Chenoa, IL: Joint Depot: GM&O and TP&W and Junction (NX) Tower

(Satellite)

Bill Molony posted
The Toledo, Peoria & Eastern - Illinois Central Gulf (ex-Gulf, Mobile & Ohio) joint station at Chenoa, Illinois, looking west on the TP&W in 1975.

The GM&O is now owned by UP. This town is on both the old and new TP&W. The old one went from Keokuk, IL to the eastern Illinois boarder where it continued as a Pennsy line to Logansport, IN. The new one goes from Peoria to Logansport. The segment from Keokuk to Peoria is now owned by Keokuk Junction Railway.
Goerge W Lane posted a RailPictures photo without a link that includes the tower that was east of the GM&O tracks.

Bill Edrington Great photo. That's a very unusual train order signal for the GM&O. I'm guessing it replaced a standard Chicago & Alton semaphore-type order board at some point.

[One copy of the photo was dated Mary 1, 1963 and another was dated Aug 1966.]

George W Lane posted
Gulf Mobile & Ohio train March 1, 1963 Chenoa Illinois . Southbound mixed freight pounds across the TP&W diamond while the tower operator gives the train the once over. The tower and depot are long gone.

Rich Rhoades: I got this one it was taken Aug 1966.

[A good view of some signalling pipelines.]
Richard Fiedler shared

Noah Haggerty posted
Here is a photo of the joint Toledo, Peoria & Western-Gulf, Mobile & Ohio depot at Chenoa, Illinois taken in 1977. In later years, both then-ICG and the TP&W had stopped using the building, leaving it to decay over decades. As Union Pacific and Amtrak were upgrading the line in the late 2000's, old structures along the line including the depot were torn down. Unknown photographer, Thomas Dyrek Collection.
Noah Haggerty also posted

Brian Austin posted
Chenoa, IL (1997).

One of several photos posted by Eric Bergn case some people haven't seen these...photos from 1935 and by John W. Barriger III.

Bill Molony posted
The Chicago & Alton and Toledo, Peoria & Western depot at Chenoa, Illinois - circa 1920.

It was a lot smaller four years earlier. 

Andy Zukowski posted

Union Depot in Chenoa, Illinois. 1916

Photo by C.R. Childs

Richard Fiedler: This is the original Chenoa Depot.

I remember the original burned but don’t know when the brick replacement was built, best guess after 1920.

Richard Fiedler shared

John Stell: Joint C&A & TP&W.

Andy Zukowski posted
Chicago Alton & Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad Train Depot at Chenoa, Illinois which is in McLean County. 1908

Richard Fiedler: This was the original depot erected there. A brick depot was player built there.

Andy Zukowski posted
Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad Depot in Chenoa, Illinois. 1905

Bill Edrington:  The depot at Chenoa, including the replacement for the one seen here, was jointly used by the TP&W and the Chicago & Alton. That’s a southbound C&A passenger train in the photo.

Connor Bounds: I wish there was a better picture of it. So far ive only ever seen this one. Is this the Chicago alton or tp&w pictured. It was a shared depot.

Dennis DeBruler: Connor Bounds There are some more photos in these notes: https://towns-and-nature.blogspot.com/.../chenoa-il-joint....

Larry Candilas commented on Andy's post
MP 62.8 Eastern Division; another 1905 picture but from the opposite direction and obviously a much slower day

George W Lane posted three images with the comment: "Chenoa Illinois 61726 1950's?  TP&W."

Robert Sullivan: TP&W was the east-west line. GM&O was the north-south line.

George W Lane: INTERCHANGES Bloomer Shippers Connecting Railroad (Chatsworth, Ill.); Canadian National (Gilman, Ill.); CSX (Reynolds, Ind.); Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad (Webster, Ill. and Sheldon, Ill.); Keokuk Junction Railway (Peoria, Ill.); Norfolk Southern (Logansport, Ind.); Tazewell & Peoria Railroad (Peoria, Ill.); Union Pacific (Sommer, Ill.; Watseka, Ill. and Chenoa, Ill.); US Rail Partners (Logansport, Ind.)

Richard Fiedler shared

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Jeff Carlson posted

Well, after his beloved Rock Island shut down in 1980, it seems as if my dad was forced into foaming other lines instead. On an April, 1981 trip to Peoria with some friends from the Little Q model railroad club in Aurora, they stumbled upon this TP&W train pounding the old GM&O diamonds at Chenoa, IL. TP&W no. 900, one of their three GP35s was leading the 102 and 400.

Unfortunately, this depot was demolished in 2009: https://www.pontiacdailyleader.com/…/20091027/NEWS/310279950

Ken Carlson, photo
Brandon McShane The depot was a pigeon roost in later years.
Jeff Carlson Interestingly, I think that all three of these engines survive. The Alco is at IRM, the Geep was working some industry as recently as 2012, and the GP35 is at BNSF!

