Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Finleyville, PA: Dilapidated/B&O Depot

(Satellite, I dropped a pin in case it is removed.)

Dennis DeBruler commented on Erik's comment below
As of 2022, it is standing, but it needs a lot of TLC. https://maps.app.goo.gl/MqkV6wBynbfcdzPv9. The replacement after the fire was not nearly as big as the depot in the photo.

Jackson-Township historical preservation posted
B & O (Baltimore & Ohio) Railroad Depot in the community of Finleyville, Washington County. The depot was destroyed by fire in 1922 and later rebuilt.
(Photo from Len Marraccini via http://peterscreekhistoricalsociety.org/)
David Demsey shared

Monday, April 28, 2025

Newcomerstown, OH: Lost Ohio & Erie Canal

Newcomerstown: (Satellite, according to the topo map below, the canal was south of Canal Street.)

Dixon Dahlstrom posted two photos with the comment: "I passed through Newcomerstown today and decided to shoot this so you could clearly see where the [Ohio & Erie] canal went through."
Matthew Gray: Very neat image.
Coshocton also had or still does have a very neat canal exhibit / museum
[Some comments claim that the red building (satellite) is haunted.]
Lloyd Scott Hardin shared
Terry Capozza: I asked at the Canal House in Tuscarawas where the canal was and they said in the back yard.Thats neat.
1

2

Dennis DeBruler commented on Lloyd's share
I disagree with the contemporary photo because it implies the canal was a half-block north of Canal Street. The red building, https://maps.app.goo.gl/1b8JLm1UkEzyEgKS8, is on the north side of Canal Street. This topo map shows the canal was south of Canal Street.
1911/59 Newcomerstown Quad @ 62,500

Topo Map via Dennis DeBruler
Dennis DeBruler commented on Terry's comment
I did not find Canal House, but it must be on the west side of Main Street. I did find Lock #15: https://maps.app.goo.gl/HxVKVGZMNpqLVVba6.
1909/56 Uhrichsville Quad @ 62,500

Ashland, OH: Lost/Erie Depot

(Satellite)
 
Verine Bianca posted
1893 - The Erie Railroad built a depot in Ashland, Ohio
Pamele Moskie shared

This might be the foundation of the depot.
Satellite

This topo map showed me where to look.
1961/63 Ashland North and South Quads @ 24,000

And this aerial confirmed the location.
Apr 1, 1960 @ 19,000; AR1VZJ000030044

Frederic, WI: 1901-1989 Museum/SOO Depot

(Satellite)

Street View, Nov 2023

Tom Weber posted
Soo Line Wide-Vision Caboose #137 is part of the Frederic Soo Line Depot & Museum in Wisconsin.
The Frederic Depot was one of the stops along the Dresser to Superior route.  The village of Frederic didn’t exist until the Soo Line completed building the tracks and new depot in 1901 on their new branch line to transport the logging hardwoods to their mainline at Dresser Junction 27 miles south.
In 1989 the Soo Line abandoned rail service through Frederic, and the village itself acquired and restored the depot which now serves as a bike stop on the Gandy Dancer State Trail.

Samantha Craft, Jun 2021

Tom Weber posted four photos with the comment:
Soo Line Wide-Vision Caboose #137 is part of the Frederic Soo Line Depot & Museum in Wisconsin.
The Frederic Depot was one of the stops along the Dresser to Superior route.  The village of Frederic didn’t exist until the Soo Line completed building the tracks and new depot in 1901 on their new branch line to transport the logging hardwoods to their mainline at Dresser Junction 27 miles south.
In 1989 the Soo Line abandoned rail service through Frederic, and the village itself acquired and restored the depot which now serves as a bike stop on the Gandy Dancer State Trail.
Elton Inott shared
1

2

3

4

5 of the 9 photos posted by David Johnson.
a

b

c

d

e


Wahoo, NE: Museum/CB&Q Depot and Lost/C&NW Depot and Freight House

CB&Q: (Satellite)
C&NW: (Satellite, my guess is that the depot was by the grain elevator and the freight house was by 6th Street.)

Michael Emerson Avitt posted
Wahoo, Nebraska on December 28, 2009.
Mike Bartels: Part of the Saunders County Historical Society Museum complex. Agency discontinued in 1972. Last train by it in 1982.

