Sunday, August 17, 2025

Franklin C: West City, IL: Old Ben #24 Coal Mine

(Satellite)

Larry Joe Jenkel posted
Old Ben 24

Bill Hammond III posted
One of the best shots of Old Ben#24 I've seen yet.. It appears Idled in the picture. At this Point It doesn't have a Prep plant or the second coal stacker tube.. Also the Hoist tower has yet to be Painted white.. I remember all that stuff as a Child because it had so many lights it looked like a city. No Idea who shot the picture but I take no Credit.

Larry Joe Jenkel posted
Old Ben 24
Gary O Mcdaniel: 24 was one of the nicest mines I inspected with MSHA. Good Miners & Mgt.
AT one time during the 70s and 80s six large mines operated along Rend Lake. 1000s of good jobs. ( long wall subsidence helped the Lake also.)
Gary Gray: I worked there before the prep plant was built. The coal mined and sold was 2x0 ROM coal. Ash content was supposed to be 14% or less. When I left in 1978 it was getting to be in the 18% range.

ISGS Directory

ISGS Map

Note that it is labeled on this map. That is rather rare for topo maps. But a coal mine operating this late is also rather rare.
1795/77 Rend Lake Dam and 1978/78 West Frankfort Quads @ 24,000

My usual late 1930s aerial photos for Illinois are worthless for a mine that started in 1965. Fortunately, I've learned how to find aerials from the 1970s.
Apr 17, 1972 @ 24,000; AR1SWFO00010014

The topo map shows that the industrial spur for the mine went west to join the CB&Q mainline. It is still easy to trace that route on a satellite image. But the ISGS map shows that the spur also went south to join an IC branch. I've noticed with other mines in the area that many of them had connections to two different railroads. I got this excerpt to show that the topo map is correct. There was no spur to the south to the IC. 

Casper, WY: C&NW Depot

(Satellite, according to the topo map below, this building reused the depot's land.)

Chicago & North Western Historical Society posted
An individual hoped to view photos of the C&NW in Casper, Wyoming.  Here are two.  The top phot is a Charles Stecher photo taken in February 1915.  He was a C&NW Signals instructor who travelled around the system.  That is "his" instruction car on the left.  The bottom photo is a redone photograph on a postcard.  That is the same depot as seen ins the top photo.

The C&NW route is now a trail through town. I think the brown building is on the depot's land.
Street View, Jan 2022

1951/52 Casper Quad @ 24,000

Berea, KY: Welcome Center/L&N Depot

(Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2023

Lloyd Bloom posted seven photos with the comment:
Berea, Kentucky L&N station, now a welcome center.
Passenger service ended in 1968, freight ended in 1969.
About 30 CSX trains pass through each day.
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1952/53 Berea Quad @ 24,000

Saturday, August 16, 2025

Annada, MO: Lost/CB&Q Depot

(Satellite, the photo below shows that it was parallel to the tracks. So, I assume it was somewhere between today's grain elevator and Paynesville Road.)

Carl-char Hirst posted
Cliff Kierstead shared

The town still has a grain elevator, but today many farmers have a larger elevator.
Street View, Sep 2024

This is the oldest aerial photo I could find that has decent resolution. I suspect that a 1920 depot is probably long gone.
Apr 26, 1972 @ 34,200; AR1SWFP00040032

Annada was on the branch that reached St. Louis along the Mississippi River.
1902

Dennis DeBruler commented on Cliff's share
It appears that BNSF still owns that route. https://www.bnsf.com/.../maps-and.../bnsf-network-map.pdf

Lucinda, PA: Extant/B&O Depot

(Satellite)

Street View, Aug 2024


Dick Whitcomb posted
B&O Railroad Depot (2012)

The B&O right-of-way was on the trail, not the caboose tracks.
Mark Benson commented on Dick's post, cropped
I just passed it yesterday [Aug 10, 2025]

The topo viewer map made it easy to find the depot.
LivingAtlas

Lucinda was on the B&O branch between Butler and Mt. Jewett.

Marienville, PA: 1905 B&O Depot

(Satellite)

Dennis DeBruler commented on the post below
Trails not only preserve railroad right-of-ways, they also preserve some depots. https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q82oHbasvWAjVDYw8

Dick Whitcomb posted
B&O Depot (2013)
Built 1905

1941/47 Marienville Quad @ 62,500

Marienville was on the B&O branch between Butler and Mt. Jewett.
Rumsey via Dennis DeBruler


Bevier, MO: Lost/CB&Q Depot

(Satellite, based on the aerial photo below.)

Carl-char Hirst posted
Robert Chitwood: I wonder if the Bevier & Southern used the CB&Q depot. I read B&S stopped their passenger service in 1926.
Cliff Kierstead shared

1953/55 Bevier South Quad @ 24,000

We have a choice of rectangles on both sides of Macon Street. Because of the building in the background of the photo and the platform between the building and the tracks in the aerial, I picked the western rectangle.
Jan 27, 1950 @ 17,000; AR1IY0000050084

This town is on the CB&Q mainline across Missouri.
1902

Not only is this CB&Q route still owned by BNSF, BNSF owns the Bevier & Southern route to the South.
BNSF

I traced the B&S route south to see if there are grain elevators keeping that route alive. I didn't find any grain elevators, but I did find the land tattoos of strip mining. This would be were the mine started because the tracks are here and the land has not been reclaimed. North, south and east of here was more mining, but that land was reclaimed.
Satellite