I lived in River Forest, Il for most of my childhood. The Soo Line (WC/CN) was "my" railroad, but the C&NW was a close number 2. In those days, the C&NW's River Forest station was a stop for a few rush hour trains. The building itself was closed, with the basement used to store crossing gate arms. Today it's a very nice station, restored under Metra, and a regular stop for a lot of trains. Station building on the north side of the tracks, for left hand running. Chicago is to the left.
Interesting station..not your everyday regular!
One of the towns I grew up in was Contoocook, NH on the B&M/Concord & Claremont. Even though the tracks are gone more than 50 years, the station and covered bridge are still there.
https://www.contoocookdepot.org/media.html
The much more important and active Oak Park IL station was an active agency until 1971, and may have had a ticket agent agent later than that. Because it was built adjoining the concrete retaining walls of the 1911 track elevation, Oak Park was removable in a way that River Forest wasn't. Its location near an important commercial area made the land it was sitting on worth more than the station building, so Oak Park did not survive, though Metra has since built a replacement. Metra reopened the River Forest station building in the 1980s long after my family had moved away.
MidlandMike One of the towns I grew up in was Contoocook, NH on the B&M/Concord & Claremont. Even though the tracks are gone more than 50 years, the station and covered bridge are still there. https://www.contoocookdepot.org/media.html
What a coincidence, about a week ago I picked up a copy of Robert Willoughby Jones' book "Boston and Maine, Three Colorful Decades of New England Railroading" from 1991. I'm not a B&M fan but the book looked interesting and I'm enjoying Mr. Jone's writing and the photographs (mostly color) tremendously.
And on page 128 there's a color photo of the Contoocook station with the covered bridge, looks like it was taken sometime in the 50's. Neat!
Continuing with stations, here's a Gilded Age gem from Hillsdale NJ on the Pascack Valley Line, and a video no less!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRkDZQXp7zo
Upstairs at the station is the headquarters and layout of the Bergen County Model Railroad Club, and here's a video of one of their open houses. I haven't been there myself, but maybe one of these days...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhD0Qj87Fsg
PS: Go "full-screen" on your computers if you can, they're more impressive!
Our friend "The Subway Nut" has a nice pictorial as well. and he even got inside for this one!
http://www.subwaynut.com/njt/hillsdale/index.php
Firelock, did you know that the Pascack Valley Line was originally The New Jersey & New York RR? The Hillsdale Station was actually the corporate headquarters. The shopping center across the tracks was where the yards and engine facilities were.
Yes I did! I also know it was leased by the Erie, hence my comment on your Oradell station post about the "...whistle from an approaching K-1."
I didn't know it was the corporate HQ for the NJ&NY, that's interesting. That's means there's an awful lot of history packed inside those four walls!
And I knew about the yard and engine facilities there, I've got a book called "The Pascack Valley Line" I purchased several years back where those facilities are pictured. As a matter of fact I've got a head-end ride video of the Line done in 1991, (Actually it's on DVD) and at the time the old run-around track was still in place, although not in use, and you could see the ruins of the old water tower base. Probably gone by now too. Good video and very enjoyable, I must have watched it ten times after I bought it! Hey, it's home, and things haven't changed all that much since 1991.
"Pascack Valley Line" was published in 1996 by the Railroadians of America. Wasn't cheap, at the time I think it was $35 which in my opinion was a lot for a 159 page paperback, but I gulped and paid up. I'm not sorry, lots of good information in there.
Two years ago I was at a Greenberg train show in Edison NJ with my friend Charlie and he found a copy for $18. "Charlie," I said, "You're getting a good deal!"
Norris City, Illinois on the B & O, Shawneetown to Beardstown line. My grandpa worked on the southern portion of the line for 35 years. This is from the early 1900s. The depot was torn down at some point.
I have more B & O photos at
https://www.mayberrytownship.net/railroads/bno-photos.html
and L & N
https://www.mayberrytownship.net/railroads/lnn-photos.html
I've recently found a photo of the old Norris depot and have posted it and others on an educational web site at:
Remembering southern Illinois Railroads
This is my hometown station in Hamilton, Ontario, and was just two blocks west of our house. I could sit on the front porch and watch trains go by on the elevated right-of-way across the street, a grade separation project of the '30s when this station was built...
...and an interior view...
Originally home to the TH&B, CPR, and NYC, it now sees some limited use by GO Transit's commuter trains.
A later home-town station was this one in Grimsby, Ontario....
...the crowds, obviously not waiting for the train to stop and pick them up, might suggest that it's merely a fan trip, but for a couple of Summers the mid-'70s, this was the scheduled power for the Toronto-Niagara Falls-Toronto train on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The run was normally handled by RDCs.
This is a slightly more comprehensive view of the same station, by this time a roadhouse-style restaurant, but still an active train station, too...
Several years later, it was completely destroyed by fire.This was the original station which had stood on the same spot, built by the Great Western in the 1850s. It was moved back from the tracks when the one above replaced it, and has served several different businesses over the years. Partially restored by the current owners, it's currently in use as a pottery...
A few mile down the tracks, towards Niagara Falls, is this one at Jordan Station...
The CN tracks are a block-or-so north of where it sits here, at right-angles to the track, and now a private residence, complete with semaphore.
Here's the CNR's station in Brantford, Ontario...
This is the CNR station in Goderich, Ontario. I never lived in Goderich, but stumbled across a real estate ad for this structure...
Here's a view from the turret, looking towards Lake Huron...
I have more photos, including interior views, but it would take some searching to locate them, as they're not in photobucket.
