Ponca City, OK: Santa Fe & Rock Island Depots, Abandoned Robin Hood Mill and Phillips 66 Refinery

Santa Fe Depot: (Satellite, I'm guessing that this was a depot.)

Rock Island Depot: (Satellite?)

Mill: (Satellite)

Refinery: (Satellite)

BNSF Railyard: (Satellite, it still has most of its tracks.)

Ken Madison posted four photos with the comment:

6/21/26, Sunday, Ponca City, OK 

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Depot (CRIP).

This depot was at the northeast end of Ponca City branch line that was built from North Enid, OK to Billings, OK in 1899, to Tonkawa in 1926 and to Ponca City in 1927.

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Dennis DeBruler commented on Ken's post
The RI came in from the south. Where is this depot? I think I found the Santa Fe Depot, https://maps.app.goo.gl/XyKypZdeoMDSMESH6. 1968/70 Ponca City Quad @ 24,000

An abandoned mill is on the left and a building that looks like a depot is on the right.

Street View, Jun 2024

This confirms that the sign painted on the silos is "Robin Hood Flour." So, this was a flour mill.

Street View, Jun 2013

This looks like a depot, but not the one in Ken's photos.

Street View, Jun 2013

This shows the mill and the Santa Fe depot, but my reason for capturing this image is the two locomotives in the lower-left corner. Does BNSF have local business other than the refinery to justify a couple of locomotives and a rather big railyard?

Satellite

The Phillips 66 oil refinery:

Street View, Dec 2025

Burnside, IL: Lost/TP&W Depot

(Satellite)

Patty Peterson posted
Burnside Depot (1979 Sites and Structures of Hancock County)
Richard Fiedler shared

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Today, Keokuk Junction Railway owns this former TP&W route.  Since KJRY is a shortline, the grain elevator has rail service even though it is not very big.

Street View, Aug 2024

It appears that the hopper that is on a siding in this view is in the same position that we see in the above 2004 view. And the vegetation growing on the track to the right of the hopper indicates that this siding has not been used in a while. I see four foundations for bins in the southern cluster. Are they for bins that are to be built or for bins that have been removed.

Satellite

Google Maps implies that the elevator is owned by CGB, which is a big operator.

Google Maps search

But CGB's website implies farmers would have to haul their grain to Ferris, which is also on the KJRW route. So, I'm labeling this elevator as "grainAban."

CGB

Although CGB is quoting prices for Burnside.

FarmBuck_Illinois

The elevator had a feed mill.

Patty Peterson posted
1995 Burnside Feed Mill

Longview, IL: Wood Grain Elevator Torn Down and Lost/C&EI Depot

Elevator: (Satellite)

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

Don Webber posted
times up...Champaign County. Il.

Brad LaPayne: If it's that strong to hold up while being tipped over, there must be a lot of damn good lumber in it! Probably enough to build a house!

Danny Frye: The reason it stays together like that is the way the wooden bins are constructed. The planks laid horizontal, not vertical, in layers (like bricks) to form the bin box. The structure is then covered in metal to protect is from the weather.

Jerry Walch: What year did the demolition happen?

Don Webber: 2011

Don Webber commented on Danny's comment

Don Webber commented on his post
and it made it to the ground intact...then

That old elevator is not the only thing that got torn down. A current satellite image shows that all of the bins are also gone.

Google Earth, Oct 2010

The railroad was the Chicago & Eastern Illinois.

1956/72 Villa Grove @ 62,500

Carol Erb posted
Depot. Longview, Illinois

Dennis DeBruler commented on Carol's post
A C&EI depot. 1956/57 Villa Grove Quad @ 62,500

Feb 16, 1948 @ 28,400; AR1FO0000010065

Chickasha, OK: Antique Auto Club/Rock Island Depot, BN Caboose and Old Fire Trucks

Depot: (Satellite)

Caboose: (Satellite)

Fire Truck: (Satellite, Google Maps moves my pin. It is parked under the awning.)

Street View, Apr 2022

The BN caboose on the left in the above view is a reminder that Frisco also used to go through this town.

1966/67 Chickasha Quad @ 24,000

Ken Madison posted

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Depot. 

Chickasha OK. December 2010

This view of the depot is normally blocked by Union Pacific trains but I caught it where all the tracks were clear and with the mid morning sun,

I almost got a clear view of the depot. The other three views did have a train in front of the depot.

Street View, May 2023

Ken reinforces that there is usually something on the tracks.
Ken Madison posted two photos with the comment:

Train Depot Tuesday 

March 18, 2010 Chickasha, OK 

While visiting relatives in SW Oklahoma, I was fortunate to catch the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific (CRIP) Depot without any trains or cars blocking the view.

This will always be one of my favorite depots.

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The trackside views show that the agent's bay window was just to the right of the main waiting room.

DeEtta Eroh, Jun 2021

Chickasaw Country Tourism, Jul 2018

James, Nov 2022

Chickasaw Country Tourism, Jul 2018

They have more than one fire truck because this is a ladder truck.

Kevin Stewart, May 2017

A 1970s paint job is not going to last forever. Was this a Frisco caboose or some other merger component?

Bud B., Jan 2020

And, of course, the grain elevator in Ken's photo caught my eye. It looks like an abandoned feed mill.

Street View, Jun 2023

Blackwell, OK: Santa Fe Depot and Steam Locmotive & Caboose

Depot: (Satellite)

Locomotive: (Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2024

Street View, Jun 2024

Jim Arvites posted

View of the old Santa Fe Railroad passenger depot at Blackwell, Oklahoma in 1920. The station, built in 1916, is still standing today.

(Jim Arvites Collection)

This big grain elevator looks abandoned.

Street View, Jun 2024

Does a small grain elevator actually get rail service or is the railroad just storing hoppers on that siding?

Street View, Jun 2024

Enid, OK: Santa Fe Depot & Freight House and Wood Grain Elevator

Depot: (Satellite)

Freight: (Satellite)

Frisco Roundhouse and Railyard: (Satellite)

Wood Grain Elevator: (Satellite)

See Frisco for a topo map of the town. The Rock Island Depot is also extant. But the Frisco Depot is lost.

The depot is on the right, and the freight house is on the left.

Street View, Sep 2023

The south side of the freight house.

Street View, Sep 2023

Bob Venditti posted four photos with the comment: "Enid, OK- May 4, 2025, AT&SF passenger depot (circa 1924) is now used by the Disabled American Veterans DAV, while the nearby freight depot is the Railroad Museum Of Oklahoma."

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There are a lot of grain elevators in this town including a wood one.

Marcus, Mar 2025

A better view of the old grain elevator. It looks like this is now part of a seed company.

Street View, Apr 2022

 With that tall headhouse, this elevator could load trains with legal (accurate) weights.

It has been abandoned for a few decades. [Robert Wagner post via Dennis DeBruler]

Street View, Jun 2022