Doug,
I grew about two blocks from those oil tanks on Seeley Ave. having moved there
with my parents in 1946 and lived there until 1966 when I graduated from
college. I often walked the rail yard and right of way to town. There were
actually two oil distributors adjacent to each other at that location. One had
their storage tanks mounted horizontally (see the photo of 2844 in the Flickr
collection) and the other vertically (see the photo of 2858 in Flickr). My
recollection is that the west set of tanks belonged to Cities Service (much
later Citgo) while the east tanks were Standard Oil. The stub track, adjacent
to the tanks on the south side, as Leo stated, was for tank car supply to both
distributors. However, I don’t ever recall seeing a tank car on that track. By
the 1950s and ‘60s, the supply of oil was being provided by highway trucks.
Smaller single frame trucks were used to distribute the oil locally. Each set
of tanks had a pump house and a small office area. The track, tanks and yard
were elevated in that area above street level. On the north side of the tanks,
the distribution area was lower at street level along Warren Ave. The railroad
had a lower yard in that area that included a couple of tracks. Going west from
the lower yard was another track that went into Hines Lumber Co. As I recall,
that track continued through Hines and rejoined the upper yard lead somewhat
west of Hines. Just east of the oil distribution facilities was an older two
story house adjacent to the street. I was told that at one time, it was the
home of the roundhouse foreman when there was a roundhouse immediately south of
the home. The roundhouse was torn down in the 1930s and the last of three DG
turntables was removed in the late 1950s or early 1960s.
My good friend, Bob Campbell may be able to add more details or corrections to
my recollections of the area. He lived with his parents on Warren Ave. between
Montgomery Avenue and Seeley Avenue from 1946 to about 1963. He is also among
the last people to hire onto the Q as a fireman in 1969.
Bill Barber
Gravois Mills, MO
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group.
View/Reply Online (#64492): https://groups.io/g/CBQ/message/64492
Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/94204909/703214
Group Owner: CBQ+owner@groups.io
Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/CBQ/leave/1544929/703214/691670059/xyzzy
[archives@nauer.org]
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|