Historic Railroad Photos, Page 11

The Chessie Steam Special visited Kewanna, Indiana on June 17, 1978. An Amtrak train was delayed while a photo run-by was performed. The engine has pulled up to reload the passengers and is sitting just about where the Pennsy’s South Bend branch crossed the C&O. The engine is a former Reading Company 4-8-4 #2101 and is owned by Ross Rowland, who is also the engineer. Photo by Bob Albert.

In the last years of steam the Nickel Plate’s Hudson locomotives could be found in all types of service. On June 10, 1957, the 174 was on an extra westbound local freight at Spriggsboro, Indiana. The consist of the train is open top hoppers and rider car #300. The 300 was the only steel rider car that the Nickel Plate had, being rebuilt from a 13000 series box car at Conneaut, Ohio in 1951. Photo courtesy of the Nickel Plate Road Historical & Technical Society.

South Bend, Indiana was one of the first, if not the first city in the US to have electric street cars. Northern Indiana car #804 is shown in front of the Bendix Products plant on the west side of South Bend. That overhead wire looks like a maintenance nightmare to me. The 804 was built by St. Louis Car Company in 1916 and apparently ran until the railway closed. This photo may be a McCarter photo; it was e-mailed to me several years ago, Bob Albert.

On Sunday, April 26, 1936 at 5:37 p.m., Pennsy train #NL-1 derailed about 25 cars in downtown Plymouth, Indiana. It was believed to be caused by the failure of an arch bar truck sixty cars deep in the train. Four of the cars fell from the viaduct into Michigan Street (US 31) blocking highway traffic. The box car in the center of the picture contained refrigerators, another steel box car (behind the Standard Oil sign) is on its side and is blocking Pennsylvania Avenue. No one was injured and the tracks were reopened in about twelve hours. Plymouth Daily Pilot newspaper photo, Bob Albert collection.

Age has about destroyed this old North Judson, Indiana photo, but I still like it. The main subject of the photo is the CC&L (C&O) depot near the intersection of Mulberry St., Sycamore St. and the railroad tracks. Just behind the depot and the CC&L tracks is the Chicago & Erie Railroad yard. The depot is long gone, but the tracks are still there, the big white house still stands and the Hoosier Valley RR Museum occupies the railroad yard. Postcard is from the Bob Albert collection.

I assume this people in this picture are the staff of the former 3-I depot in Knox, Indiana. The depot was probably built in 1894 when the railroad was extended from Knox to South Bend and was located near the end of Lake Street, just north of the Nickel Plate crossing. It looks like some of the siding has recently been replaced near the men. Picture is courtesy of the Starke County Historical Society.

The low afternoon sun on a bright March 12, 1983 gives a warm glow to the N&W depot at Plymouth, Indiana. The depot had some remodeling and painting done the previous fall and looks better than it had for years. The building housed the agent and maintenance personnel and still does, less the agent. The Lake Erie & Western built the depot in 1889. The crossing flasher is for an alley that parallels the track and is a warning for “no left turn”. Photo by Bob Albert.

Indiana Hi-Rail Corporation RS1 #467 sure looks good in this picture taken at Sexton, Indiana on April 29, 1985. The unit is former Long Island Railroad #467 and was built in 1950. The locomotive is now privately owned and stored at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum. Photo by Bob Albert.

Photos of Nickel Plate troop trains are pretty rare, but here is one at Spriggsboro, Indiana. Engine #735 should not have any trouble handling the five-car train. Note the truss rods on the first car and that the third and fourth cars are Pullman troop sleepers This post-WW2 photo had to be taken between 1944, when the engine had passenger appliances added, and 1951, when the last of the 700s had the oscillating headlight added. The lack of white or green flags indicates that this train is operating as the last section of a regular passenger train, probably #7. Photo from the Bob Albert collection.

This tower may be a block station and not an interlocking tower. The tower is supposedly at Kankakee, which may be the same as Lomax, Indiana, at any rate it is close to the Kankakee River. The tower call sign is on the board where the man is leaning out the window, but I can only make out the last letter and it appears to be an “S”. Hopefully some historian with more knowledge of the Erie than I will chime in and help identify this tower. Postcard supplied by the Starke County Historical Society.

The picture is a bit blurred, but I like it anyway. How many pictures have you seen of Alexandria, Indiana with steam engines from two railroads in the same photo? In 1955 Nickel Plate engine #725 is eastbound while a New York Central 2-8-2 waits to cross. Photo from the Bob Albert collection.

Here we see a Michigan Central passenger train at the Michigan City, Indiana depot and there maybe another the next track over. Michigan City was quite an excursion destination in the early 1900s for picnics and boating. The depot was almost on the lakeshore, which was great for the boaters. In the background is the Hoosier Slide, a large sand dune. This scene changed dramatically as selling off the sand leveled the dune and an electric power plant was built on the shore of the lake. Postcard is from the Bob Albert collection.

This is the trackside view of the Michigan Central’s depot in Michigan City, Indiana. The Lake Erie & Western also used this depot since both railroads were part of the Vanderbilt’s interests. The depot was erected in 1881 and burned to the ground on Thursday, December 23, 1914. A new brick depot was built in 1915 that still exists to this day as a restaurant. Postcard is from the Bob Albert collection.

On May 16, 1948 the Monon ran a fan trip that stopped in Monon and Lafayette, Indiana. These towns may have been the end points of a round trip. RS2 #25 did the honors of pulling the train and the Monon also put a observation or business car on the train. The train is stopped beside the water tank at Monon and I assume will be heading south shortly. Photo is by Wilfred Nickel, HVRM collection.

In the early days of Conrail you could see some colorful locomotive consists. This eastbound train at Plymouth, Indiana has engines from four predecessor roads, (front to rear) Penn Central, Erie Lackawanna, Lehigh Valley and Jersey Central. This line was quickly downgraded and the traffic vanished. Today this line is the Chicago, Ft. Wayne & Eastern and they also run a mixed bag of colors. Photo by Bob Albert.