McCook, IL: Santa Fe Depot

(Satellite)

Bill Molony posted
The Santa Fe depot at McCook - undated.

Satellite

Looking at a 1974 aerial photo, the white parking lot in the satellite image was probably the land of the depot and its parking lot.

Carl Venzke posted
ATSF F7A 306 with Train 1, The San Francisco Chief, passing through Mc Cook, IL on January 2, 1967. Photo by Roger Puta
Bill Molony shared
Santa Fe F7A #306-L leads train #1, the westbound "San Francisco Chief," past the depot at McCook, Illinois on January 2, 1967. Roger Puta photo.
[McCook Yard is in the background.]

Andy Zukowski posted
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Doodlebug passes the Depot in McCook, Illinois. 1949.

Ned Carlson: That'd have to be the "Pekin Chief", right? (although I've seen it on the Dearborn departure board as "Pekin Express"0

James Brown: Ned, yes, this can only be the Dearborn-Pekin motor car, or doodlebug. The train was listed as No. 13 "Motor" in the employee timetables. It had a mid-afternoon departure from Dearborn. The ATSF ended motor car service in Illinois in Apr 1955.

Jerry Smith: I did ATSF Doodlebug out of Appleton to Streator and Smithshire in 40s.

Scott Griffith posted
my father Jim Griffith took these. Chicago Ridge
Bob Lalich The bottom photo looks like the ATSF station at McCook.
Thomas White ...and I'm certain it is.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Bill Molony posted
Another view of the Santa Fe station at McCook.

Robert Daly posted
The ATSF station at McCook, January 10 1970
Michael Buckley Was a busy depot at the time . Interchange from IHB plus all the industry’s around . Had the IC ( Wobbley) came down from sanitary district along north side by 9 c bridge to MCCook then west of depot had crossing over IHB main along Vulcan material all the way to old GM Yard aka Willow Springs Yard .
[Looking at a 1938 aerial, I noticed that the tree line is where the Chicago & Illinois Western used to run.]

BRHS posted

safe_image for a Terry Spirek Flickr link

McCook Crossing April 86

This was the last time I saw This structure before Santa Fe knocked it down.

Rob Olewinski Cmraseye posted
McCook, IL Summer of '73 on the Transcon before the junkyard dogs chased me out.

Ken Rehor commented on Rob's post
In 1980 I shot a photo of a guy climbing aboard a U36C at that exact location! https://flickr.com/photos/39095736@N00/41548401714/

Marc Malnekoff posted
The Mc Cook Depot.
Mc Cook, IL. circa 1985

Jerry Jackson commented on Marc's post
I'm not sure of the date, but a few weeks after I took this one, it was down. The small creek that ran N/S wasn't filled in for a few months after. The post in the photo was part of that bridge.

Jerry Jackson commented on Marc's post
That bridge.

Kingsland, IN: (GS) Tower: Aban/CIN/Erie vs. NS/NKP and Depot

(Satellite)
CIN was the Chicago & Indiana Railroad that tried to make the western end of Erie work when Conrail abandoned it as redundant.

Mark Llanuza posted
Photographer Don Ellison captured this cool shot at Kingsland Ind March 1976.
Mark Llanuza posted again
Matt Myers I stopped in Kingsland a few years ago and it's really hard to see any traces of the EL there today. GS tower & depot are long gone. Some of the ROW is still visible along US 224 in the area.

Keith Van Sant The NS is still there. They have a siding on the line just north of the diamond...

Matt Myers Somebody pointed out with irony that when the EL was still in existence, the NS line was a slightly run-down branch line, while the EL was a well-kept mainline. No one would've thought the EL would be gone today and the NS line re-worked into the very busy New Castle District that it is today.

Justin Gillespie An interurban line used to cross here too. A horrible head on collision occurred about a mile north, killed several.

According to a 1951 aerial, the tower was in the northwest quadrant. So the piggyback train is eastbound.

Update:
Mark Llanuza posted two photos with the comment: "Photographer Don Ellison captured this cool shots at Kingsland tower and train station March 1976."

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Mark Hinsdale posted
"Kingsland, Indiana"
In February, 1975, a westbound Erie Lackawanna (EL) merchandise train rumbles past "GS" Tower, across from the clapboard sided Kingsland IN station. Both structures have received a fairly recent coat of maroon paint. "GS" protected the crossing of EL's New York-Chicago main line and a light density Norfolk & Western (N&W) branch line that once belonged to Nickel Plate Road. At the time, EL provided nearly all the activity, with a healthy number of daily freight trains, while N&W only operated a local service train through Kingsland two or three days a week. Fast forward to 2024, and the situation is completely reversed, with the EL double track line abandoned and removed, a casualty of the creation of Conrail in April, 1976, while the N&W track was totally rebuilt and now serves as an integral part of N&W successor Norfolk Southern's route from Fort Wayne to Cincinnati and points south. Nothing is as constant as change. February, 1975 photo by Mark Hinsdale
Marke Hinsdale shared
Mark Hinsdale posted again with the same comment
Daniel C Carroll Jr.s shared

Darren Reynolds posted seven photos with the comment: "Erie Lackawanna     'GS' tower      Kingsland, Indiana."

