Showing posts with label museum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label museum. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 27, 2026

Pensacola, FL: 1911 Naval Air Station & Museum and L&N Roundhouse & Deopt

Naval: (Satellite, 28,962 photos!)
Roundhouse: (Satellite, this building has repurposed the roundhouse land. See the topo map below, there used to be a L&N railyard between Belmont Street and south of Heinberg Street)
Depot: (Satellite)

Old Pensacola posted
View of Pensacola Naval Air Station, June 1962.
USS Antietam (CV-36) at dock.

Old Pensacola posted
Aerial View of NAS Pensacola and USS Lexington, Circa 1970's

Today, a lot of the buildings are gone and the Coast Guard uses the ship docks.

Old Pensacola posted
Lady Lexington AVT 16 at Naval Air Station NAS Pensacola, Florida 1979

Old Pensacola posted
An official Navy photograph of USS Lexington (AVT-16) at Pensacola. The photo shows the Blue Ghost being readied for towing to Corpus Christi, Texas, in December 1991. There is a piece of heavy equipment (painted yellow) on the forward end of the flight deck. This device would be used to attach the tow cable to the anchor chain.

nps
"Pensacola Naval Air Station was the United States' first permanent naval air station, the first Navy pilot training center and the first naval installation to send pilots into combat. In 1911 the Navy secured an appropriation from Congress for a naval air service and within two years Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels ordered the creation of the first permanent naval air station at Pensacola, Florida, where the climate favored year-round flying."
"The Navy's first aircraft carrier conducted experiments here and the Navy's aerial photography school relocated here. Between 1935 and 1939 the air station expanded its facilities to include aviation mechanics and aviation medicine. Within the historic district are 55 frame and brick buildings, including residential, administrative and maintenance facilities. Particularly notable are the octagonal Armory and Chapel (1854) and six metal seaplane hangers (1916-1918)."
"Within nine days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Pensacola Naval Air Station adjusted its training schedule to accommodate 2,300 students per month, a 300 percent increase that produced nearly 20,000 pilots by mid-1943. These Pensacola-trained Navy and Marine fliers sank 63 German submarines and 161 Japanese warships and destroyed more than 15,000 Japanese aircraft while losing 451 aircraft to Japanese fliers. Pensacola made similar contributions to the U.S. military effort in Korea and continues its leadership role today as the headquarters for the Chief of Naval Education and Training. "

Evidently this base is also the home of the Blue Angels.
Michael Hobbs, Jan 2022

VisitPensacola
"When entering the museum, guests step foot onto a replica of the aircraft carrier Nimitz. The 8,000-sq.-ft. Nimitz Flight Deck Exhibit opened late last year and is filled with everything you might see on the real thing, from arresting wires and catapult tracks to deck edge aircraft elevators."

L&N Roundhouse


Pensacola History posted
Captured in 1926, this aerial view documents the bustling railway facility that was located north of Wright Street at 10th Avenue. The complex featured a semi-circular engine house (known as a roundhouse) and a central rotating turntable mechanism used to service, pivot, and reverse steam locomotives
Dickey Andress shared
Derek Reuben: PENSACOLA, FLORIDA 1926 L&N RAILROAD PHOTO TAKEN BY NAVY PILOT.

1944/44 Pensacola Quad @ 25,000

Frisco is now A&GC, L&N to the North is CSX, and L&N to the East is FG&A.
rail.guide

L&N Depot


Pensacola History posted
Train pulls into the L&N Depot in 1912
Dicky Andress shared
Daniel Bennett: Must have been beautiful


The new depot is bigger, but not prettier.
Street View, Jan 2022

I used this 1970 map to find the depot.
1970/72 Pensacola Quad @ 24,000


Monday, October 26, 2026

Grand Rapids, MI: Public Museum, 1905 Corliss Steam Engine and 1872 Chair Co.

Museum: (Satellite)
Chair: (Satellite)

I don't normally do general topic museums, but they normally don't have a big Corliss steam engine.

9:42 video @ 0:50
This Massive Steam Engine Is Still Turning After 120 Years

Andrew Gibson, Jan 2020

Matthew Parker, Apr 2023


Evanne Lehrke Brys, Jul 2024

It looks like they rent this hall as an event space.
Bruce Johnson, Apr 2021

samantha dubay, May 2023

Wendy Laney, Nov 2022

Grand Rapids Chair Company


Street View, Nov 2020

Street View, Aug 2018

Grand Rapids Historical Commission posted
The view looks southeast across the Grand River to the large Grand Rapids Chair Co. factory situated on the east bank of the river. The factory's dry kiln borders the river just to the left of the tall smokestack.
KenPatricia Modzeleski: Is that the old Baker furniture company? With the railroad trestle that crosses Monroe?
Tom Byle: Michael Page It was Grand Rapids Chair before Baker moved in. I’m pretty sure Baker built the addition that Mein operates out of today.
Karrel Johnson: This building is from 1872 and still stands. It's currently for sale for $12M last I checked.
Pete Walsh: Still there and at the time of this shot I think railroad tracks ran along the River and crossed Ann St. There was a bulk oil facility just north of Ann but the tracks might have gone further north to the Hydraulic Company Pump House to deliver coal. There was talk of it going to the Vets Facility but I am not sure if that ever happened.