Tom Weber posted six photos with the comment:
The Wahoo Burlington Depot in Nebraska was built in 1886 for a subsidiary of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad and is still standing on its original site (not including 2 restorations).
Over the decades, the depot was used for both passenger and freight traffic.  But with ridership declining in the 1930s and 1940s, the main use of the depot was for freight traffic up to the time of the merger in 1970 when the line became a Burlington Northern route.
The depot was closed two years after the merger in 1972, and the line abandoned in 1982.
The Burlington Northern first leased and then donated the building to the Saunders County Historical Society in 1984, and the Depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
The CB&Q caboose was built in 1929 by the Santa Fe Railroad who eventually was bought out by Burlington Northern.  The caboose was retired in 1982 and donated the same year to the museum grounds.
1

2

3

4

5

6

The town used to have three railroads. Only the UP route is left.
1969/71 Wahoo West & East Quads @ 24,000

1969/71 Wahoo West & East Quads @ 24,000

Wahoo was on a branch between Ashland and Schuyler.
1902
.

C&NW Depot and Freight House


Chicago & North Western Historical Society posted
Wahoo, Nebraska.  What a name!  This photo from the J. C. Seacrest Collection via Lou Schmitz is of the C&NW depot and freight house there about 1900.  Wahoo is located on what was once a C&NW line from Fremont to Lincoln, Nebraska.

This grain elevator would have been served by the C&NW and the CB&Q. The short spout on the left would be C&NW, and the long spout on the right would be CB&Q. I think the depot was on the vacant land in the foreground.
Street View, May 2012

I started with a hi-res photo. The C&NW tracks are just west of Maple Street and the CB&Q tracks are further west about halfway between Maple and Chestnut Streets.
Mar 1, 1968 @ 12,400; AR1VBRC00030049

The photo shows that there were tracks on both side of the depot. My guess is that we see the freight house just south of 6th Street and the depot is hidden in the shadow of the grain elevator. I got another aerial hoping that the shadows would be different. But it demonstrates why I avoid low-res photos.
Jul 23, 1953 @ 66,500; ARA001280030489


Sunday, April 27, 2025

St. Paul, MN: 1881+1920 Union Depot (SPUD)


Dan Hennelly posted
The Saint Paul Union Depot was completed in 1923 after six years of construction. It replaced an earlier station completed in 1881 that burned down in 1913. Construction cost $15 million and was the largest construction project in Saint Paul during the 20th century. The station had 10 platforms and 21 tracks. When it opened it served the Burlington Route, Chicago and Northwestern Railway, Chicago Great Western Railway, Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, Great Northern Railway, Milwaukee Road, Northern Pacific Railway, Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway, and the Soo Line. During the 1920’s, there were 282 train movements daily, but traffic declined during the Depression. Passenger traffic increased during World War II as troops from nearby Fort Snelling transited through the station along with soldiers from other Midwest bases. Traffic declined during the 1950’s and 1960’s as the automobile replaced the train as the most popular means of travel. Burlington’s afternoon Zephyr was the last passenger train to leave the Depot on April 30, 1971. Amtrak opted to consolidate its Twin City operations in Minneapolis.
The depot was the third largest mail handling station, behind New York and Chicago, handling twenty million pieces of mail annually. It was connected by a tunnel to the downtown Saint Paul Central Station. After the station closed, the U. S. Postal Service used the concourse and waiting room for mail handling and storage. The tracks underneath the station were removed and paved over to handle semi-trailer trucks and provide employee parking. In 2010, the Postal Service moved its operations to its bulk processing facility in Eagan, Minnesota.
The closure of the Postal Service’s operations enabled the Depot to be renovated to serve as an intermodal transport hub. In addition to serving two Amtrak trains, it is also a stop on the Green Line light rail system and rapid transit bus lines serving Minneapolis and St. Paul, and intercity buses including Greyhound. Jefferson Lines, and Megabus. The two Amtrak trains are the Empire Builder and the Borealis connecting Chicago to Seattle and Portland. In addition, it houses shops and restaurants and is a popular wedding venue.

1951 St Paul East Quad @ 1:24,000

Marty Bernard posted two photos with the comment:
Maroon Monday, St. Paul Union Depot
This is CRI&P F7A 111 on the west leads to SPUD on June 8, 1964. The second photo is the Google satellite picture. The maroon rectangle is about where the F7A was and the green arrow about where I took the picture. In both pictures the depot concourse is upper right. The depot has undergone a major renovation, it's beautiful. The Empire Builder has returned to the depot. The satellite shot is probably well out of date.

