Decatur, IL: NS/Wabash Coaling Tower

Update: a Flickr photo   (3D Satellite)

Notes on the roundhouse & railyard and the backshop

Google Street View

The Google street-view thumbnail picture indicates this is a CSX tower. But since this is in the former Wabash yard, it must be a NS tower. This is the first tower I'm aware of in Illinois that is not owned by CN/IC.

Bird's Eye View

The tower is marked on the right side of my roundhouse Sanborn Map excerpt.

Karl Hauffe commented on a post
 Although this is a vintage photo of when it was in use, this coaling tower still exists in Decatur IL.

After seeing this photo with the skip, I realized that the tower in Flomaton, AL, used the same design.

Rich Barnes asked for info, and he got it:

James Holzmeier 450-ton capacity coal tower at Decatur was built in 1937. IIRC it was a Roberts & Schafer structure. There's a nice center spread photo and two others of it inside the WRHS Banner, No. 73. http://www.wabashrhs.org/p/publications-index.html?m=1

Wabash Railroad Historical Society: Publications index

WABASHRHS.ORG

Update:
The N&W/Wabash Railroad did try to get rid of it, but gave up. A comment by Kyle McGrogan on a posting:

The one in Decatur, Il is still there as the Wabash used old railroad rail for the rebar. N&W tried to blow it down....No luck. To the railroads, they meant these to go 1000 years at the time they built them.

William A. Shaffer posted
Site of Wabic Tower - Decatur4, IL (June, 2012)
(Photo by William A. Shaffer)
[Note the coaling tower in the middle background. The Wabash Depot would be behind the photographer. The CN/IC tracks are crossing the NS/N&W/Wabash tracks.]

John Pescitelli posted
Wabash coaling tower Decatur Illinois 2004

William A. Shaffer posted
Decatur, IL (October, 2013)
Norfolk Southern SD40-2 #3228 approaches Wabic in Decatur, IL. It is mid-October, 2013 and I am in Decatur for the day to shoot photos and relive my youth! Much has changed---too much, but the City still holds a fascination for me---maybe not so much the City as the railroad! For me, Decatur is the Alpha & Omega of Photography & Trains. So when I die, "Take Me Home to Decatur"! (Photo by William A. Shaffer)
Dennis DeBruler I always enjoy photos of that coaling tower. I was surprised by the heavy industry in the background. I see from a satellite image that must be Tate & Lyle Ingredients.

Roger Holmes posted
Dennis DeBruler I didn't realize Decatur still had some impressive smokestacks until I saw this photo and looked for some: https://www.google.com/.../@39.8457925,-88.../data=!3m1!1e3
[Obviously I have a short memory because I did see these smokestacks in William's photo above. Handling more information than my brain can deal with is the reason I write this blog. The office building on the right of Roger's photo is also part of the Tate & Lyle Ingredients complex in Decatur.]

Thomas Dodrman posted nine photos with the comment:

Delaware & Hudson Railroad coaling tower in Oneonta, New York. 450 tons capacity. About 300 feet south of Roundhouse Road, between the intersections with Ceperley and Fonda Avenues. (42.44813, -75.08718) 15 July 2018. Similar to coaling towers still standing in Flomaton, Alabama, and Decatur, Illinois.

I include the D&H photos here because it notes they are of the same design, and I'll never get a chance to get closeup photos of the Decatur tower because it is in the middle of NS property.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

William A. Shaffer posted
The "Wabash Cannon Ball" is approaching Wabic Tower in Decatur, IL. Staley Tower is in the background. Check out the string of Illinois Terminal Hoppers, too! Back in the Day when Decatur was "The Place to Be"!
(Photo by William A. Shaffer)

Kent Miller posted
[I skip his comment because it is wrong.]
Tim Shanahan shared

Pat Shediack commented on Kent's post
Here's my July 2015 photo of the same coal dock. It's pretty massive when viewed in real life.

Rick Smith commented on Tim's share

That tower actually *IS* on former Wabash RR property, and it's been on the NS since the N&W merger with Wabash and NKP in 1964.

The D&E (D&EI since 2018) runs along the former B&O Decatur Subdivision (Indianapolis Division), on an alignment about 200 ft south of this tower (opposite this view), before it veers southeasterly alongside Hywy US-36 before running due east about a quarter-mile north of the highway for the next 70 miles (east of Dana IN). The D&EI interchanges with the NS and the CN at points just east of and west of this coaling tower.

