By Ruth A. Ringelstetter
In our travels, we have found many depots. They have been in use, restored and repurposed, or abandoned.
But several have been unique in that they are tiny. So tiny in fact, that I wasn’t sure if they really had been depots.
One of these is located in La Rue, Wisconsin. I’m not sure when the depot was built, but the town of La Rue was developed around iron mining in the area in the early 1900’s.
This mining proved unsuccessful, and by 1914, the mines were abandoned. At the height of mining, the town of La Rue probably had no more than 50 inhabitants, but it did have a hotel, lumberyard, church, general store, and two saloons.
By 1925, only two buildings remained – the tiny depot and the La Rue tavern, both of which still survive today. In checking the Railroad Station Historical Society, it does list this tiny little building as a passenger depot.
This small depot is associated with the Mid-Continent Railway Museum, which passes it towards the end of its route.
Another tiny depot is in the Mississippi River town of Port Byron, Illinois. On a trip to Davenport, Iowa, we crossed the Mississippi into Illinois and captured this depot as we traveled home along the river.
The railroad arrived in Port Byron in 1861 and still has occasional freight trains passing through today. Before the Rock Island Line came to Port Byron, two railroads approached town; one from the north and one from the south. They did not join, and passengers and shippers had to use wagons to get through town to the other railroad.
For a time, the Milwaukee Road operated a gasoline powered train through Port Byron. The train was only two cars. The lead car was the engine car with baggage and passenger compartments and the second car was a passenger coach. The train was smelly and annoying to passengers, and service was discontinued in 1932.
Then, in 2015, on the way to Missouri, we visited the tiny town of Hooppole, Illinois. The HY&T (Hooppole, Yorktown and Tampico) Railroad depot sits restored next to a farmers field.
In 1908, a railroad promoter came to town selling stock in a railroad that would run from Tampico to Galesburg. The proposed line would connect the Burlington Railroad to the north with the Rock Island Railroad to the south.
After 14 miles of track were built between Tampico and Hooppole, the project to continue on to Galesburg was abandoned. The HY&T Railroad got an engine on loan from the Burlington Railroad, a couple of boxcars, and a bright red caboose. On April 4, 1909, the first train left Tampico for Hooppole. The engineer operated the train, as well as fired the boilers and the passengers road in the caboose.
The train was nicknamed “The Dummy.” There was no roundhouse at the end of the line, so the train ran forward on the way to Hooppole, then the engine was switched by hand and the train ran backwards back to Tampico.
In 1943, the railroad ran out of money, but one man took on the line’s debt and kept the train running until 1954, when “The Dummy” made its last run. And with that, “The Dummy” was history.
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
Shunpiking To Heaven Backroads Blog
Showing posts with label depots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label depots. Show all posts
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Sunday, June 14, 2015
The Historic Town of Thurmond, West Virginia
By Ruth A. Ringelstetter
In the spring of 2010, as Joann and I were returning from North Carolina, I took the opportunity to plan the route past a couple of the highlights in West Virginia. Don’t get me wrong, we do want to spend a lot more time there, but I’ll need to do a lot more research before then.
One of the places that we did manage to visit was the historic town of Thurmond. Thurmond is in the New River Gorge, which is one of the most important natural areas in West Virginia.
Thurmond was a flourishing town, mostly due to the C&O Railway. At its height in the 1930s, the population of Thurmond was nearly 500. In 2013, the population was 5. It is the smallest incorporated town in West Virginia.
We laughed about how small the town hall was, but now, knowing that the town only has 5 residents, we know that little building is big enough.
Thurmond has a small row of remaining main street buildings, but it never had a main street. The railroad tracks ran just a couple of feet outside those buildings. At that point, the gorge is very narrow, and there was no room for tracks and a road. Just the tracks.
To enter Thurmond, you must cross a one-lane bridge. This one-lane vehicle bridge and the railroad bridge are side by side. Joann was a little reluctant to cross, wondering what might be happening on the other side. I wasn’t driving so I, of course, was telling her to just drive over it.
The first building you see is the restored depot. Today, it is a Park Service visitor center for the New River Gorge National River. It was built in 1904 to replace an earlier building that burned in 1903. It was enlarged in 1914, and was restored in 1995 by the park service.
The depot is also an Amtrak flag stop. Amtrak passes through three times per week, but only stops if there are passengers ticketed to or from the station. In the early years, 15 passenger trains per day passed through Thurmond, and it served 95,000 passengers per year.
