Bloomington Union Station @ Bloomington , Illinios

[StreatorDave]

I noticed that several railroads went thru Bloomington, Illinois (IC, Alton, NKP, P&E).  I have come across enough information to know that it did exist at one time. I would like to know more about this station.  Where was it?  Does anyone have a picture or even a location? Maybe a map of railroads in Bloomington?

Thanks

Dave

[AltonFan]

This was the best I could come up with.  It is a model railroad website, but it has a snippet of information.

The GM&O Historical Society newsletter index indicates that there was a report on the demolition of the Bloomington Union Station in issue #85 (1997) of the GM&OHS Newsletter.  I'll have to see if I have that issue.

[Deggesty]

Dave, I checked in the June, 1930, and June, 1955 issues of the Guide, and found the following information:

In 1930, the C&A, NKP, and Big Four used a station in common (called C&A Jct. on the Big Four, C&A Crossing on the NKP, and Bloomington on the C&A). The NKP and Big Four had another station which they called Bloomington, 0.8 miles away. The IC station was one mile from the C&A station, and about 1/2 mile from the Illinois Terminal station, which was 3/4 mile from the C&A station; there is no distance given between the IC and the NYC/NKP stations.

By 1955, only the NYC and GM&O are listed as having passenger service into Bloomington, with both using the same station. By then, the Big Four (actually P&E) was usually identified as being NYC, and the C&A was a part of the GM&O.

From the Streets and Trips map of Bloomington, the GM&O/NYC station was at the southwest corner of the intersection of Washington Street and Western Avenue, right where the NS (NKP) and UP (GM&O) cross.

I hope this helps you.

Johnny

[Anonymous]

The 2 story building was located in the southwest quadrant where the Alton crossed the P&E and NKP which ran parallel to each other, each single tracked, so there were four diamonds at one place.  The branch line lay to the west of the depot and IIRC it, too, crossed the foreign lines before merging with the main.

The dispatchers were housed on the second floor, In '47, I had to take a Morse code test and the Chief Dispatcher at the time, T.J.Nevin, administered the test. Made me a tad nervousl

The NKP had a depot near the center of town and I'm fairly sure the P&E stopped there, too.

[StreatorDave]

Thanks a lot people!  I go there frquently due to watching their local minor league hockey team.  This summer, I'll check it out & see if there is anything left of the old station. I had a lot of family there back in the 50's.  Just moved back to Illinois after 36 years iin Dallas.  So there are a lot of old places I like to visit in Illinois.  You guys are great!

-Dave