The telephoto zoom with a vantage slightly away from the perpendicular to the side makes it appear as if the tower were about to "pancake" and flip on its side. Another view from west of the tower from the WABIC Crossing diamonds (WAB+IC), with the "Castle in the Cornfields" A.J. Staley Building in the distant background, to the right of the WAB passenger train and the poles.

[photo - © William A. Shaffer]

 Moberly, MO had a similar coaling tower.

La Salle, IL: CB&Q Depot and Freight House

(Update: This depot was on the Illinois Valley & Northern Railroad branch of the CB&Q.)

Gary Sams ->  Illinois Central Charter Line

Gary's comment: "La Salle, Illinois CB&Q Depot and Train." One of the comments for this picture was of interest:

Harold J. Krewer Those gates were manually operated from the depot well into the 60s. When the operator went home, he hung "GATES NOT WORKING" signs on both sides of the crossing.

The train is blocking the view of the freight house that was west of the depot.

Gary Sams ->  Illinois Central Charter Line

The color photo would be the older one because of the cars and because it still has a train order signal by the bay window for the agent's desk.

1926 Sanborn Map, Sheet 6

Both buildings were on what is now a storage yard between Chartres and Creve Coeur Streets and the Rock Island on the north and the Illinois Railway/Illinois Railnet/BNSF/BN/CB&Q/Illinois Valley and Northern Railroad on the south.

Both buildings were still standing in a 1939 aerial photo:

Aerial Photo from ILHAP

William Wozniak posted

Update: William's comment:

Elgin Joliet and Eastern West End Local....End of April, Early May 1980..LaSalle IL....The LONG GONE BN Depot behind this train...Dave Woz photo.

I'm sure glad he pointed out the BN/CB&Q depot or I would have missed that. This would be a view of the northeast side.

William Wozniak posted
Chessie System in LaSalle....1982...Dave Woz photo...The GP-15T's have started showing up....Not sure where the Conrail(3rd engine) is being towed to.
[Rock Island depot on the right, CB&Q depot on the left, and Westclox on the hill in the background.]

William Wozniak posted
Another Chessie Train with switchers enroute to the Iowa railroad company...1982....LaSalle...Dave Woz photo..
[A corner of the depot is on the right, and the CB&Q tracks are in the middle of the picture.]

William Wozniak posted
Special train in LaSalle along The Rock......1982..Dave Woz photo

William Wozniak posted
Quad City Rocket going through LaSalle...BN depot behind the train..1978...(d. woz)
Brian Ehni Two E-units to power a 2 car train. Sad commentary on the reliability of them by 1978.Harold J. Krewer Actually, it wasn't a reliability issue. Toward the end both the turntables at Rock Island and Peoria were bad order and no way to spin the loco, so they went in back-to-back pairs. Not like they didn't have enough spares sitting around.

Harold J. Krewer commented on a posting
This station was a half-block west of the Rock Island depot (where you COULD catch a train to Chicago until 1978) and on the other side of the RI main line, sitting between the RI and CB&Q/BN tracks.
Here is another Dave Wozniak photo from 1982 showing the relationship between the two buildings. The RI depot is at right with the Chessie train in front of it and the BN depot is visible directly above the train.

Harold J. Krewer I changed the date on the above photo. It can be no earlier than late 1982 as the Chessie train has GP15Ts pulling it and the switchers dead-in-train would be heading to the IRRC at Bureau, which didn't exist prior to July 1982. [It was 1981.]

Andy Zukowski posted

CB&Q Greybacks, LaSalle, Illinois 

Here, the CB&Q 167C and company layover in LaSalle, Illinois. Photo by Ken Carlson in 1967

Carl J. Marsico: Looks like the RI Peru-LaSalle station in the background

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZBoNpjJDdckfpNrE8

CB&Q ROW is just south of the RI ROW

Harold J. Krewer commented on Andy's post

The CB&Q Depot in LaSalle would have been slightly behind and to the left of the photographer, it sat on the north side of the tracks at Creve Coeur St

Here is the LaSalle depot, taken in 1980 from almost the same spot as the F units, only turned around. Andy Zukowski collection:

Christie Pasieka posted

Pam Broviak: I could be wrong but I tried to make a visual of what I am seeing. Hopefully you can get to this link where I tried to point out features I am thinking I see. On the 2nd page of this I pasted sections of the Sanborn maps showing a ravine at the end of 2nd in LaSalle but none at 4th in LaSalle where there are homes on both sides of the road at 4th and to the south. https://www.canva.com/.../PIacqSGLkJIDkQUhNrpscA/view...

