Des Moines, IA: Depots

1909 East Des Moines Union: (Satellite)

1898 Rock Island Depot: (Satellite)

Union Depot: (Satellite, it is now gone)

1909 East Des Moines Union

Roger Kujawa posted seven photos with the comment: "The East Des Moines, Iowa Union Depot served the Wabash Railroad, Chicago Great Western Railway, Chicago Burlington Quincy Railroad and the Des Moines, Iowa Falls & Northern Railway. It was build in 1909.  The website is not sure when passenger service ended here.  It is now a banquet center."

Ellis Simon: Did these railroads also have stations in Des Moines? [Scroll to the bottom for Dean Blakely's answer of "yes."]

David Houborg: After looking at Google street view they did a fantastic job rehabbing.

Dean Blakeley

Odd that it didn't make it on this map...

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ie=UTF&msa=0...

Roger Kujawa shared

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Dennis DeBruler commented on David's comment

Indeed, they even cleaned off the track.

https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...

Facebook comments

Dennis DeBruler commented on Roger's post

If the Union Depot didn't exist today, I would have concluded it was the rectangle on this map that is below the Wabash tracks between 5th and 6th Streets.

I had a hard time reconciling this topo map with today's reality until I realized that the Wabash and CB&Q terminated in this city and that the tracks along the depot are the the ones labeled Wabash on this map.

1956 Des Moines SE Quadrangle @ 1:24,000

The Des Moines Heritage Trust via DesMoinesRegister [paycount 3], May 13, 2021
"The East Des Moines Union Depot was built in 1909 by William H. Brereton for the Des Moines Union Railway, though passengers on 16 rail lines passed through....It operated from 1910 to 1950, when the last passengers on the Wabash Railroad came through." The restoration cost $4m.

Michael Emerson Avitt posted
May 14, 2011 - East Union depot in Des Moines, Iowa.

Jason Johnson: What railroad owned this depot?

Lance Erickson: Jason Johnson Des Moines Union RR. This now restored building should be in the future light rail system in DSM. It was used by all the railroads using Des Moines Union Station next to the court house downtown about a block from the Rock Island station that is still there and for sale now. It was one of SEVEN train stations in Des Moines.

Jeremy Bailey commented on Michael's post

The Des Moines Heritage Trust bought the property in 2017. 

The Des Moines Heritage Trust via DesMoinesRegister [paycount 3], Sep 5, 2017
The Wabash Railroad had used it as a cold storage for tomatoes after it was no longer needed for passenger service.

A satellite view still shows the warehouse building that was added for tomato storage.

Satellite

The renovation plans started with removing the ugly warehouse building.

Street View, Sep 2019

urbandsm has some construction photos. BusinessRecord describes the renovation effort.

1898 Rock Island Depot

Dennis DeBruler commented on Roger's post
It looks like IAIS sometimes parks cars on their mainline. I presume a local is working the town.
[Street View]

Street View

"The train depot in Clarion was built in 1898 and restored in 1984, after it had fallen into disrepair. Originally built for the Burlington Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway, the tracks and depot were later taken over by the Rock Island Railroad. The building now houses the Clarion Chamber & Development offices and is available to rent for meetings and/or small gatherings." [TravelIowa]

 

John David posted

This 1983 view looks east from the Rock Island Depot in downtown Des Moines. During a brief moment in time, a company called The Iowa Railroad operated over the old Rock Island tracks and if you look carefully, you can see an Iowa Railroad sign displayed under the canopy above the parked cars, as the company had offices here. This line lasted just a few years and was succeeded by The Iowa Interstate Railroad.

The old rails closest to the depot formerly used by passenger trains were in place for many years, entombed in dirt or partially paved over as seen here, but as recently as just over ten years prior to this photo, passenger trains still stopped here.

Tim Martin: This structure is extant.

According to sah-archipedia, the arch and the building to the east is considered part of the depot.

Street View

This photo "explains" why the arch was considered part of the building. 4th Street didn't used to exist here.

Eric Larson, Mar 13, 1965

 

John David posted

Long shadows on this early summer evening in 1986, and the sun has moved so far west it is lighting up the usually dark side (the north side) of the huge old Rock Island Depot in downtown Des Moines. 

The "for sale" sign is still up, but the presence of a construction chute suggests renovation has begun on this building that sat unused for years.

The big "ROCK ISLAND" sign still adorns the canopy at far left, but it would not survive the renovation. In decades past those letters had neon lights inside of them as well as a "Route of The Rockets" tag line underneath.

Kevin Keller: Location?

Dennis DeBruler commented on Kevin's comment

Union Depot

Dean Blakeley commented on Ellis' comment
Yes. Demolished in the 1960’s. Would have been opposite the Rock Island depot which still stands.
https://digital.grinnell.edu/islandora/object/grinnell:16080
[Historic Iowa Postcard Collection, Special Collections and Archives, Grinnell College Libraries.
This Union Depot was built first. Then when the East Des Moines citizens made a racket, the East Demoines Union Station was built.]

