reach back to 1905, when it opened as the Missouri Portland Cement quarry and cement works. More than a century later, mining continues beneath the community.

Access to the workings is provided through a vertical shaft descending roughly 700 feet [213m]. Underground, miners use room-and-pillar methods, cutting broad entries while leaving sections of limestone in place to support the roof. The layout includes multiple openings leading toward production and milling areas.

Scale is Sugar Creek’s defining feature. GlobalData estimated that the mine produced about 15.96 million metric tonnes of run-of-mine material in 2021, ranking it among North America’s largest underground mines by extracted tonnage. That figure represents raw limestone movement, not finished cement output.

Eagle Materials acquired the Sugar Creek cement plant and associated assets from Lafarge North America in 2012. The mine is now operated through Central Plains Cement and remains the only underground operation serving Eagle Materials’ cement network, whose other limestone sources use surface mining.

Once extracted, the rock is processed into the principal ingredient for Portland cement used across construction markets. Sugar Creek isn’t an underground coal giant. It’s something far less discussed: a century-old limestone mine operating at a scale comparable with mineral and coal operations.

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Photo: Central Plains Cement

Welland, ON: ASW/Valbruna/Atlas Steel

(Satellite)

Stelco Rod and Bar Hamilton posted seven photos with the comment:

I was asked recently if Atlas Steel in Welland, Ontario, was ever owned by Stelco. The short answer: No. Here's the ownership history of Atlas Steel:

Year         Owner

1918 Dillon Crucible Steel Alloy Co. (original plant)

1920 Atlas Crucible Steel Company

1928 Purchased by Roy H. Davis and associates; became Atlas Steel Company

1963 Acquired by Rio Algom Ltd.

1985 Spun off as Atlas Specialty Steels

1989 Purchased by South Korea's SAMMI Corporation

2000 Purchased by Slater Steel

2006 Purchased by MMFX Technologies

2010 Became ASW Steel

2016 Acquired by Ampco-Pittsburgh (now operating as ASW/Valbruna)

Stelco's major Welland operation was Page-Hersey Tubes.

1965 – Stelco acquired Page-Hersey.

1985 – The operation became Stelpipe Ltd.

2005 – During Stelco's CCAA restructuring, the Welland pipe mill was sold to Lakeside Steel, later becoming JMC/Energex.

So Welland had two completely separate steel companies:

Atlas Steel – specialty steels, stainless steels, tool steels, alloy steels.

Page-Hersey/Stelpipe – welded pipe and tube products owned by Stelco.

Atlas specialized in specialty and stainless steels, while Stelco concentrated primarily on carbon steel. They served different markets and generally complemented rather than directly competed with one another. (Text from ChatGPT.) Photos courtesy of the Welland Tribune.

D Eric Davis shared

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Shawn Aulbrook: This is the 10-2 Rod Mill...I worked on that mill as a Rougher and Strander...

Stelco Rod and Bar Hamilton: This Atlas Rolling Mill looks quite similar to Stelco's 'Old Mill' - the 10-9 Mill, which closed in the late 70s ...

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Stelco Rod and Bar Hamilton: Atlas Steel's EAF Furnace - Electric Arc Furnace

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Stelco Rod and Bar Hamilton: Atlas Steel's EAF Furnace - Electric Arc Furnace

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Evan Adam Kitchen commented on the above post
I was recently inside ASW. This is the at the Melt Shop, where the ARC Furnace melts the raw components into steel, inside these laddles. I was using an excavator with hammer to knock out the port holes in the bottom.

Evan Adam Kitchen commented on his comment

Street View, Jan 2012

Photo, Jul 2020