See link in Pam's comment above

June 1980 Flickr photo from the BN track side.

Forreston, IL: IC and CB&Q Depot

Gary Sams -> Illinois Central Charter Line

Sam's Facebook comment: "Forreston, Illinois IC and CB&Q Depot." Looking at a satellite image, there is an east/west railroad north of town. Looking at some other maps, I determined it is CP/Milwaukee. On that satellite image, you can see the land scars of the IC on the north and south side of towns. But I could not find any traces of the CB&Q branch that came in from the southeast from Oregon except for the segment that still exists from Oregon to Mt. Morris. I looked at a 1912 Sanborn Map and got confused. So I backed off to a 1905 Sanborn Map. The excerpt below includes the seal and the Water Facilities because they remind me that the original purpose for these maps was for fire insurance agents to determine insurance rates. And because it included the location of the water tower.

1905 Sanborn Map, Sheet 1

So IC was on the westish side of the station and CB&Q was on the eastish side. Note that there were separate buildings, which you can see in the background of the photo, for passenger baggage and express freight that shared the passenger train platforms. The IC freight house had its own sidings. A filling station building now sits about where the depot was.

1912 Sanborn Map, Sheet 1

This is from a 1912 insert labeled "second railroad addition." So did the Milwaukee spur from the north use the eastish or westish side of the passenger facilities?

1928 Sanborn Map, Sheet 2

Looking at the 1928 map, it looks like CB&Q arranged trackage rights with IC and sold its Forreston tracks to Milwaukee. Also note that the freight house is no longer labeled ICRR. Maybe one reason why CB&Q moved to the westish side is that they also wanted better freight facilities. Furthermore, it appears that Milwaukee gave up on service to Forreston.

I've learned that even a small town can have a rather complicated railroad history.

Dave Zeke Zellers posted
Depot, Forreston, IL.

I've learned that after WWII, IC replaced many of its depots with standardized designs.

Dave Zeek Zellers commented on his post

Dave Zeek Zellers commented on his post

Paul Jaenicke posted
Forreston , Illinois along the old mainline between Centralia and Freeport (Gruber Line) was a source of ballast for the IC for many years. A large gravel pit was located here.From a 1950 Condensed map of the Amboy District.

Michael Zettle: I live in Forreston, this area is called North Forreston. Developed from the pit and the interchange with the Milwaukee Road. The old guys that worked for the railroad said that no one could remember when the pit was first started but they knew it was used as a ballast pit from when the railroad was first chartered. I been told that "Gruber" is german slang for "Pit" and was thought that this pit was why the line was called the "Gruber". As looking at the map the pit at the top was the IC pit. back in the day it went all the way to what is now highway 26 to the west of this area. They hit water in the pit and water filled it. The railroad bought a bucket dredge and used it to continue to moved gravel out along with a steam shovel that ran on a independent track along side the sidings. In 1948 the man running the dredge brought the bucket in too heavy and fast and the dredge sank. It is still in the pit lake to this day. When they abandoned the pit the entrance track to the pit was kept and called the high line where they stored cars. The foreman's house was at the entrance. The pit at the bottom of the map was McGrath Sand and Gravel. This pit also had a dredge but one that ran off of suction. A gravel washer was erected here also. The gravel for I55, I80, I88, Rt72, Rt64, Rt30 the colosseum at U of I The wing dams on the Mississippi and Fort Knox came from here. At it's height, it was producing 200 cars a day in the 50's. My wife's Grandparents lived in the foreman's house for 30 years.

William Kammer: The IC Employees Service Club members could obtain keys to the gate of the pit area so they could fish in that lake... I was able to convince my father to take me fishing there a few times.... Must have been before 1950 as I remember needing a driver to get there from Freeport. Never figured out the Crappies in that lake, but I'm much better at Crappie fishing these days. Very tranquil in the evenings.

Robinson, IL: NYC/Big Four (Egyptian) and IC Depots

Big Four Depot: (Satellite)

IC Depot: (Satellite, because of the nearby building, I can't accurately drop a pin on the location. It was just north of the mainline and a little west of Cross St. A house track ran behind it.)

NYC/Big Four Depot:

Street View, Sep 2015

Ken Pryor posted
This is the old NYC depot in Robinson. It is now the VFW Veterans museum. The signals are turned sideways to Main St, now. The line ran north and south through Crawford County and was the old NYC Egyptian Line as I understand it.

