Friday, June 11, 2010

Dave's Depots - Jacksonville, Illinois - Chicago & Alton

Dave's Depots returns! After a brief hiatus, my work-related travels took me to a town near Jacksonville, Illinois. On the way home, I snagged these photos of the old Chicago & Alton depot, now used as an Italian Restaurant. Jacksonville is on the C&A's old Kansas City to Chicago mainline.

The owners of the depot have preserved the old train order signal, though it is now mounted on the opposite side of the station from it's original location. Also, the original station sign, complete with mileage to Kansas City and Chicago is still in place.
Jacksonville also hosts the former CB&Q coal branch into southern Illinois, though there appears to be no depot.
After checking the map, it appears that the C&A had a plethora of lines in the area, which surprised me. I always thought of the railroad as just the two mainlines, from St. Louis to Chicago and from Kansas City of Chicago. I'll be back in the area in the near future, so I'll have to update you if I find more preserved or surviving depots.

1 comment:

Bill Bielby said...

We own the old Michigan Central depot in Three Oaks Michigan, and it is almost identical to this one. Built in 1899. Bill Bielby bill@blaisdesign.com www.facebook/blaisdesign