CA&E Ardmore Station, Villa Park, Illinois

One of my favorite stations. Now used by the Chamber of Commerce in Villa Park for offices. The new Metra Station in Elburn Illinois seems inspired too me by this structure.

M&StL at Grinnll, Iowa

Lyndon "Cash" Groth has a nice webpage devoted to the Minneapolis & St. Louis, Iowa Central, and the Chicago & Northwestern railroads.

You'll find some nice pictures of the joint M&StL and Rock Island Depot in Grinnell, Iowa.

I whiled away the hours at this Depot while a student at Grinnell College in the early 70s.

The old M&StL tracks cut right through the middle of campus. When I was a student the C&NW had taken over the M&StL but there were still three or four trains a day.

Now it's the Union Pacific but the traffic seems to be steady based on this article on Students and Trains.

At Grinnell College, trains have been a part of campus life since the school's 1846 founding.

Cargo trains pass through campus, running north and south, two or three times each day, said Dann Hayes, director of media relations. There is another line that runs east to west through the town of Grinnell.

"Because of that, cross trains have to go extra slow, which is a bonus for us," Hayes said.

The trains blast their horns at least two intersections before arriving on campus, giving plenty of warning. To further ensure student safety, procedures to deal with train collisions have been outlined in handbooks that will be distributed in every classroom, office and at every telephone at the school, Hayes said.

"For the most part, I think it's just common sense."

Wayne's Dunham Depot

From the Daily Herald of September 25, 2005 about preservation efforts for an old train station.

Train depots have plenty of history in Wayne. Karen Armbrust said the first one, known as Dunham Depot, was built in 1850 when one of the village’s founding fathers, Solomon Dunham, wanted a rail line closer to the land he owned.

The newer, bigger depot that the village is now trying to restore into the museum was built in 1884 and eventually boarded up after the last stops in 1950. A few years later, Karen said, it was moved to the Dunham Castle property by family member Jane Dunham.

Anyone interested in getting involved or seeking more information about the museum project can contact the village at (630) 584-3090.

The picture is not on the link but it's a spitting image of the old Revell Small Town station.

GACX Express Reefer HO kits

Steve Sandifer compares Walthers and Broadway Limited cars in a link I found posted on yahoo's passenger car list.