I made an appointment to view it, with intentions of buying it to convert to a home. However, it's on an active rail line (near the salt mines on the shore of Lake Huron) and using it as a home, restaurant (a consideration in the back of my mind) or bar was prohibited by zoning regulations. At the time I viewed it, it was already privately-owned by a local citizen who wanted to see it preserved. I'm not privy to the details, but it was either sold or donated, and is now a community centre....probably more useful to the town (often called one of Ontario's prettiest) than having me living there.
On the other side of town, and as you can see in the background, right on the shore of Lake Huron, is the CPR's former station...
When the photos were taken, it was in use by the town's Public Works Dept.
Just beyond the station is what can be seen of the salt mine....
...as the majority of it is under the lake.
These photos are of another favourite station, which I visited in, if I recall correctly, 1980 or '81, just before service was discontinued between Toronto and Buffalo. At the time, I spent the entire day in the station and on the platforms, taking photos. If I had known how to run a locomotive, there were several sitting about, idling and unwatched, just needing someone bolder to seize the opportunity. Here's my ride to and from Buffalo, the latter a very memorable trip...
...and a few other views from the platforms...
These were taken a couple of years ago. The weather was a perfect complement to the now abandonned station, its concourse partially ripped out to accommodate the passage of doublestacks...
Wayne
Great photos doctorwayne...I am very familiar with all of what is shown...did a photo essay on CPR Goderich either here on Classic Trains or on the String Lining thread over on Trains.
Strange coincidence that we had a presentation on that salt mine and updates from them just today.
The CPR track to Goderich is now, sadly, lifted. It has quite the history.
p.s.....The restaurant/roadhouse in the Grimsby Station was a great place to eat and relax...went there a lot during it's time and everyone was real shocked when it burned down. It was one of those things that you just knew was too good to last. Such a shame.
The Buffalo station was a gloomy place indeed. The Penn Central passenger equipment was in very poor condition, so much so that Canadian Pacific/TH&B truncated it's overnight Toronto-New York train to the RDC run Toronto-Buffalo only as you photographed.
There was a model train store in a portion of that beautiful VIA station in Brantford. I do not know if it is still there.
All important and vibrant places back in the day. The loss of railroading in SW Ontario is astonishing.
Here's one I just learned about:
It was built by the Cleveland Terminal and Valley Railway in 1898. The CT&V was part of the B&O and this building was used until passenger operations were shifted to the new Cleveland Union Terminal in 1934. The CV&T was one of the last bastions of B&O steam with Q-Class mikados operating till 1958, often as double headers with pushers on the Akron grade.
The station is now used by Sherwin Williams. The rails are now the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Toldeo Union Station. A big city terminal whose busy days have passed. Now a couple Amtrak trains each way each day. I catch the Capital Limited to Washington from this terminal. The exterior is not particularly special. But what I enjoy is the interior. The old Deco seats in the waiting room, the colorful tile floor. And the tracks just a few feet out the door from the waiting room. In the image, the far rear wall in the left of the photo, where a couple framed pictures hang, has been replaced. Now there is a Subway Sandwich shop counter there.
Beautiful stations all, especially those classic old CNR stations, not just stations, more like "Outposts of the Empire," and that Cleveland station.
Buufalo Terminal, what a shame. It reminds me of a phrase "Weird New Jersey" magazine uses, "property purgatory." What they mean by that is old buildings of various types that have outlived their usefulness but just haven't passed from this world. They just hang on waiting for "whatever."
Penny TrainsHere's one I just learned about: It was built by the Cleveland Terminal and Valley Railway in 1898. The CT&V was part of the B&O and this building was used until passenger operations were shifted to the new Cleveland Union Terminal in 1934. The CV&T was one of the last bastions of B&O steam with Q-Class mikados operating till 1958, often as double headers with pushers on the Akron grade. The station is now used by Sherwin Williams. The rails are now the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
When I was working in the Akron-Cleveland area as Asst. to the Trainmaster on the B&O the building housed the B&O Freight Agency in Cleveland. Sherwin-Williams was a major B&O customer in Cleveland, as well as DuPont and the steel companies at the time. With the station being located geographically North of Clark Avenue Yard I have my doubts that CVSR has taken on the responsibilites of the drawbridge at the North End of Clark Avenue Yard that was known as Bridge 460 when I worked it as a Operator.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACDI have my doubts that CVSR has taken on the responsibilites of the drawbridge at the North End of Clark Avenue Yard that was known as Bridge 460 when I worked it as a Operator.
Oh, no. As far as I can tell CVSR trackage ends just north of the Rockside station and the 25(ish) miles of R.O.W. they have to Akron North Side is plenty to keep them busy. They did have (track or trackage rights?) all the way to Canton but that service didn't take off like it did within the National Park. If the bridge is owned by anyone it would have to be CSXT. But like so many others down along the river it may just be abandoned.
Penny Trains BaltACD I have my doubts that CVSR has taken on the responsibilites of the drawbridge at the North End of Clark Avenue Yard that was known as Bridge 460 when I worked it as a Operator. Oh, no. As far as I can tell CVSR trackage ends just north of the Rockside station and the 25(ish) miles of R.O.W. they have to Akron North Side is plenty to keep them busy. They did have (track or trackage rights?) all the way to Canton but that service didn't take off like it did within the National Park. If the bridge is owned by anyone it would have to be CSXT. But like so many others down along the river it may just be abandoned.
BaltACD I have my doubts that CVSR has taken on the responsibilites of the drawbridge at the North End of Clark Avenue Yard that was known as Bridge 460 when I worked it as a Operator.
I don't know if DuPont and Sherwin Williams still have working facilities in Cleveland; if they do, CSX yard engines have to use Bridge 460 to service them.
My earlier posting was my hometown station where I grew up. This is the station I use twice a day:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4489297
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