The depot originally had three waiting rooms. One for white women, one for white men, and one for African Americans. It also housed a clerk’s office, trainmaster’s office, yardmaster’s office, car distributor’s office, and telegrapher’s cabin. The projecting bay served as a signal tower.
Many of the railroad buildings are gone now, but the coaling tower and sand house still stands as a testament to the coal that travelled through town. More freight used to pass through Thurmond than through Cincinnati, Ohio.
A few of the other main street buildings have been stabilized by the National Park Service and display signs about historic Thurman in the windows. One of those buildings is the former National Bank of Thurmond. It was built in 1917 and housed a jewelry company until 1922.
The National Bank of Thurmond acquired the building and renovated the front into what you see today. Originally, the building had cast iron storefronts, but the bank remodeled their half into a limestone façade.
The original plan was to renovate the buildings to be used for tourists, but no money was available, so only the depot was completely remodeled. The other buildings were stabilized or removed if they were past stabilizing or didn’t contribute to the historic district.
We hope to return to West Virginia, and if we do, we will probably return to the Thurmond area. If you find yourself in West Virginia, be sure to enjoy the natural beauty and small historic towns.
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
In the spring of 2010, as Joann and I were returning from North Carolina, I took the opportunity to plan the route past a couple of the highlights in West Virginia. Don’t get me wrong, we do want to spend a lot more time there, but I’ll need to do a lot more research before then.
One of the places that we did manage to visit was the historic town of Thurmond. Thurmond is in the New River Gorge, which is one of the most important natural areas in West Virginia.
Thurmond was a flourishing town, mostly due to the C&O Railway. At its height in the 1930s, the population of Thurmond was nearly 500. In 2013, the population was 5. It is the smallest incorporated town in West Virginia.
We laughed about how small the town hall was, but now, knowing that the town only has 5 residents, we know that little building is big enough.
Thurmond has a small row of remaining main street buildings, but it never had a main street. The railroad tracks ran just a couple of feet outside those buildings. At that point, the gorge is very narrow, and there was no room for tracks and a road. Just the tracks.
To enter Thurmond, you must cross a one-lane bridge. This one-lane vehicle bridge and the railroad bridge are side by side. Joann was a little reluctant to cross, wondering what might be happening on the other side. I wasn’t driving so I, of course, was telling her to just drive over it.
The first building you see is the restored depot. Today, it is a Park Service visitor center for the New River Gorge National River. It was built in 1904 to replace an earlier building that burned in 1903. It was enlarged in 1914, and was restored in 1995 by the park service.
The depot is also an Amtrak flag stop. Amtrak passes through three times per week, but only stops if there are passengers ticketed to or from the station. In the early years, 15 passenger trains per day passed through Thurmond, and it served 95,000 passengers per year.
The depot originally had three waiting rooms. One for white women, one for white men, and one for African Americans. It also housed a clerk’s office, trainmaster’s office, yardmaster’s office, car distributor’s office, and telegrapher’s cabin. The projecting bay served as a signal tower.
Many of the railroad buildings are gone now, but the coaling tower and sand house still stands as a testament to the coal that travelled through town. More freight used to pass through Thurmond than through Cincinnati, Ohio.
A few of the other main street buildings have been stabilized by the National Park Service and display signs about historic Thurman in the windows. One of those buildings is the former National Bank of Thurmond. It was built in 1917 and housed a jewelry company until 1922.
The National Bank of Thurmond acquired the building and renovated the front into what you see today. Originally, the building had cast iron storefronts, but the bank remodeled their half into a limestone façade.
The original plan was to renovate the buildings to be used for tourists, but no money was available, so only the depot was completely remodeled. The other buildings were stabilized or removed if they were past stabilizing or didn’t contribute to the historic district.
We hope to return to West Virginia, and if we do, we will probably return to the Thurmond area. If you find yourself in West Virginia, be sure to enjoy the natural beauty and small historic towns.
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
Saturday, July 25, 2009
"Oh crap....not again!"
By Ruth A. Ringelstetter
In April of this year, on our way to shunpiking in the Ohio River Valley, we stopped to take some pictures along the National Road in Indiana. The road was rather busy, so we turned onto a side road and pulled over on a large gravel shoulder. Joann grabbed her gear and headed down the road.
As usual, my head was down as I studied the map for a route around a large city we were approaching. The next thing I knew, there were flashing lights reflecting off the side mirror. Looking up, I saw a female police officer approaching the driver’s side window. She smiled at me and asked me if we were all right. I said, “We’re fine, my sister is off photographing.” She said “Ok, have a nice day,” went back to her car, turned off the flashing lights, and drove away.