Toledo, OH: Col. James M. Schoonmaker Museum (National Museum of the Great Lakes)

(Satellite)

David Schauer posted
A flashback to 1959 from the Basgen files of the Col. James M. Schoonmaker at DM&IR Dock 6. An unidentified Great Lakes Towing tug is assisting. Basgen Photography

James Torgeson shared
The Str. Col. James M. Schoonmaker of the Shenango Furnace fleet loads ore in Duluth in 1959. She survives as a museum ship on the Maumee River in Toledo, OH.

James Torgeson commented on David's post
Her stack recently in Toledo. A complete paint job donated by PPG.

When I looked at a satellite image, I could not find the ship.

Satellite

But a Mar 2021 image has it in the dock. The paint job was part of a restoration effort. They must have towed it to a drydock for the restoration.

Google Earth, Mar 2021

In addition to the freighter, the museum also has a tug.

Susan Hanna, Jun 2021

nmgl
"The Col. James M. Schoonmaker was built at the Great Lakes Engineering Works of Ecorse, Michigan. She was christened by Gretchen Schoonmaker daughter of the ship’s namesake and launched on July 1, 1911. The Schoonmaker was unsurpassed in both size and elegance.  On her maiden trip, she carried 12,650 net tons of coal from Toledo, Ohio to Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The ship held the title of 'Queen of the Lakes' as the largest ship operating on the Great Lakes until April 14, 1914."

Greg Mross posted
Col. James M. Schoonmaker, Duluth, July 1964. Built in 1911, she is currently a nice museum in Toledo. Another great John Ingles image from my collection.
Dennis DeBruler: I presume the grain elevators in the background are on Rice's Point. I know those elevators have changed so much that I'm not even going to attempt to identify them.
Kent Rengo: Dennis DeBruler correct Rices Point.

safe_image for National Great Lakes Museum ready to display new pilothouse
Grand opening of the new wing, incorporating the Challenger wheelhouse, is Saturday at the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo.
[The article confirms that this is the pilothouse that was removed when the freighter was converted from a freighter to a tug barge in 2013.]

I didn't understand the comment until I saw the pilothouse setting in the bow of the footer.

Rod Burdick commented on Don's post
What a journey ....

ToledoFreePress

The is the Glass City Skyway Bridge in the left background.

1:49 video @ 0:17

Windham, MT: Old Grain Elevator

(Satellite)

It is on BNSF's Great Northern route.

Ken Bryan posted
BNSF 4509 (CW44-9W) leads a grain train past the old Greely elevator at Windham MT on a rainy Spring day.
June 2014 photo

Since the photo was taken in 2014, I was hoping that it was still standing. It is.

Street View

Since I did not have a date for the above view, I got a newer view.

Street View, Sep 2025

Andrea Walsh posted, cropped
Windham, Montana
Andrew Tuttle shared

Minot, ND: BNSF/GN Gavin Yard, Depots and Grain Elevators

Gavin  Yard: (Satellite) This yard did not exist in 1970. It appears as new on a 1980 topo.

Amtrak/GN Depot: (Satellite)

Milw Depot: (Satellite, now an "event venue")

Old Grain: (Satellite)

Downtown: (Satellite)

AGT Foods: (Satellite) This branch did not exist in 1970. It appears as new on a 1980 topo.

Minot Milling: (Satellite)

CHS North Grain: (Satellite?)

CHS South Grain: (Satellite) This is along the CP/Milwaukee Railroad

Monte Jones posted
GAVIN YARDS, MINOT, N. DAK.
The Great Northern Railway Control Tower
Gary Richard Nelson: Built in 1956 at a cost of 6 million, Northtown Hump 1974, 44 Million.
Bob Englert: My last work assignment as a new BN employee was the Mechanical Dept at Gavin Yard before getting laid off with thousands of other employees in Spring 1982. I was told the Car Shop was closed within the next year and all that was left was a mobile repair truck. I remember the conveyor belt man lift to get to the tower fondly.
Ken Bryan shared
Mike Hood posted
Great Northern Railway Historical Society posted

This week in Great Northern Railway History- September 12th, 1956:

Having outgrown space in downtown Minot, a new, modern freight yard opens on the East side of town- "Gavin Yard". 

Named after GN President Frank J. Gavin, this facility was ultra modern for it's time and boasted a Hump Yard.  One of the features best remembered was the iconic tower.  

Gavin Yard is still in use by the BNSF.

Great Northern Railway Historical Society posted

This date in Great Northern Railway Historical Society- April 15th, 1955:

Construction of Gavin Yard (just East of Minot) begins.

