Our Depot 5B
 

 

Perhaps the end of the Ellsworth depot's story

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The Callanan/Ellsworth depot is finally in today's location.

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Some repairs have been made since the move.   Here new windows are being added.  Some old barn boards perhaps as old as the depot itself were used to fill in for lumber that was needed.

The railroad tracks from Jewell through Ellsworth were removed in 2006
according to Union Pacific's master plan.

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(Click image for different view.)

The railroad bridge at the east end of Jewell allows the railroad to cross 
the dredge ditch coming from the north.  This image may be from the 1940s.


(four photos courtesy of Hank Zaletel)

This 2000 image shows the railway between Jewell and Ellsworth, along Highway 175.

 
From UNION PACIFIC - There was a decision to abandon the Ellsworth Industrial Lead, a 3.2-mile line of railroad, between milepost 0.0, near Jewell, and milepost 3.2, at Ellsworth in Hamilton County, Iowa, to be effective on April 28, 2006.  (STB Docket No. AB-33 (Sub-No. 175X), decided March 17, served March 29, 2006)

That report meant that the railroad track (both the rails and the ties) were scheduled to be removed from between Jewell and Ellsworth.   And they were, indeed, removed.   The tracks west of Jewell and Stanope and east of Ellsworth and Radcliffe were also removed.  No more east-west tracks.  Only the north-south track survived.

When you see the photos at the bottom of this page, you will know that portions of that track still exist today.

Crossing the Skunk River bridge - The Ellsworth Elevator is seen.

Skunk River bridge detail

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    You may notice something in the tall grass at the right (south) side of the depot in Ellsworth.  The grass covers a bit of railroad track from the Ellsworth line.  A few years after the depot was hauled to it's new location, the railroad line was removed from between Stanhope, Jewell and Ellsworth, and Radcliffe.  Of course, no more trains would ever again come though Ellsworth, because there are no tracks.

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     When the tracks were removed from the Ellsworth area, the removal crew was asked if they could please save a piece of track to accompany the community Depot instead of "recycling" all of it.   The crew was tired and didn't make any promises, but at the end of their long day, they brought two 35 foot rails and many ties.  They constructed this set of tracks beside the Callanan/Ellsworth Depot, and it remains there, today.

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The tracks are placed running east and west, just like the original tracks had run through Ellsworth.  Because the Depot at this location was turned 90 degrees from how it originally had been located, the ticket window no longer faces the tracks as it did when this building was a proper Ellsworth railroad station for one hundred years.

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No trains today!
(or tomorrow either, of course)

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The Callanan/Ellsworth depot is in today's (and the last?) location.

How is the Callanan/Ellsworth Depot used today?

Because the Callanan/Ellsworth Depot still survives today, it is used as a storage facility.

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Besides storing motorcycles and a 1919 Model T truck, it also holds some Ellsworth history.


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