When Joann came back to the car, I could tell that she hadn’t even seen the flashing lights. All she said was, “Check out this cool granary shot I just took.” So I said, “The cops are really nice here.” She said, “Oh, oh….were the cops here?” She does get in her zone when she’s photographing.
In June, we took a weekend photographing trip to western Iowa. (We were so far west that we could have dipped our toes into South Dakota!) On Saturday evening, we heard about a replica 1932 Phillips 66 gas station that was on a main highway along the way to our motel. When we found the gas station, there was a nice big shoulder directly across the road, so Joann pulled over and parked the car. She grabbed her gear and went across the road to photograph.
With my head down, studying the map, I was surprised to see flashing lights in the side mirror and a police car pulling up. The police officer came up to the window and said in a not so friendly tone that we’d have to move the car over to a side road. As Joann started the car, I noticed a sign a little ways ahead of us that said “Absolutely no parking”. It was nice of him to ask us to move instead of giving us a ticket, and I can only assume a lot of people miss that little sign.
But the pictures were worth it. By the time we moved the car, the clouds had shifted and the lighting was better for the rest of the photographs.
The following morning, we got up very early and headed out to photograph a couple of things in the downtown area before there was any traffic. It was just starting to get light when Joann captured the first images for the day. Then, as she crossed the street with her tripod in tow, a police car went by. She watched as it turned and pulled up behind the car. “Oh crap….not again!” she said as she put the tripod in the car.
As she tried to explain what we were doing, the police officer just stared at her. This is often the response we get, particularly when anyone in their right mind would still be snuggled up under the covers. But, as it turned out, he was trying to think of other things we might want to photograph. He ended up telling us about this old brick depot that was down by the railroad tracks.
As Joann attempted to explain her “innocence” to that cop, all I could do was smile because, for once, it was she who had to do the explaining. Some day, though, I’m going to be carted off in a police car and she probably won’t even notice until she comes back to the car and there is no one to navigate!
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
In April of this year, on our way to shunpiking in the Ohio River Valley, we stopped to take some pictures along the National Road in Indiana. The road was rather busy, so we turned onto a side road and pulled over on a large gravel shoulder. Joann grabbed her gear and headed down the road.
As usual, my head was down as I studied the map for a route around a large city we were approaching. The next thing I knew, there were flashing lights reflecting off the side mirror. Looking up, I saw a female police officer approaching the driver’s side window. She smiled at me and asked me if we were all right. I said, “We’re fine, my sister is off photographing.” She said “Ok, have a nice day,” went back to her car, turned off the flashing lights, and drove away.
When Joann came back to the car, I could tell that she hadn’t even seen the flashing lights. All she said was, “Check out this cool granary shot I just took.” So I said, “The cops are really nice here.” She said, “Oh, oh….were the cops here?” She does get in her zone when she’s photographing.
In June, we took a weekend photographing trip to western Iowa. (We were so far west that we could have dipped our toes into South Dakota!) On Saturday evening, we heard about a replica 1932 Phillips 66 gas station that was on a main highway along the way to our motel. When we found the gas station, there was a nice big shoulder directly across the road, so Joann pulled over and parked the car. She grabbed her gear and went across the road to photograph.
With my head down, studying the map, I was surprised to see flashing lights in the side mirror and a police car pulling up. The police officer came up to the window and said in a not so friendly tone that we’d have to move the car over to a side road. As Joann started the car, I noticed a sign a little ways ahead of us that said “Absolutely no parking”. It was nice of him to ask us to move instead of giving us a ticket, and I can only assume a lot of people miss that little sign.
But the pictures were worth it. By the time we moved the car, the clouds had shifted and the lighting was better for the rest of the photographs.
The following morning, we got up very early and headed out to photograph a couple of things in the downtown area before there was any traffic. It was just starting to get light when Joann captured the first images for the day. Then, as she crossed the street with her tripod in tow, a police car went by. She watched as it turned and pulled up behind the car. “Oh crap….not again!” she said as she put the tripod in the car.
As she tried to explain what we were doing, the police officer just stared at her. This is often the response we get, particularly when anyone in their right mind would still be snuggled up under the covers. But, as it turned out, he was trying to think of other things we might want to photograph. He ended up telling us about this old brick depot that was down by the railroad tracks.
As Joann attempted to explain her “innocence” to that cop, all I could do was smile because, for once, it was she who had to do the explaining. Some day, though, I’m going to be carted off in a police car and she probably won’t even notice until she comes back to the car and there is no one to navigate!
Happy Shunpiking!
Ruth
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