Andy Zukowski posted
Illinois Central Railroad Depot in Robinson, Illinois. 1922
Richard Fiedler shared

The NYC/Big Four/Egyptian Line was the curved north/south route on the east side of town, and it is now abandoned. The east/west IC route is now owned by the Indiana Rail Road (INRD).

1958 Hutsonville and Birds Quads @ 62,500

At first, I could not decide which of the several rectangles that are along the IC route would be the depot. Then I noticed the NYC boxcar in Andy's photo. That indicates that the depot had a house track behind it. So that made me choose the rather faint rectangle west of Cross Street. Note that the Big Four depot is also a very faint rectangle in this photo.

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Litchfield, IL: Winston Junction Tower, IC/CB&Q Wreck

(Satellite, see "BNSF/CB&Q vs. NS/Wabash + Aban/ICG/IC + Aban/C&NW/L&M" for more information)

Gary Sams posted

Winston Tower South of Litchfield, Illinois IC and CB&Q wreck Aug 6,1947
Paul Jevert shared

When this photo was shared to the CB&Q Group, John David Mitchell Jr. commented:

The ICRR engine crew ran the red home signal and went though the derails, across the diamond and into the other train. The CB&Q coal train had the plant!

I saw a comment from Gary that I could not find again. I remember he said the IC train was doing 70 mph when it hit! So the engineer, and everybody else in the cab, not only did not see the signal, they evidently did not see a train in front of them and apply emergency braking! When the unions argue that two-person crews are more safe than one-person crews, it assumes both people are paying attention rather than distracting each other.

I repeat the photo because it has a different exposure.

Jim Arvites posted
On August 6, 1947 a train crash involving the Illinois Central's "Green Diamond" occurred at Winston Tower just south of Litchfield, Illinois where the IC crossed the CB&Q. A northbound "Green Diamond" traveling at 70 MPH ran a caution signal and crashed into a CB&Q freight train. In the accident 25 people were injured, none seriously.
(The State Journal Register)
Ray Foshée Coming out of the mechanical Dept I don't know, what is the crew suppose to do under yellow or caution signal.
Donald Morice Ray Foshée Basically, reduce speed so that you can stop within half the distance of what you can see in front of you.

Peru, IL: CB&Q Depots

A depot: (Satellite)

Gary Sams posted
[Note that the Illinois River appears on the left and the depot is close to Water Street on the right.]

When I first analyzed Peru with Sanborn Maps, I could not find the Burlington depot. But with the visual clues of this picture, I was able to find it on a 1939 aerial photo. I put a red rectangle around the building that I believe to be the depot. Today, it is just more vacant land.

This was on a CB&Q branch that used to run from Streator past Zearing.

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

I wonder how many depots the CB&Q had in this town.

Gary Sams posted

A CB&Q depot is in the left background.

Roger Kujawa posted
Chicago Rock Island and Pacific depot at La Salle, Illinois. Just to the left of the steam loco was the Burlington Route depot on the branch to Streator. My brother and I would hang out here while mom went visiting relatives.
[As opposed to the depot in the photo at the top of these notes, the CB&Q depot in this photo is a long ways from the Illinois River and Water Street. But I think it looks to close to the RI depot to be the one just west of Putnam Street.]

Oviously, the CB&Q filled in quite a bit of the Illinois River over the decades.

Christie Pasieka posted
I cleaned up this photo of Water Street.    I do need help identifying  buildings in this photo. Please mention anything else you notice.

Harry Moore: Didn’t they say those big homes were where the beer barons lived?

Williard, OH: Roundhouse

Adam Davis -> Roundhouses of Yesteryear and Today

Adam's comments:

Willard, Ohio. The B&O roundhouse here was constructed between 1875 and 1876 and stood for 118 years before being demolished in 1994. The turn table still remains and is still used by CSX. The, now CSX, yard at Willard is still very active with Eastbound and Westbound hump operations. Images are 1959 at left, and 2012 at right. Much more info on the railroad in Willard can be found here: www.willardohio.com/history.htm,

The Willard Ohio link is one reason for posting about a town so far away from Chicago --- it will be a good reference when I eventually work on the history of the B&O.

Bob Mcgilvray Jr. -> Railroad Caboose Photos

Bob indicates that this static display is in a public park.

Update:

Scott Griffith posted
I know not B&OCT but its Willard yard, some of us worked the road into this place.
[I labeled the post towerCoal, but that coaling structure is considered a coal dock.]
Dennis DeBruler I just noticed the left end of a gantry crane. What kind of repairs would that be used for?