Michael Page commented on the above post
Several of my ancestors worked at GR Chair. This photo is from the Library of Congress. 
[LC-D4-36663 [P&P]]

Joyce Upper commented on the above post
This is from the trail behind building currently under construction.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Pete's comment
It looks like Grand Trunk had a spur down the east side of the river to Michigan Street. 1914 Grand Rapids Quadrangle @ 62,500

Saturday, October 24, 2026

Saluda, NC: Museum/Southern Depot

Original: (Satellite, so why was it moved over a bridge in 1983?)
Current: (Satellite)

The claim to fame of Saluda, NC, is that it is at the summit of the Saluda Grade.

Street View, Dec 2016

There was a gap in the dates for the street views so the incredible growth of the trees by the sidewalk was emphasized.
Street View, Sep 2021

Saluda Depot Museum posted
Did You Know in 1983 the Saluda Depot was moved to its present location to help preserve this important piece of railroad history? 
Though now sitting perpendicular to Main Street and the tracks, the Depot retains its original architectural character. The move helped ensure that this important part of Saluda’s railroad story would be preserved for generations to come!
Come by the Saluda Depot Museum in Saluda, NC to learn more about the historic depot and railroad history of Saluda, NC.
Museum Hours:
Thursday-Saturday 12-4PM
Sunday 1-4PM

SaludaDepotMuseum
"First passenger trains into Saluda Depot"

SaludaGradeTrail

This photo caused me confusion because I read the caption as the depot was on the bridge. Looking closer, it must be on the road that goes to the bridge. But I can't reconcile this photo with a satellite map.
SaludaDepotMuseum
"Depot being moved across bridge in 1983."

A comment said the depot was north of the tracks. And the photos show that it was near a curve in the road. So the depot was the rectangle on the left side of this excerpt. This is when I realized that the depot was never moved over the bridge.
Mar 30, 1955 @ 33,000; AR1VDX000020172

SaludaDepotMuseum

D Guti, May 2026

They have a Christmas Tree on display in March.
R Mayer, Mar 2023

Jessica Mitchum, Oct 2023

D Guti, May 2026

This showed up in my feed while I was writing these notes.
Dave Kuntz Drone Photos posted four photos with the comment: "Saluda crest from the ground - The steepest mainline grade in the United States crested in the small town of Saluda NC.  The last train climbed in 25 years ago and it's destined to become a rail trail."
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Friday, October 23, 2026

Saline, MI: 1870 NYC/LS&MS Depot and 1906 LS&MS/GTW Caboose

(Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2024

Matthew Jackson posted six photos with the comment:
Former GTW caboose (Saline, Michigan)
This former GTW caboose can be seen on display at the Saline Depot museum. The tracks are former Lakeshore and Michigan Southern that used to connect Ann Arbor to towns like Hillsdale, Michigan and Elkhart, Indiana. These tracks that run by the Saline depot are now widely overgrown except for a small portion that have been uncovered for a rail trail. The museum and a few other restored buildings have been on display on the site since July of 1995.
The caboose is a former Grand Trunk caboose #77954. It has been cosmetically altered to resemble a period accurate Lakeshore and Michigan Southern caboose that would have passed by the 1870 built depot.
The pictures included were from two separate visits: one in December of 2021, and the other on May of 2023.
— at Saline Area Historical Society.
Tim Shanahan shared
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Edward Gross, Feb 2018

Aaron Crawford, Nov 2021

Bruce Irwin, Apr 2021

Shane Daniel, Sep 2024

SAE Miller, May 2025

SAE Miller, May 2025

Aaron Crawford, Nov 2021

I think this is a printing adding machine. It is on a desk in the caboose.
SAE Miller, May 2025

I think the museum pulled the handle so that it would be visible in the above photo. Normally it would be beside the machin,e and you pulled it to add a number and print it. This photo, in the backround, shows the normal resting place for the handle beside the machine.
Aaron Crawford, Nov 2021

The town also has a farm museum on the east side.
Amit Baghel, Mar 2022