Towns and Nature

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Chicago, IL Depot: IC Pullman

Paul Petraitis posted
As a Chicagoan (and a former HO modeler!) I love generic trackside buildings! Look at the heated shack that popped up near the old Pullman station! The year is 1900. The kid on the bike is ten years old so is the photographer Tom Ehrtsmann...he loaned me his 4x5 glass negative in 1969 I printed it way back when and scanned it yesterday!

The reason for this posting is the background in his comment.

Paul commented on his posting
Dennis DeBruler It took me a while to find, but the building in the left background is still standing. https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...

Paul responded to my comment with a comment on his posting, cropped
Well yeah that's the clock-tower/Administration building of the Pullman National Monument at 110th and Cottage!
[This gives us another view of the smokestack with some neat architecture.]

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP
Dennis DeBruler commented on Paul's posting
I think of 1938 as old. But a lot changed between 1900 and 1938 --- e.g. track elevation and an addition to the factory.
Paul Petraitis Tracks were raised in 1914/15 around Pullman/Kensington

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Elgin, IL: State Mental Health Center (Hospital) Heating Plant

It is interesting how the name has changed over the decades to be more politically correct. I see Google has it labeled as "Illinois Department of Human Services."

Mark Llanuza posted
One the second to the last coal empties going back to the IC Railroad interchange at Coleman Jct at South Elgin IL 1973 heads south coming back from the ILLinois State Hospital going past the Fox River Museum in South Elgin IL.

I had trouble locating the Mental Health Center, even though it is big, because the 2005 SPV Map showed it leaving the Aurora, Elgin & Fox River near the current trolley museum rather than where it switched to streetcar running on State Street. And not only have the buildings changed a lot since 1939, the streets have changed. I start with the 1939 aerial to find the track. The SPV Map indicated the branch went west, then north, then curved back east. That is consistent with what I saw on the aerial view. Note the powerhouse has only one smokestack back then.

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Today, we can still find a land scar of the track.

Satellite

Andrea R.

According to Historic Aerials, there was still just one smokestack in 1946. But in 1953 we see the two smokestacks that are still standing today.

Satellite

A topo map labeled the interurban line north of the IC connection as STATE HOSPITAL RR.

1949 Geneva Quad @ 24,000 via Dennis DeBruler

These comments on that topo map are relevant to these notes:

Comments on a post

They have also added a centralized cooling function.

Tory, IN: HOS/Sou Depot during a flood

(Satellite, the river in the background indicates the depot was south of the tracks. The only big rectangle in 1958 that was south of the tracks was east of Harrison Street)

HOS = Hoosier Southern

bill Stroud posted
Troy Depot during a flood. The line still gets flooded to this day.

This may be the foundation of the depot.

Street View

The tree overgrowth made me wonder if HOS runs past Polyfreeze. This Southern branch used to run to Cannelton. The 2005 SPV Map shows that HOS is out-of-service past Tell City. It does appear that HOS still runs to tell City because I found rail cars on the south side of town:

Satellite
There is a tank car in the upper-left and a couple of freight cars in the lower-right.

Detroit, MI: GTW Brush Street Station, City Yard and Robin Hood Flour

(Satellite)

Peter Dudley shared
Detroit's Brush Street Station (1867-1973) was demolished shortly after this Fred Zatirka photograph was shot. Everything in this image (including the streets) soon made way for today's GM Renaissance Center.
Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad (D&M) moved to this east riverfront terminal in 1852. The original building, which was shared by Great Western Railway (GWR) and Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad (MS&NI) was destroyed during an 1866 fire, which broke out on a ferry docked nearby. There were more than a few fatalities.
Fred Zatirka post
Here is a photo I took in the early 70’s of the Grand Trunk railroad depot. The Depot dated back to the pre civil war era and was located at Brush and Atwater street, right around the corner from the entrance to the Detroit Windsor tunnel. The large building and grain silos behind the depot were for the Robin Hood flour mill. All these structures were demolished to make way for Ren Cen.
My apologies for the quality of the photo. It was an old Polaroid that didn’t age very well.

Update:

Jim Kelling posted two photos with the comment: "Grand Trunk station (1867) at Brush Street in Detroit, c. 1920 ICC photo at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland."