Bev Smith commented on the post by Great Northern Railway Historical Society

Marty Bernard posted
Photographs and captions from the Minnesota Historical Society.
2. Great Northern classification yards at Minot, North Dakota circa 1955. [The boxcar has gone over the Hump and through that Retarder and will role into the Classification Yard.]

The 1971 topo map does not have it, But the 1981 map does. Not showing up on a map in 1971-1956=15 years is the worse lag I have seen so far.

1981 Surey Quadrangle @ 1:24,000

A post where all of the comments are of interest.

Mark Taylor posted
Minot,ND today   (IC unit)

Dennis DeBruler commented on Mark's post
A satellite caught it parked on its own little lead.
https://www.google.com/.../@48.2193276,-101.../data=!3m1!1e3
[The comments talk about a north and south elevator and the north elevator has a former tunnel motor.]
I presume this is the south elevator. Where is the north elevator?

The old grain elevator was gone in a Sep 2021 Street View! Fortunately, I learned how to use the timeline feature of street view.

Street View, Aug 2012

Street View, Aug 2007

And since it will be disappearing, I saved the satellite image.

Satellite

Springport, MI: NYC/LS&MS Depot and Old Grain Elevators

(Satellite, it now appears to be an office building for the grain elevator)

Walter Jung posted
Lake shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Depot, Springport, Michigan - postmarked 1912.
Greg Bunce shared
[The comments indicate this is looking North.]
Dennis DeBruler shared
This little town used to have at least two elevators.

It appears that the elevator uses the old depot as its office. It is so nice when a depot can find a new life.

Street View

New Johnsonville, TN: TVA Implodes 1951 Coal-Fired Power Plant

(Satellite)

(New Johnsonville was built when the original one was drowned by Kentucky Lake.)

This generating station had 10 units. The last four units were shutdown in 2017. Six units had already been shutdown in 2012. The first unit entered commercial operation on Oct 27,1951, and the 10th unit went online on Aug 20, 1959. It was TVA's oldest powerplant. TVA was in violation with EPA regulations and replaced the plant with a 1,133mw combustion turbine plant that has 16 GE simple cycle combustion turbines. [PowerMag, TVA-fossil] 

This source says the combustion turbine plant has 20 GE units for a capacity of 1,269mw. The first unit went online in 1975 and the last unit was 2000.       Actually, 16 units were installed in the 1970s and four units were added in 2000. [TVA-lakeinfo]

The plant may have been VA's oldest, but in its last three years of operation it was also the most reliable! "The mark of success is the equivalent forced outage rate, or EFOR, which measures when a unit is forced into a condition that limits it from operating at 100 percent. Johnsonville’s employees broke the all-time plant—and possibly a TVA coal plant—EFOR record of .24 EFOR in the summer of 2014. They have continued to keep the EFOR low for the past three years." It produced an average of 1,350mw per year. [TVA-shutdown] If 1,350mw is the average, than its nameplate capacity would be even more. So the 1,269mw combustion turbine plant is not a complete replacement of capacity. 

It was blown up on July 31, 2021.

Screenshot
Sally Weber Kristen shared
Eddy Sanders: Wonder how many jobs were lost by closing it? Ingram used to have a contract were they hauled something like 80 percent of the coal for TVA. [Ingram is a barge company.]

TVA-fossil

Elisheba Coronel posted

New Johnsonville Tennessee History - 1953

TVA Steam Plant located in Humphreys County, Tennessee. 

Power Plant -  Public Utility 

Photograph -  10/20/1953 

Lloyd Scott Hardin shared

They have improved the efficiency of the single-cycle turbines by adding a heat-recovery steam generator to supply steam to the nearby Chemours plant that makes titanium dioxide. [TVA-shutdown] And they plan to use the site of the old plant to replace some of the single cycle turbines with aeroderivative turbines. [TVA-demolition] An aeroderivative does not appear to be a combined-cycle turbine, so they are only 45% efficient and generally used for peaker plant operation. Thus they are not a good replacement for a coal-fired plant because those plants generate a base load.

The remaining 4 coal-fired units were providing steam to the Chemours plant. TVA spent $5.4b on pollution control for those units. The current turbines are also typically operated only during peak demand periods. So not only is the capacity of the replacement smaller, it is less efficient. The reduced efficiency means more CO2, and fuel costs, than an efficient combined-cycle turbine. [TVA-lakeinfo] I wonder how much of the $5.4b became "stranded assets."

While taking photos of the CSX/NC&StL Bridge, my wife also took a photo of this powerplant.

20151219 7612, cropped

This source makes the following statement: "By 2035, TVA plans to add about 10,000 megawatts of solar power. To do this, the utility plans to use natural gas to keep the power system reliable as coal plants retire." I just cannot make sense out of that verbage.

Another satellite image that will be disappearing.

Satellite