Towns and Nature: 2026

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

Street View, Mar 2026

Maximum resolution for the pumps.

Street View, Mar 2026

Found in Nomadland by Sammi posted

An old service station I stopped to photograph in Adrian, Texas! Turns out this was the Bent Door Café and Phillips 66 station.

It used to be a 24-hour stop for food, gas, and souvenirs along Route 66. And the name is literal: part of the café was built using a military airfield control tower after World War II. The windows slanted outward, and the door was bent to match.

Lance Ainsworth: That is also the midway point on Route 66.

Street View, Mar 2026 (Satellite)

Street View, Mar 2026

Some other early US highway artifacts.

Street View, Mar 2026 (Satellite)

Not all of the Route 66 filling stations have been rehabilitated.

Street View, Mar 2026 (Satellite)

The town wasn't just a tourist trap. Note that trucks would drive into the original elevator to dump. It looks like it is now abandoned. I wonder what kind of crops are grown here.

Street View, Oct 2025 (Satellite)

The abandoned railroad was the Rock Island.

1966/69 Adrian Quad @ 24,000

DeForest, WI: 1871 Museum/Milwaukee Depot

(Satellite)

Street View, Jul 2019

It needed quite a bit of TLC.

Street View, Aug 2007

"The DeForest Depot was built in 1871, at the time of the construction of the railroad line which connected Madison to Portage. In 2025 the waiting room and ticket office area were renovated and now look like it would have looked to traveler arriving by rail in the 1930s." [deforest]

The DeForest Depot was built in 1871, at the time of the construction of the railroad line which connected Madison to Portage. Land for a depot was donated to the railroad by Isaac DeForest. Recognizing the importance of rail service to the growth of the community, area residents provided funds to erect the building. Knute Knudtson, a local tradesman, constructed the depot using a post and beam building technique common to many area barns. The original exterior siding consisted of vertical boards and battens. In the 1920s the depot was remodeled to include wainscoting, horizontal siding, and new windows. The DeForest Depot closed in 1971 and the building was later purchased by the Chase Lumber Company of DeForest to be used for storage. In 2001 the land and the building were deeded by Fred and Helen Chase to the DeForest Area Historical Society. The current exterior restoration reflects the appearance of the building during the 1930s, when The Milwaukee Road train passed through town several times each day.
...
Exterior restoration completed in 2008
[hmdb]

Jack Franklin posted three photos with the comment:

The Milwaukee Road station in De Forest has been restored by the local historical society.
My photos.

This Milwaukee route is now owned by CPKC.

rail.guide

Christopher, IL: Lost/CB&Q Depot

(Satellite)

Andy Zukowski posted
CB&Q Railroad Depot in Christopher, Illinois. 1920

Larry Candilas commented on Andy's post
MP 161.8 Centralia & Paducah Sub - here's what it looked like in the 1970s.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Andy's photo
Based on this 1938 photo, I think this slab, https://maps.app.goo.gl/peD5HFqYpRVpG1zL9, was the foundation of the depot. The street along the left side of the photo is Victor Street.

The town had a lot of coal mines, that is why there is so much railroad action in the area.

rail.guide

The branch that went south of Concord to the P&I Bridge over the Ohio River must have been built after 1902.

1902

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Hastings, NE: Amtrak/CB&Q Depot, Roundhouse and Lost Hastings Tower

Depot: (Satellite)

Roundhouse: (Satellite)

Tower: (Satellite, a guess based on the aerial photo below.)

Both US-34 and US-6 went through this town. And the Lincoln Highway (US-30 is about 15 miles north of this town.

This town has a lot of grain elevators.

Street Side:

Street View, Aug 2019

Track Side:

Street View, May 2026

This view shows the walkway between the station and the platform.

Stephan Grütering, Sep 2018

Roundhouse

Part of the foundation are still visible.

Satellite

Hastings Tower

Gary Schroeder posted two photos with the comment:

Burlington Route Manual Interlocking Tower referred to as Hastings Tower in Hastings Nebraska.
Looking from East to West South Main and North Main.
The old South Main is now considered a siding .
The Union Pacific Railroad run South to North from Marysville, Kansas to Gibbon, Nebraska where it connected to the North Platte and Omaha main track.
Tower is gone and a overpass was built East of Hastings over Burlington track.

[Note the signalling pipelines. In the comments, Gary implies that the date was 1976.]

a, cropped

Gary Schroeder commented on his post

I'm not confident in the location of the tower, so I included the stretch between Burlington and Pine Avenues.

Apr 17, 1967; AR1SWBN00010146

The posted photos show that the tower was on the south side of the mainline. Of the various smudges in the aerial photo, the one west of Pine Ave. is just east of the signalling bridge as we see in the posted photos.

Digitally Zoomed

This map accurately marks the location of the depot and roundhouse.

1969/71 Hastings West Quad @ 24,000

In addition to being on the CB&Q Chicago-Denver mainline, it is on the branch between Aurora and Lester.

1902

Bellevue, TN: Lost/L&N/NC&StL Depot

(Satellite, my guess based on the topo map and aerial photo below.)

Andrew Waldo posted

Bellevue, Tennessee: Passenger & Freight Station, Nashville Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad. The NC&StL’s Passenger & Freight Station at Bellevue was estimated to have been built in 1882. The photograph was taken on 21 March 1916.

Credit: National Archives & Records Administration, ICC Engineering Field Notes, Nashville Chattanooga & Saint Louis Railroad, Tennessee. Digital Image Collection of Andrew Waldo. Fine prints from high resolution copies of the scans are available for purchase in various sizes.

1955/56 Belleview Quad @ 24,000

Apr 1, 1954 @ 29,000; AR1VDW000040051

Renville, MN: Wood Grain Elevator

Wood: (Satellite)

Concrete: (Satellite)

Feed Mill: (Satellite)

In addition to the wood elevator on the left, the town has concrete silos and metal bins.

Street View, Jun 2026

Wesley Peters posted two photos with the comment:

Grain Elevator Photography Trip 2, North Dakota/South Dakota/Minnesota.
Renville, Renville County, MN.
Renville Farmers Elevator. False-front drive-thru headhouse built in 1978, Hogenson Construction Co. Bushel capacity unknown. Distributor house removed after 2010.
One of six surviving drive-thru headhouses by Hogenson Construction Co. in Minnesota.
Photographed on 7/20/2025.
Photos courtesy of Wesley Peters.