Charles Geletzke Jr. posted
A view of the GTW's Brush Street Depot in Detroit, Michigan on October 22, 1966. (C. H. Geletzke, Jr. photo)

Charles Geletzke Jr. posted
This was the GTW's Outbound Freight House at City Yard in Detroit, Michigan as seen on March 23, 1975. (C. H. Geletzke, Jr. photo)

Jerry Klopfer: You showed several GTW freight houses in Detroit recently. Can you give dates as to when GTW quit using them and if they were subsequently used by other entities?

Charles Geletzke Jr.: Jerry Klopfer: I do not know exactly. The GTW had four Freight Houses in Detroit, the Inbound and the Outbound at City Yard, Trombly Ave., and Avery Ave. At one time they also had another at West Detroit. This is just a guess, I believe their LCL service stopped in about 1962??? All continued to be used for other purposes; but I cannot say for sure what they were. The one at Avery ave. became the office and equipment storage area for the Corn Sweetener or "Food Term."

Charles Geletzke Jr. posted
Track diagram of GTW Brush St. Depot and City Yard in Detroit, Michigan in 1975. (C. H. Geletzke, Jr. collection)

Steve Lucas: Interesting to see the connection to the ferry slip to run cars to/from Windsor. This plan explains how Detroit and Windsor passenger car ferry service was possible.

Charles Geletzke Jr.: Steve Lucas: What was especially interesting, was when they ran Hockey Specials!

Ben Higdon: Fascinating map! Are tracks running north-south in front of the depot for serving Robinhood Flour? And one of them seems to be a spur off the Detroit Street Rwy?

Charles Geletzke Jr.: Ben Higdon: Yes, Robin Hood Flour. The track was still there into the street right to the end; but I never learned what its purpose was.

Steve Burns: I see that map still shows the depot and adjacent tracks. In 1973 they were removed, except for several carferry support tracks, and the mainline was torn out for 2 blocks to St. Antoine St.

[Some comments identify this as a 1945 drawing.]

Dennis DeBruler commented on Charles post
1940/40 Detroit Quad @ 24,000

Putting North closer to the top.

Rotated 180 degrees

Charles Geletzke Jr. posted
One more view of the GTW Car Ferry Slip at City Yard in Detroit, Michigan as seen on October 22, 1966. (C. H. Geletzke, Jr. photo)

Historic Detroit posted
Robin Hood Flour (1960s)
[Some comments observe that if it was in the 1960s, it was the early 1960s. I could also be the late 1950s.]

Ray Dubiel: I watched them demolish that place to build the renaissance bldg.

Terry Whitfield: Ray Dubiel they about to demolish the Renaissance now.

Charles Geletzke Jr. shared

The west side of Robin Hood Flour.

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Marion, OH: Marion Power Shovel Company

AK Historical posted
The Marion (Ohio) Steam Shovel Co was founded in 1884 and produced equipment for everything from the Panama Canal to the Hoover Dam to the trawler transporters used by NASA for the Saturn V Rockets & Space Shuttles. In 1946 the co changed it's name to the Marion Power Shovel co to more reflect it's products. Pictured is the Marion co's, & the world's, largest shovel dipper operated by the Hanna Coal Co mine near Cadiz, Ohio in '46.

Satellite

Please read OhioHistoryCentral. It started in 1884 and was bought by Bucyrus, its main competitor, in 1997. Alternatively, revolvy is a longer read. Marion was responsible for the first long-boom revolving stripping shovel to be produced in North America in 1911. [RitchieWiki]

There is more information on this shoved in Horse Creek Mines where the shovel was used.

(Update: photos of a Marion 8700 stripping anthracite coal.)

The following black and white photos are from RoadTripAmerica and are courtesy of Marion Power Shovel Co.

Courtesy of MPS
One of the originals: Steam shovel and wrecking car made by Marion Steam Shovel Company in the 1920's

Courtesy of MPS
Marion at the Isthmus: The rig that dug the Panama Canal

Courtesy of MPS
Everyone was looking at the rocket, but it was a Marion transporter that made launching possible

Courtesy of MPS
Monster shovel: A Marion Walking Dragline— The tiny brown dot to the right of the machine is a full-sized pickup truck,
[This is generally called a dragline, not a shovel. The following is a shovel]

Courtesy of MPS
Crawler Mining Shove

Many more images are available in a Pinterest album.