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"GS" tower Kingsland, Indiana on Sept 9,1975

Photo by: Unknown

Giancarlo Treano: I guess it was financial crunch time, being one color paint. Even the Lamps are the same color.

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An El freight train passes by "GS" tower

Photo by: John Fuller 1971

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The model board at "GS" tower

Photo by: Terry Miliczky July 1979

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The station and tower at Kingsland, Indiana

Photo by: Robert Staples March 12, 1976

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"GS" tower Kingsland ,Indiana on March 12, 1976

Photo by: Robert Staples

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"GS" tower Kingsland ,Indiana on March 12, 1976

Photo by: Robert StaplesLooking down the tracks at "GS" tower Kingsland, IN

Photo by: Michael Dye collection April 1961...

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The people that keep "GS" tower working.

Photo by: Michael Dye collection April 1961

Fort Wayne, IN: Hanson/May Stone and Gravel Quarry

(Satellite)

Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana posted
April Mudrack The quarry is still in use today and is over 400 ft deep last time I knew.
Tom Fuhrman If they ever stop their pumps, it will fill up with water. They used to have sediment ponds to collect the water they pumped out. I lived near by growing up and the blasts would shake our house every night while eating supper.
Russell Mueller Elmhurst highschool was next to it. Originally was May Stone and and Gravel.
Jerry Springer We use to ride our bicycles to the bottom when it was closed on Sundays. Was not fun riding back up from the bottom.
Larry Ickes Anyone remember the rock that was painted like a green frog that sat alongside the road behind the quarry?
Larry Ickes They would do blasting when I was in World History class.

I never knew that Fort Wayne had such a big quarry. I lived on the north side of town, but I did several trips to the airport and still did not realize we had a quarry.

The satellite link above shows where the observation deck is. I'll have to make a side trip the next time I'm in the area. All the quarries I've seen around here have chain-link fences and/or tree lines. That is one advantage of this Fort Wayne area quarry, it seems to be "the quarry," so they make a bigger deal out of it.

Sarah Yeakey commented on the above posting
 I was just there about a month ago. I'd like to see it in action, though.

Jennifer Hartman Lewis commented on the above posting
 My husband lived near the quarry when he was growing up. We just went back to the overlook last weekend.

G Dewey Powell posted
bigger than you remember it?
Steve Trier G Dewey Powell it is not the largest quarry in the country. Not even top ten. Been down in this quarry many times, along with a couple of dozen others. It is one of the deepest though.G Dewey Powell Steve Trier limestone in particular, not just any quarry?Steve Trier Blue limestone maybe.Steve Trier May Sand & Stone originally. Bill May started this as a sand and gravel operation, once they minded through the overburden and hit the limestone shelf, as they say the rest is history. May also had an operation east of New Haven. This ledge of limestone runs from Toledo area towards Lafayette. At one time Bill May wanted to build a tunnel from this site to NE of Fort Wayne ( approximately where I 69 and Dupont road are today) to cut shipping costs and establish another limestone source further north.Dave Bierbaum I lived on the east side of Ft. Wayne all my pre-college life. When I came back from IU to student teach, I was assigned to Elmhurst High School. The first time I stayed after school to correct papers, there was this insanely loud bang at 4 pm.
That was my introduction to the quarry.Steve Trier Yup. They shoot (blast) on a regular basis.Dave Bierbaum But they had to wait until 4. After school hours.Jim Roehm Limestone created over millions of years at the bottom of the ocean.

Tommy Lee Fitzwater posted
Rock Quarry
Fort Wayne Indiana

Roshua Ridelife Richmond commented on the above posting

Jeff Landis posted twelve photos:

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Lori G. Staples posted

The County Commissioners first sold the gravel pit, the largest quarry in Allen County, to Charles Fairfield in 1862.  Fairfield lost the business in the Great Depression; and Bill May took it over in 1932.  (Workers in those cash-short days earned 20 cents an hour and worked 10-hour days!)  May Stone was sold to France Stone in 1986.  Current owner, Hanson Aggregates, acquired it in the mid-1990's.  

The Observation Tower was erected in 1966, and it is from there I took this photo on 3/31/2020.  

Sources:  The Fort Wayne Story, The Waynedale News

Orange sunset

While studying a truss bridge over the St. Marys River, I discovered there is another large quarry south of town.

Elmhurst H.S. was closed in 2010, and Hanson bought its 28 acres of land. Hanson has decided that the state of disrepair requires it to tear it down rather than try to use it. [FortWaynesNBC] Kenneth Childers added 39 photos of what the school looked like.

Judging from a posting of 13 photos, this quarry is now called Ardmore.