Marty Bernard shared

1

2

mnopedia
The first depot opened in 1881. Construction started on a replacement that included elevated tracks in 1917, and it opened in phases between 1920 and 1924. The nine owning railroads were "the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Rock Island, Minneapolis & St. Louis, Milwaukee, Omaha, Burlington, Soo Line, and Chicago Great Western." [I wonder if this is the Union Station with the most owners.] "After New York and Chicago, St Paul Union Depot was the largest railway mail transfer facility in the country."

Aeris Evanson posted
Minneapolis St. Paul train station at 3:30am
Eric Ralfs: I'm the supervisor for the custodial team and there are nights where it's just my team and a few security guards. This is the Waiting Room and playing music in here when no one is around is a borderline surreal experience because of the acoustics.
Jack Franklin shared
Arthur House: St. Paul Union Depot, also known as “SPUD.”

Minnesota On Our Minds posted
Aerial view, Union Depot and downtown St. Paul, 03/1959.
Photographer: Erickson, Gordon A.
mnhs
Ted Hazelton shared
Ted Hazelton shared
 
Minnesota On Our Minds posted
Burlington’s Zephyr‘s gather at St. Paul Union Depot on Sept. 29, 1948.
Greg Smith: Morning light. Train on the right more than likely the Blackhawk overnight Train from Chicago. Train on the left has newer dome cars so is probably the Morning Zephyr going g to Chicago.
[Some comments discuss why arriving and departing trains are facing the same direction.]
Tom Lyman shared
Bill Rizzo: Does anyone know when the last original Zephyr was retired from regular service?
Sean Britt: Bill Rizzo Silver Charger would have been the last of the shovel noses in service. Retired in 1966.
The ones built for the twin cities and Denver Zephyrs like the one in the picture were converted to cabless boosters in the mid 50’s and retired a few years after.

Greg Smith commented on the above post
 Line going off the top of the picture is west to Minneapolis via GN, line to the right is joint CB&Q Milwaukee Road east to Hastings MN where they split and continue east to Chicago, Line to the left is Milwaukee Road west to Minneapolis.

John Harker posted two photos with the comment: "Milwaukee Road train #100 the Afternoon Hiawatha left the Minneapolis station at 12:30 PM, traveled over the short line and is seen in these two images approaching and arriving at St Paul Union Depot (SPUD) at 12:55 PM in October 1954.  I assume these views were taken from the Robert Street bridge looking toward SPUD.  The consist for #100 with its all maroon and orange livery was pretty much standard now with a super dome and a “rapids series” skytop parlor observation.  This train was powered by passenger diesels FP7 90-A, F7B 90-B and FP7 90-C.  I scanned and edited these images from an original red-bordered Kodak Kodachrome slide and a remounted or duplicate with no photographer listed.  John Harker collection"
1

2

Michael Stamey posted
Peter DeBruin: Note Soo Line passenger GP in the upper left background.
Edward Kwiatkowski shared
Michael Mazzitello Sr.: St. Paul union depot roundhouse

Comments on Michael's post




One of three photos posted by Marty Bernard
A Great Northern Transfer Run in St. Paul, MN on June 17, 1964.
The power was GN 147 an NW2, EMD builder number 2477. She became BN 484, was retired 4/29/1982, sold to Diesel Supply Co. 7/23/1982, then went to Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Ry.
Beginning to pull forward through a double-slip switch. St. Paul Union Depot is at the very top of the photo.
James Salak: Wow ! That is just sooo neat ! I tried to make a double slip switch on my model RR.... didn't turn out as well as this one.... lol !
Jim Vlcek: The tower building, just to the right of the train, lasted into the 1990s (although unused).
Kevin Foley: I think this location was known as Chestnut Street and that may have been the "Tower" that controlled it. I am not 100 per cent sure on this.
Fred Hyde: Kevin Foley Robert Street. Chestnut Street about 1/3 mile west.

Marty Bernard posted
5. View of the St. Paul railroad yard showing Great Northern train, Saint Paul Union Depot, circa 1931. Photographs and captions from the Minnesota Historical Society.

1951/53 St Paul East @ 24,000