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1

VINTAGE

PHOTOGRAPH

ALBUM FROM 1916 ERA

THIS PHOTO 1916

OGALLALA, NEBRASKA


AI INFO BELOW:

NOT SURE IF CORRECT?


Railroad Coaling Station in Ogallala, Nebraska (1916 Era)
This vintage black-and-white photograph captures a vital piece of transcontinental railroad infrastructure located along the Union Pacific main line in Ogallala, Keith County, Nebraska. The view looks directly down the tracks beneath a massive coaling tower, illustrating the heavy logistics required to fuel steam transportation across the Great Plains during the early twentieth century.
The Coaling Tower Infrastructure
  • The Overhead Bunker: The dominant structure in the image is a massive wooden or steel coaling station elevated high on heavy structural pillars directly over the rail tracks. This overhead layout used gravity to rapidly drop tons of coal through bottom-facing chutes straight into the tenders of waiting steam locomotives. Small windows near the roofline provided light and ventilation to the internal machinery used to hoist the coal.
  • The Supporting Tracks: Multiple parallel sets of tracks run through the facility. The main center line passes directly under the fueling bay, while a heavily loaded open-top hopper car filled with coal sits on a adjacent siding to the right, ready to replenish the tower's supply or wait for transit.
  • The Service Buildings: To the left of the main tower, a small rectangular concrete or brick depot shack stands right alongside the auxiliary tracks, acting as a control office for the yard workers and telegraph operators managing the fuel station logistics.
The Great Plains Landscape and Written Note
  • The Landscape: True to the geography of western Nebraska, the background opens up into a completely flat, barren prairie horizon with sparse trees, indicating the remote nature of these vital fueling outposts.
  • The Handwritten Caption: The white cursive ink notation at the bottom of the black photo mount reads: "Ogalalla - Coal feed for trains. Houses miles apart; hay in stack after stack."
  • The Local Context: The writer's observation perfectly captures the rural frontier experience along the Platte River valley in 1916. Outside of the immediate railroad junction town centered around the Union Pacific tracks, the surrounding country consisted entirely of vast, isolated cattle ranches and agricultural fields where stacked hay blocks were the only visible features for miles.
The photograph serves as a complete document of the steam era, highlighting how centralized industrial fueling nodes were strategically placed along the empty Nebraska plains to keep national rail networks moving.
 

" VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPH RAILROAD TRAIN COAL STATION DEPOT IN OGALLALA, NEBRASKA OLD PHOTO "



THE PHOTO IS CLEAR 1-2 FEET AWAY, THE PHOTO IS CLEAR UNDER MAGNIFY GLASS, HAZY-FUZZY NEAR SIDE EDGES, BUT VIEWS CLEAR HOLDING 1-2 FEET AWAY, BIT DARK.



CAPTION ON ALBUM

" 3 ALBUMS FROM A TRIP IN 1916 "


ORIGINAL CAPTION ON ALBUM PAGE

" READ "


OLD PHOTO

THIS IS A PHOTO

NOT A POSTCARD


SHADES & COLORS

CAN VARY



JUST IN CASE ANY OF MY LISTINGS 

HAVE WRONG INFO, I CANNOT ID PHOTO OR POSTCARD,

SEND INFO, I WILL INSERT CORRECT INTO INTO LISTING, TIA. 



LISTING 400 PHOTOS & POSTCARDS ON 10/27/26

THE FAMILY WAS FROM EAST COAST, NOT SURE WHERE? A TRIP IN 1916 TOURING QUITE A FEW STATES, NEW YORK, NEW ORLEANS, MICHIGAN, PENNSYLVANIA, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, TEXAS, GEORGIA AND LOTS MORE. A LOT OF HISTORICAL PHOTOS, FASHION OF ERA, EVERYDAY LIFE, ETC.


THE ALBUM HAD LOTS OF CAPTIONS, BUT ONLY HAD A FEW NAMES, SEEMS LIKE THEY LIVED ON THE EAST COAST, MAYBE PENNSYLVANIA?.



FILE INFO ONLY ON THIS LINE 1100_TRIP_530_PHOTO_161

THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY AUCTION!


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING:

PLEASE LOOK AT PHOTO FOR DAMAGE:

DAMAGE RATINGS:

RANKING TO EDGES ( 2 )

( 1 )-LITE DAMAGE TO EDGES HARDLY ANY DAMAGE

( 2 )-MILD DAMAGE TO EDGES, SOME MINOR DINGS, CHIPPING & WEAR.

( 3 )-HEAVY DAMAGE TO EDGES, LOTS OF CREASES AND OR RIPS & TEARS.

RANKING TO CORNER TIPS ( 2 )

( 1 )-LITE DAMAGE TO CORNER TIPS, HARDLY ANY DAMAGE

( 2 )-MILD DAMAGE TO CORNER TIPS, SOME MINOR DINGS & WEAR.

( 3 )-HEAVY DAMAGE TO CORNER TIPS, BAD CREASES, BAD WEAR, MISSING TIPS.

CLARITY RANKING TO PHOTO ( 2 )

( 1 )-VERY CLEAR, LOTS OF DETAIL

( 2 )-PRETTY CLEAR SOME DETAIL

( 3 )-CLEAR 1-2 FEET AWAY, A LITTLE HAZY-FUZZY UNDER MAGNIFY GLASS

( 4 )-HAZY-FUZZY 1-2 FEET AWAY AND UNDER MAGNIFY GLASS

CLARITY FROM 2 DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES, WILL BE RATED YES OR NO

CLARITY GOOD HOLDING 1-2 FEET AWAY ( YES ) BIT DARK

HAZY-FUZZY UNDER MAGNIFY GLASS ( NO ) 

CLEAR UNDER MAGNIFY GLASS ( YES ) 

HAZY-FUZZY IN BACKGROUND ( NO ) JUST NEAR SIDE EDGES

HAZY-FUZZY ON SIDE EDGES ( YES ) 

WRINKLE/CREASE/WAVINESS TO PHOTO FROM SHRINKAGE ( YES-MILD )

WRINKLE/CREASE/WAVINESS FROM BEING PULLED/SCRAPED OFF ALBUM PAGE ( YES-MILD )

DEPRESSED CORNER MARKS IN CORNERS FROM CORNER HANGERS ( NO )

DEPRESSED GLUE DIMPLE MARKS IN PHOTO FROM GLUE ON BACKSIDE ( YES-MILD )

RUBS FROM BEING IN AN ALBUM FOR YEARS ( YES-LITE )

OVERALL CONDITION OF PHOTO, WHICH INCLUDES DAMAGE AND CLARITY IN RATING, WILL BE RATED ON A ( 1-10 ) SCALE.

( 1 ) BEING VERY BAD & ( 10 ) BEING VERY GOOD

OVERALL CONDITION OF PHOTO ( 5-6 )

MADE OF PHOTO TYPE PAPER

BACK SOME DISCOLOR, FEW MARKS, PAPER & GLUE ON BACK

FRONT FEW MARKS, SOME DISCOLOR

OTHER DAMAGE NOTED HERE: 

ALSO HAS USUAL SCRATCHES, MARS, DINGS, ETC.

DAMAGE A FEW SCRATCHES, DINGS, HAIL DENTS & CREASES, ALL TIPS SHOW WEAR, DINGS OR CREASES, MILD GLUE DIMPLE POCKETS ON FRONT FROM GLUE & PAPER ON BACK, MILD SHRINK WAVINESS THROUGHOUT.

PHOTO SIZE SMALL 4-1/4 BY 2-1/2 INCHES


Thanks for Looking and Happy Digging

 "SunkenTreazure"