Albion, MI: (NS+Amtrak)/.../NYC/MC Depot and Freight House and LSMS Junction

Tower: (Satellite, the tower's foundation may now be the pad for the signal equipment hut)

Depot: (Satellite; Street View)
Freight House: (Satellite; Street View)

Frank Passic posted
The switching tower of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad in Albion, early 20th century. This was located just east of N. Albion St. in Albion. This scene looks east. The LSMSRR track is the one on the far left, and headed towards Springport. The main Michigan Central Railroad tracks are in the center.

 

Frank Passic posted
Wreck on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad in Albion, Michigan, October 12, 1914. where the tracks crossed the Michigan Central railroad. Notice the interurban trestle above, and the railroad switching house on the right. This scene faces west, looking towards N. Albion St.

A 1948 topo map shows that the LS&MS route has already been abandoned except for a short spur. And that is the oldest topo available.

1948 Homer Quadrangle @ 1:62,500

Bill Edrington posted six photos with the comment:

Sunny, pleasant day at the old Michigan Central depot and freight house in Albion, MI. The depot houses an insurance agency and also serves as the waiting room for Greyhound and the one daily Amtrak train in each direction which stops here. Train #350, eastbound from Chicago to Detroit and Pontiac, passes by.

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4, cropped

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Marty Bernard posted two photos with the comment: "Depot at Albion, MI., Amtrak stops there.  Photoed on April 1998 by Duane Hall."

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John Vavrek posted
The Albion depot .

Adrian, MI: Lost/NYC Depot and Adrian & Blissfield/NYC/LS&MS Roundhouse

Depot: (Satellite, given the curve in the track and the railyard in the background of the photo, I think the Adrian & Blissfield RR Locomotive Shop has repurposed the land of the depot.)

Roundhouse: (Satellite)

Raymond Storey posted
ADRIAN MI

 

Raymond Storey posted
ADRIAN MI

Brian Storace posted
just found and scanned in this picture shot in 1982 of the old Adrian roundhouse

Street View

Richard Roberts posted
Adrian,MI LS&MS yard and more.

Tim Starr posted
Early Michigan Southern roundhouse and extensive shops for that date (1857) in Adrian MI.

1962 Adrian Quad @ 24,000

Doug Egert posted
LSMS in Adrian still standing.... Any details available?

Richard Shulby commented on Doug's post
Built in 1900 for the LS&MS, 8 stalls, 2nd roundhouse on the site, brick exterior walls, wood framing, 70-ft turntable, dilapidated condition with roof over southern most 1-1/2 stalls missing. Not certain of any current use. Interior photo from 2021 by "Nailhead" attached...

Findlay, IL: C&EI Depot and Coal Loading?

(Satellite)  Just south of Findlay is where the branch to Southern Illinois branched off the route to St. Louis.

Jacob Hortenstine shared
C&EI Findlay Illinois
Bill Edrington Hard to imagine today that Findlay once had a hotel!
Dennis DeBruler At first, I though the structure on the left was a coal dock. But then I noticed it was trucks, not hoppers, that went up the ramp. Were there coal mines nearby that loaded hoppers here for shipment?

Jacob Hortenstine shared

C&EI Findlay Illinois

Lawrenceville, IL: CSX/B&O Depot & Aban/PC/Big4(Egyptian) Junction and NYC Yard Office

B&O Depot: (Satellite, it was in the northwest quadrant.)

NYC Depot: (Satellite, it is now a laundromat.)

NYC Yard Office: (Satellite, based on the aerial photo below.)

Rex Settlemoir posted
This is the Baltimore and Ohio depot at Lawrenceville, Illinois, located at the crossing where the Big 4 Cairo Line crossed the B & O St. Louis Line. Notice the extended corner of the depot, where the B & O operator controlled the Big 4 crossing, in lieu of a separate tower structure.

I can't get a 3/4 view of the bay window of the NYC depot because of  the furniture store. Actually, what we see is a rusted air conditioner unit rather than the bay window.

Street View, Jul 2023

Andy Zukowski posted

The Big Four (NYC) yard office at Lawrenceville Junction. It sat just north of the B&O crossing on the east side of the track.

The Big Four passenger Depot and Freight House were north of here.

Bill Edrington: This was actually the Big Four (NYC) yard office at Lawrenceville Junction. It sat just north of the B&O crossing on the east side of the track. The Big Four passenger depot and freight house were north of here, in the main part of town. The passenger depot, now largely surrounded by Cannon’s Furniture buildings, still stands north of Lexington Avenue and now houses a laundromat.

Richard Fiedler shared

1938 Aerial Photo from IHLAP

About the only left from the refinery and tank farm is a superfund site and some circles. This map marks the location of the B&O depot, but not the NYC depot.

1965/66 Lawrenceville Quad @ 24,000

Gary, IN: NYC and B&O Union Station

(satellite image is below)

Richard Roberts posted

I saved a satellite image because it looks like it is on borrowed time.

3D Satellite
NS/NYC/LS&MS is on the top and B&O is on the bottom.

Scott Griffith posted four photos.

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Wayne Hudak We took that ramp, turned left at the top to reach the NYC tracks to drop off mail for the NYC-PC. After 1969 that practice stopped.

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Korry Shepard posted three photos with the comment:

This is Gary Union Station (185 Broadway) as seen in 1965. At one point, GUS saw 36 daily trains that stopped here.

The issue with GUS was that it was not an effective terminal as far as long distance travelers. Because it sat between two east-west routes, passengers could not go to any city that didn't terminate in either Chicago or New York City without reversing direction of travel at their respective stations.

Washington D.C. was the furthest south one could go when boarding at GUS. There were no connecting trains that took passengers anywhere else until 1956, when New York Central began Detroit service on its line. Even then, that was the furthest north one could go without transferring to other trains.

The next issue was the construction of the Indiana Toll Road, which effectively cut off the station from the rest of the city with a physical barrior. When I-90 was built in the late 50s, there weren't any entrances or exits at Broadway. So people couldn't use it to reach GUS.

Additionally, the physical elevated road and its pylons served as an intimidating obstical. Coupled with the elimination of streetcar service, passenger numbers at GUS declined rapidly.

Though Amtrak had 12 daily trains that stopped here in 1971 (6 east and 6 west), the company decided to eliminate service at GUS in favor of its Hammond-Whiting station to the west. GUS closed up, and the rest is history.

The decline of GUS had little to do with the City of Gary's government. Also, the economic situation that it suffered through at the time was of little consequence. The station was owned by the railroad and the industry decided, for good or for bad, that it was too expensive to operate effectively.

All photos from Terminal Town.

Richard Fiedler shared

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Jim Arvites posted
Postcard view from 1910 of the Gary Union Station in better days when the Lake Shore & Southern (NYC) and the Baltimore & Ohio made stops at the grand old depot. Although the station still stands today, it is in ruins and looks like an ancient Greek temple.
David Koyzis Gary itself was only four years old at the time.

Jim commented on his posting
Postcard view of interior of Gary Union Station in better days.

David Koyzis commented on Jim's posting

David Koyzis commented on Jim's posting

David Koyzis commented on Jim's posting

Joe Usselman posted
21G with the N&W heritage passes the long abandoned Gary Union Station in 2015.

Judging from

3D Satellite

Update: Richard Roberts made a trip to post 16 contemporary [April 25, 2018] photos of the depot and freight house, including some interior shots. When you see these photos, it makes you wonder why coaling towers have lasted as well as they have. It looks like reinforced concrete floors have fallen down.

Richard Roberts posted

Richard Roberts posted
[Have they cut the trees since the above satellite photo was taken, and we are looking at this freight house?]

Shad Steve Vargo posted seven interior photos of the current (2018) state of decay.
Maxwell Crosby The City of Gary has owned it for a while. If that is any indicator as to how it’s gotten to this point.
Chuck Pullen They also have received hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to restore this building. They could have resorted five times over by now but as you said, Gary...
Craig Cloud Gary has been saying this and that on now razed Sheraton hotel. First, Senior citizen assisted living place. Station? Well it used in film Original Gangstas or something like that.
https://adventurecycling.tours/.../gary-indiana.../
https://nwigs.org/ImageArchive/Gary/GaryImagesRailroads.htm

Steven J. Brown posted

Amtrak Blue Water #364 passing the remnants of Union Station (built 1910, abandoned 1971) in Gary, Indiana - August 28, 2021.

I remember exploring this back in my teen years. In the late 70s it was a junk yard. It was filled inside and out with junk cars. Did I take any pictures?? NO! (Damn it!)

Steven J. Brown posted
Don’t think anything will be stopping at Gary Union Station today.

Steven J. Brown posted
Norfolk Southern AC44C6M 4356 (built 1997 as NS 9123) leads a westbound stack train by the remnants of Gary Union Station's express freight building (built 1910) in Gary, Indiana - August 28, 2021.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Steven's post
I never realized that that building was there until I saw this photo.
41°36'20.1"N 87°20'08.8"W

Steven J. Brown posted
Norfolk Southern stack train westbound by the remnants of Union Station in Gary, Indiana - August 28, 2021.

HalstEd Pazdzior posted
Chicago South Shore heading east past the ruins of Gary Union Station. 
7/5/22
Joe Millspaugh: With a Kirk bound coke train welded to the rail on #2 main. No where to go. Curtis yard is full. Lol
HalstEd Pazdzior: Joe Millspaugh yes sir. They had a crew though.
[The CSS now operates the former EJ&E City Track.]

One doesn't see the east side very often.

NP Rail Photography posted

NS Local B16 with an SD70M-2 leading long hood forward, passes the former New York Central station in Gary, Indiana, on the NS Chicago Line.

June 2, 2024

Gary, Indiana

Power:

NS 2662 - SD70M-2

NS 7144 - GP60

NS????

 

Steven J. Brown posted
Canadian National SD70M-2 8949 (built 2011) passes the abandoned Union Station (built 1910) in Gary, Indiana - August 28, 2021.

Steven J. Brown posted
Amtrak Wolverine #353 passing the remnants of Union Station (built 1910, abandoned 1971) in Gary, Indiana - May 10, 2025.
Tim Shanahan shared

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Taking more than just a spring break

On April 3, the blog's author keyword search function quit working correctly. And then on April 5, I could not find five of my postings that I had been adding photos to for over two years. The idea that Google, who owns this blog server, might be loosing my work caused me to stop writing cold turkey. I did think of a third way to look for those five postings, and I did find them. But since one of my motivations for writing these notes was to be a memory tool, a broken search function greatly reduces the value of this blog for me. When you have written over 2000 posts, it is hard to find posts for cross reference links and updates now that the search function is broke.

I was working on this blog seven days a week, most of the days of the year. I'm now going to spend my time doing other things like reading the tractor history books I bought and organizing the tens of thousands of photos I have taken since I started this blog. I have used the "Send feedback" feature of the blog to report the search issue, but to no avail. I think it is ironic that Google is the one that broke a search function and won't fix it.

Huron, OH: Cement Plant Closing

Twice in one day I learned about a Carmeuse Lime facility that closed. (Chicago has already lost their kilns.) Carmeuse Lime bought the Huron Lime plant and then told the 30 employees that they would shut down after the existing stone piles had been processed in about 30 days. The plant doesn't make just cement. It also makes "quicklime and related calcium products [used in] a variety of applications, including steel processing, chemical manufacturing, construction, agricultural and water treatment.” [SanduskyRegister]

3D Satellite

When you look at a satellite image, the land is in a prime location for marinas, restaurants, and condos. Those developments should create more than 30 jobs. But they won't be as high paying or have as many benefits as the jobs that are being lost. (The land in Chicago is not in condo territory. It will probably remain "brown land," and its closing will help contribute to the exodus from Chicago and Illinois.)

Don Lee observed "If things play out the way this story suggests they will, this will (besides ending 31 jobs and shutting down one of the town's major employers) end Huron's activity as a port -- and making the Adam E. Cornelius/Algoma Compass's departure the last sailing." (source)

Satellite

Looking at a satellite image, it appears two lakers used the port for winter layover.