Earl Park, IN: Old Gas Station and Grain Elevator

Gas Station: (Satellite)

Elevator: (Satellite)

Even 1970s pumps are historic because they were still mechanical.

Street View, Jul 2025

James Leighton posted
Earl Park Indiana

Karen Marshall- Vanderwall: his station wasn't Sinclair.. I think is was a Standard or Amoco .

The railroad was the Big Four. It is now the Kankakee, Beaverville & Southern Railroad.

Street View, Jul 2024

Saline C: Harrisburg, IL: G'Gara Coal Mine #9

(Satellite)

Andy Zukowski posted

O’Gara Coal Company NO.9

Harrisburg, Illinois. 1910

Directory

Dennis DeBruler commented on Andy's post
Level with Bauman Lane and east of Granger Street, https://maps.app.goo.gl/6bQbeZEtx6iZv3vh7. It operated 1905-23. It was cleaned up before a 1938 aerial photo. https://wikiimage.isgs.illinois.edu/ilmines/moa_quadrangles/maps/harrisburg-2790.pdf

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

This map does mark the mine even though it has been out of service for over a decade.

1939/59 Harrisburg Quad @ 62,500

Saline C: Eldorado, IL: Sahara/O'Gara Coal Mine #10

(Satellite, north of the IC tracks and below Eldorado Street.)

Andy Zukowski posted

O'Gara Coal Mine No. 10 was a major underground coal mine located in the Eldorado Quadrangle of Saline County, Illinois.

The mine was initially developed and operated by the O'Gara Coal Company(1905-31). During this multi-decade run, it produced 6,944,854 tons of coal. 

In 1933, operations were taken over by the Sahara Coal Company, which operated it as Sahara No. 10 until its permanent closure in 1941.

Dennis DeBruler: https://towns-and-nature.blogspot.com/2026/09/saline-c-eldorado-il-saharaogara-coal.html

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ilmines

The L&N and Big Four had routes through town while the IC had a branch that went to the town. The IC branch served the Dering Mine as well as the O'Gara #10 Mine.

Since the mine operated until 1941, it is in this aerial photo. It is just north of the IC tracks. Also, it looks like Big Four has an industrial spur that comes over to the mine.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

To my surprise, it is just the IC branch that still exists.

rail.guide

Sandusky, OH: B&O Roundhouse and Big Four/Indiana, Bloomington & Western Shops

B&O: (Satellite, the tracks came up along Warren St.)

Big Four: (Satellite, the land has been reused by the water reclamation plant.)

Tim Starr posted two images with the comment: "Sandusky, OH had two pretty unique repair shop setups in the 1880s. One was a B&O roundhouse that also served as a boiler shop, machine shop, and carpenter shop. The other was the Indiana, Bloomington and Western repair shops that had an unusual two-turntable arrangement. Both these maps are 1886."

Neo Haven: A transfer table was more common.

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The NYC tracks on the far left under the Nickle Plate tracks was the Big Four. B&O went North until it got to Warren Street, and then it followed Warren Street to the lakeshore.

    1959/60 Sandusky Quad @ 24,000

Indiana, Bloomington and Western became part of the Big Four.

WorldMapsOnline

Downs, IL: Lost/Big Four/Peoria & Eastern Depot

(Satellite)

Andy Zukowski posted

The Big Four Railroad Depot in Downs Illinois

The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway maintained a station presence in Downs, Illinois, historically serving as a stop along its route through McLean County connecting properties like Indianapolis and Peoria. Photo by CU Williams C1910

Larry Candilas commented on Andy's post

MP 157.2 Peoria & Eastern Line; not much there except the depot and a siding

1951/52 Le Roy Quad @ 62,500

I included Huff Road along the left side to help correlate this photo with today's satellite images.

1940 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

I think it is the rectangle that is south of the tracks near Seminary Street because the white stripe between it and the tracks would have been the platform.

Digitally Zoomed

Today, it is Seminary Street that extends south of the former tracks.

1981/81 Bloomington East and Holder Quads @ 62,500

Columbus, OH: B&O (GN) (CP Camp) Junction Tower: B&O vs. Pennsy vs. NYC vs. Big Four

(Satellite)

The 2005 SPV Map labels this junction CP Camp.   

Darren Reynolds posted four images with the comment:

B&Os "GN" tower (Columbus)

West Broad St.,Columbus, Ohio

This tower is no longer standing

Tim Shanahan shared

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A lot of tracks have been removed to make rooom for three highways through this area.

1955/56 West Columbus Quad @ 24,000

The tower was west of the B&O track and just south of McKinley Ave.

Mar 1, 1953 @ 18,000; AR1XM0000010170

The B&O route to the south is now owned by IORY. This map shows the IORY terminating at Sullivant Ave. But a satellite map shows the tracks continue north and now join the NS/Pennsy tracks.

