There are two large concrete railroad structures that come to immediate mind. The old coaling tower at the Toledo end of the Rossford Ohio CSX (B&O) railroad yard. There was a roundhouse and turntable there also. That area is now used for cleaning out covered hoppers and the likes,with the roundhouse and turntable gone…
The other would be the railroad bridge over a creek, IIRC mud run, in Fairborn Ohio. When they built the Railroad through Huffman prarie (Current location of Wright-Patterson AFB) the railroad ran just about down the centerline of the main runway. After the 1913 flood of Dayton they build the Huffman dam, putting that area in the retention area of the dam. The entire city of Osborne was relocated to the city Fairfield, and the new city was named Fairborn, a merging of both names. The heavy concrete bridge (which was either CH&D, Erie or CCC&StL, I am not sure)over the creek at the east end, off base just past the skating rink. The drive-in there is no longer used, but as interesting note they had to quit showing X rated movies because it would distract the incoming 17th Bomb Wing (SAC) pilots. The last line may be just lore but I was there when they quit showing those “pornographic” movies.
Another interesting thing of note in that area is that the Wright Brothers would ride the trolly from Dayton to Huffman Prarie with gallon cans of petrol, get off at the Symms road crossing and walk(maybe they ride bicycles) to their hanger so they could fly and learn how their airplane worked.
I am sure that in each case the price of the salvaged materials from these two concrete/rebar structures would be much less than the the cost of removeing the installation.
There are several coaling towers that still cover mainlines,
The old Illinois central coaling towers at Gillman Illinois still stand over the Canadian National tracks, both of them. All metal stripped from the towers.
On the original Louisville and Nashville a coaling tower still stands at Lebanon Junction Kentucky, over the CSX mainline. All metal has been removed from this tower.
On the Louisville to Henderson Ky CSX branch a coaling tower stands at Irvington Ky.
Here’s a picture of the coaling tower on the Ridgerunner line that I referred to in my original post. Thanks to clifst for providing the link to Flickr:
In the railroad world these edifices were called “Coal Chutes.”
Calling a coal chute a “tower” is akin to calling a consist (of locomotives) a “lash-up.” Art Riordan insisted on the use of correct terminology when referring to railroad stuff. If you knew him, you would never be caught calling a coal chute anything else.
That said, everyone hit the nail right on the head. Then there is the famous photograph of one railroad’s attempt to dismantle a concrete coal chute by blasting away the underpinnings and turning the bulk of it off to the side.
Unfortunately, the inertia of the massive structure above the legs, once removed, would do nothing except cascade straight down, blocking the main track (and the siding, as well). Concrete and rebar notwithstanding, I believe that coal chute was finally pulverized and hauled off.
Canadian Pacific called them “coaling plants”. But for the locomotive crews the important part was the actual coal chute so that was the term used in operating instructions.
It is similar to the recurring debate over turnout or switch. The first is more encompassing, the second refers to the specific component that is the only part the train crew cared about.