I think of Marion as making stripping shovels and Bucyrus-Erie as making draglines. But I see Marion also made draglines.

tic-inc, Marion 8200 Dragline
TIC was awarded the contract for the erection of an 8050 Marion Dragline including setting of four 1,045 hp hoist motors, four 1,045 hp drag motors, four 640 hp swing motors, two 800 hp propel motors, one 96” diameter hoist drum, one 96” diameter drag drum, a 350” boom with a 120” diameter sheave and all other necessary electrical and mechanical items. Maximum hoisting load was 255,000 lbs and the machine working weight was 6,400,000 lbs.
[This caption was particularly interesting because it gives us insight as to what was inside these monsters.]

Allan C Wirkkala posted
The Marion Co. Products through time.

Alex Taylor: The title with the original post is misleading. This is simply the Marion product line at the time of this specific publication, not all of Marion's machines.

Allan C Wirkkala posted again

[Some comments list models that are not on this list.]

Johan Meyer commented on Allan's second post, cropped

We running 3 side by side . . .

8200 -10, 8200 -5 and a 8050.

[So, would this be in Florida?]

In 1965, Marion built The Captain, officially designated Marion 6360, the world's largest shovel. [revolvy]

It worked the Captain mine near Cutler, IL. [CoalAge] Looking at a satellite image, one sees the land scars of several strip mines in the vicinity of Cutler.

There are a lot more photos of the Captain shovel in the Captain Mine notes.

CoalAge
At 180 yd3, the Captain shovel wielded the biggest dipper ever mounted on a shovel. It had two dipper doors, each weighing 15 tons. (Photo: Keith Haddock)

ccmodels, this page has a lot of interesting facts such as the wire ropes were 3.5"
[Notice the man standing next to a handrail near the lower-right corner.]

Marion engineers custom designed such a big shovel so that two seams of coal could be exposed by one shovel. [StripMine] Michael Davis has photos of several shovels, including The Captain.

Information about the Captain starts here
With a bucket size of 180 cu yd, it was the largest shovel every built. It moved 800 cu yd during its life. It was destroyed by a fire in 1991.

My motivation for this page is a posting in which the Nick Anderson confirmed the location of the plant is at the satellite image at the top of this page. Nick also commented that the newer buildings are occupied but the older buildings have set vacant for 20 years.

Update: It is pretty easy to find photos of the big stuff. And even of the shovels that helped dig the Panama Canal. But this is the first time I have seen some of their early (small) shovels.

Wendell Bennett posted
Old Marion Steam shovel on Rail

Wendell Bennett posted
Another old work horse!!!

James Stine shared
This is a beautiful shot of Marion Power Shovel. What a place, what a great Company. I miss it like and old friend gone!
Growing Up In Marion Ohio posting
Marion Steam / Power Shovel complex looking southwest from Center Street. The original office building is still standing in the lower middle although the neon sign of a large shovel with a moving bucket is gone from the top of the building. This is one of several photos with an information label attached that apparently were released as part of a publicity campaign.

Craig Keirns posted
Marion steam shovel company

Craig Keirns posted

I found this while looking for the office building:

Street View

One of 27 images from an 1888 product catalog

CoalCampUSA
This old industrial facility in Marion, OH must have been Marion Power Shovel, which manufactured some of the largest earth moving equipment (shovels and draglines) of all time. Evidently, the company was eventually abosorbed into Bucyrus International. For a while, Marion was still a division of Bucyrus, but since they have been acquired by Caterpillar it seems the Marion brand has been retired. (May 2008 image by author)

Quinn Lickman posted four photos with the comment: "From a friends collection.."

[There are several interesting comments.]

Quinn Lickman posted six images with the comment: ""

East Coast Iron posted
A 3,270 ton Marion 8050 dragline uncovering a seam of phosphate 65 yards at a time.
Dylan Wheatley shared
[According to some comments, the dragline in the background is Marion 8200.]