National Rail Network Map

Nokomis, IL: Lost/Big Four Depot

(Satellite, based on the aerial photo below.)

According to some maps, Big Four shared this track with CE&I.

Bill Edrington posted
This was the attractive passenger depot at Nokomis, Illinois on the old St. Louis Division main line, seen from the west.  It was still a flag stop for secondary passenger trains between St. Louis and Indianapolis until they finally came off in 1959.  Very similar to the replacement passenger depot built at Litchfield prior to the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, which the railroad tore down soon after mixed train service on the Old Line ended in 1942.  The Nokomis depot stood until the early ‘60s, however.  Photo is from the collection of Jeff Dunn.

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

The grain elevator has grown considerably considering UP doesn't give it rail service. It looks like UP is still running coal trains in 2024.

Street View, Jun 2024

When I advanced street view one "notch" to get a better view of the rectangular elevator, the train was gone. So, the above view was not catching cars in storage. It was a train.

Street View, Jun 2024

I wonder if the tall wood building south of the main elevator is a feed mill. Unfortunately, Google Maps indicates that it is permanently closed.

Street View, Jun 2024

This view shows the complexity of the legs.

Street View, May 2024

Pekin, IL: Junction Tower: P&PU+Sante Fe+Peoria & Eastern vs. P&PU

(Satellite, the east/west route and the P&PU Bridge are gone.)

Richard Haward posted
Pekin Tower.

Given the curve of the train and the angle of the tower, this must be the junction of the east/west P&PU route that carried Santa Fe and P&E across and the P&PU route that went along the east side of the Illinois River. There is also an industrial spur that went south closer to the river. The industrial spur still exists, but it now joins the north/south P&PU route further north.

1960 Pekin Quad @ 24,000

Saline C: Carrier Mills, IL: O'Gara Mine #15

(Satellite)

Roger Kujawa posted
Photo: Carrier Mills Illinois 1939 O'Gara Coal Company Mine Ruins

Barney Mitchell: Where was this located ?

Raymond Barr commented on Roger's post

Here is a photo of the mine in its prime.

- Photo from scrapbook of Dr. George Sokol and FB posted by Richard Glueck. -

Dennis DeBruler commented on Raymonds comment
Thanks for the "#15" information. O'Gara had a lot of mines in Saline County.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Barney's question
North of town, https://maps.app.goo.gl/FvHkVCz31uAfBWYbA. You can still see a treeline along the industrial spur that came up from the Big Four mainline. 1938 aerial photo, https://clearinghouse.isgs.illinois.edu/webdocs/ilhap/county/data/saline/flight3/0bhc01036.jpg

isgs

1925/25 Harrisburg Quad @ 62,500

Montgomery C: Schram City, IL: (Hillsboro) Indiana & Illinois Coal Mine #11

(Satellite)

Judy Goby Oxtoby posted

Hillsboro, Montgomery County

A wonderful antique image displaying Illinois' mining and railroad history.

From the Dr. Geo. Sokol Collection

Charles Riner: They r hauling coal from Hillsboro to Springfield by truck daily.

Dennis DeBruler shared

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isgs

By 1939, it looks like only a tailings pile or two was left.

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Milford Junction, IN: Junction Tower: CSX/B&O vs. NS/Big Four and Modern Purina Feed Mill

Tower: (Satellite)

Feed Mill: (Satellite)

I did not know that Big Four had a north/south route in northern central Indiana. I determined that NS still owns this route.

Given the IN-15 overpass in the background, which is west of the junction, it appears the tower is in the northwest quadrant.

Gary Hostetter posted
This is a picture of the Milford Junction Tower on the edge of Milford, Indiana near the state road junction of 6 and 15. My Grandfather was a telegraph operator in that tower, and I was lucky enough to visit the tower a number of times. I loved when a steam engine went by. That was back around 1956. I was 4. The massive levers to through the switches, watching Grandpa send a message on this telegraph key that was horizontal, not vertical. I think about those visits, and treasure them. I never saw a NYC train going through the crossing, north to south, but saw a number of B&O locos. Loved it.

Eric Zerkle: The Winona interurban that ran from Peru through Warsaw and to Goshen..

Tim Shanahan shared

Dennis DeBruler commented on Eric's comment
Here is how the Winona Interurban and Big Four ran through Milford. 1951 Milford Quad @ 24,000

Eric Zerkle: Dennis DeBruler The part from Milford jct. to Goshen was gone by the late 1930s

It appears that there are still remnants of the foundation footings.

Satellite

Street View, May 2023

A big part of the Purina operation is a warehouse.

Street View, May 2023

I can't find any feed trucks. Does this plant produce just packaged feed?