From The Tower Friday--Cheneyville - a photo on Flickriver

Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern agent/operator Walter E. Chapman is shown at his desk at Cheneyville, Illinois tower, ca. 1915-1920. It appears that he is communicating via telegraph. Here is some info I have on this photo...

The operator--Walter E. Chapman started working on the CTH&SE on September 8th, 1915 and at the time of this photograph was working Cheneyville. As of a seniority roster dated 10-1-1943, Walter was shown working at Dewey tower on 1st. He showed there until 1946, which is the last trace I have of him.

The tower--Cheneyville or "CY" tower was built around the end of 1905 and possibly into 1906 by the Chicago Southern Ry. I have a copy of the original blueprint from 12-1-1905 showing that Delmar, Webster, Cheneyville and Humrick would all be built identical and all have US&S machines. The latest photo I have of the 2-story tower is from the 1950's and the earliest photo I've seen of the replacement cabin is from 1976, so somewhere in the time frame (1950's - 1970's) the tower was changed. The tower was located in the S/W quadrant. In the photo, the interior is shown looking at the north wall (with train order hoops hanging) and to the right would be the east wall (facing the Milw).

The plant--Cheneyville has never in my research had anything other than 4 signals and 2 train order signals. There were wyes located in the S/W & S/E quadrants. In later years south of the tower, double track was added from the route 9 crossing, through the new location of "Coalton" and ending at Heaton, about 3 miles.

The railroads--Initially, this was the crossing of the Chicago Southern Railway and the Lake Erie & Western. The Chicago Southerns RR later became the CTH&SE, then CM&StP and finally CMStP&P. The Lake Erie & Western became the New York, Chicago & St. Louis and later Norfolk & Western. Today, the KB&S owns it all I think.

Rates Of Pay at this time: At Cheneyville at this time, the rate of pay was .33 cents an hour with a monthly rate showing as $68.00.

The trains--At this time, according to my CTH&SE and LE&W employee timetables, scheduled traffic was as follows:

CTHSE
#71 & #73 southbounds.
#72 & #74 northbounds.

LE&W
#1, #5, #59 & #63 westbounds
#2, #6, #58, #64 & #66 eastbounds.

Cheneyville was founded in 1871 and platted in 1880. It was named for J. H. Cheney, the vice-president of the Lake Erie and Western Railroad.

This photograph was taken by the Hoopeston, Illinois newspaper and put in the paper way back in the day. I wish I had that entire newspaper, or better yet, a time machine.

Below is a link to a John Barriger photo of this tower, ca. 1935.

www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/12346820345/in/albu...

Taken in: United States / Illinois / Grant Township / Cheneyville (show map)

Taken on: January 1, 1917

Tags:

CTHSE

Chicago_Southern

Lake_Erie_&_Western

CM&StP

CMStP&P

Milwaukee_Road

NYC&StL

New_York_Chicago_&_St._Louis

Nickel_Plate

NKP

Millw

Walter_E_Chapman

tower

tower_operator

interlocking_tower

strongarm_levers

train_order_hoop

telegraph

desk

vintage

black_&_white

BXW

ca._1917

CY_tower

Vermillion_County

Illinois

old « less

Sets appears in: • Black & White • Milwaukee Road more » • Railroad Buildings • RR Employees At Work • RR TOWERS--CMSTP&P CHENEYVILLE « less

Groups appears in: • Illinois Flickrjournal • The Milwaukee Road more » • Illinois • I Love Black and White! • fallen flags • Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana Railroads • "Old Pictures & Post Cards" • Railroad Towers and Depots • Beautiful Illinois - Please add location • Midwest Railroads • Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland railfans • The Illinois [directory] ! • The Railroad Museum • Railroad Interlocking Towers • Nickel Plate Road: The NYC&StL Railroad • Enjoy Illinois • Trains in Black and White • AROUND ILLINOIS • Railwaymen, Old and New.. • Railway Signal Diagrams and Rule Books • US RailRoad Towers • Railroading In Black and White • Railroading in Illinois • Trains of Chicago's Southland • Rural Railfanning • The Lake Erie & Western Railway • Milwaukee Rails • Railfan Atlas • Very Old Photos - Circa 1900 • Milwaukee Roads Terre Haute Division: The Southeastern • Trains of Chicago & Illinois « less

Stats: 4,132 views / 5 comments

Link to this photo view:
Link to this photo large view: