Historic Railroad Photos, Page 12

“Rutland has a new depot – the body of a box car.” That one sentence is the whole story that the Argos Reflector printed on Thursday, May 27, 1897. The Nickel Plate’s facility at Rutland, Indiana was very minimal. Ermine Dickson shows off his team of horses near the depot in a photo that I am sure my dad took between 1910 and 1916, since he had a glass plate camera and was a clerk here in that time frame. Photo is from the Bob Albert collection.

This is what the Erie Lackawanna depot at Monterey, Indiana looked like in 1970. Notice the concrete “his and hers” outhouse at the left corner of the depot, over the truck bed. Notice that the Erie box car has a door missing. The EL must have used good paint, this same paint in on the depot to this day. This depot was recently purchased by a private individual with plans for preservation. Photo is by Bob Albert.

This tower was in the northwest corner of the crossing of the Lake Erie & Western and the Erie at Rochester, Indiana. The track that is by the stairs is the LE&W; the tracks in the foreground are the Erie. The tower was probably built not long after the Erie came to town. I do not know when it was taken out of service. Photo provided by the Fulton County Historical Society.

Since this year marks the 25th anniversary of the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum I thought I would post this picture of one of the early pieces of equipment. The Port of Indiana painted this center cab switcher for the nation’s 200th anniversary. The 1776 is a 44-ton Whitcomb built in August 1941 and had several owners before becoming the 1776. The engine came to HVRM in 1988 and was renumbered 27. Photo is from the HVRM collection.

Here is something a little different. This Indianapolis, Peru & Chicago Railway wax seal came to the museum in a box of “stuff” that was deemed worthless. The IP&C was leased to the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific in 1881, sold to the Lake Erie & Western in 1887 (the NYC controlled the LE&W from 1900 to 1922) and was sold to the Nickel Plate in 1922. The seal is oval shaped, about 1” by 1-1/2” and was used to seal company mail by placing a drop of hot wax on the envelope and the pressing the seal into it. The image has been reversed for readability. The seal is in the HVRM collection.

Vandale (west side of Columbia City, Indiana) was the junction of the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago and the Vandalia; both were part of the Pennsy. The telegraph call was “CU”, not “CW” as indicated on the postcard. The train is eastbound and the diamonds were replaced, in the 1950s, with switches coming off the mainline to serve industries on the branches. The tower lasted until the Penn Central era and maybe a little later. Postcard is from the Bob Albert collection.

A women with a baby carriage waits for New Jersey, Indiana & Illinois #6 to clear a crossing in South Bend, Indiana in this undated photo. NJI&I #6 was built by Rhode Island in October 1899 as Wabash 751. It was later renumbered 582, and in June 1928 it was sold to the NJI&I. The NJI&I ran from the west side of South Bend to a junction with the Wabash at Pine. Photo is from the Bob Albert collection.

Nickel Plate 0-6-0 #17 was switching at Kokomo, Indiana on July 19, 1941. I can’t identify the location, but maybe someone from the Kokomo area can. The switch engine was built as Clover Leaf #17(2nd) by Baldwin in January 1921, but not delivered until December 1922 when the road ended it’s receivership. The engine became NKP #717 in 1924, NKP #17(5th) in May 1942 and finally NKP #317 (2nd) in February 1947. The engine was retired at Frankfort in September 1947 and sold to Summer & Company on October 13, 1947. Photo is from the Bob Albert collection.

This is a great photo of the tracks in North Judson in March 1967. The view is looking west from about the front of the present shop building. The C&O comes from the lower left and curves of to the upper right. The Erie eastward main is where the working is grinding on the diamond. The men behind the worker are standing on the NYC which crosses from left to right. The other track which comes in from the center right is the Erie westward main. The Pennsy’s double track is hidden behind the tower. Notice that the Erie tracks are on about thirty foot centers to accommodate the NYC and C&O diamond. The photo is from the HVRM collection.

In May 1969 a Santa Fe U25B pounds across the former Pennsy line at North Judson on its eastward trip toward Elkhart. The Santa Fe used the Kankakee Belt for run thru freights. Later the Santa Fe attempted to buy the line from Conrail, but the line was removed between South Bend and Wheatfield in 1983. Photo courtesy of Tom Gascoigne.

Nickel Plate 2-8-0 #905 is shown at Bluffton, Indiana heading west on the Clover Leaf District. The train on the right is on the New Castle District. Today the Clover Leaf District is the Wabash Central, a short line, and the Hew Castle District is part of Norfolk Southern route from Ft. Wayne to Cincinnati. In recent aerial views the building behind the 905 is still there and the track layout appears to be about the same. Photo is from the Bob Albert collection.

The PFtW&C tower at Donaldson, Indiana was probably a block station and not an interlocking tower. Between the interlocking tower at Plymouth and the one at Hamlet were three block stations, all with similar towers. They were Morrison, Donaldson and Grovertown. Donaldson and Grovertown also had small depots. I believe these block stations were built shortly after the double tracking of 1903 and were gone by the 1930s. Postcard is from the Bob Albert collection.

Argos, Indiana residents were probably very proud when the Lake Erie & Western built their depot in 1881. The depot measured 20’ x 50’ feet and cost about $760. A fair sized crowd is waiting on the southbound train in the postcard view taken in the earlier 1900s. The depot was located just north of State Road 10 and to this day the road still has a jog in it were the depot was. Postcard is from the Bob Albert collection.

This aerial view shows the crossing of the New York Central and Nickel Plate at LaPorte, Indiana looking south on the NKP. This was WR tower, on the east side of town, which closed about 1964 or 1965 and was made remote from JD tower on the west end of town. Today the South Shore owns the NKP line and Norfolk Southern owns the NYC line. Photo provided by Jeff Rempala. (This was the first tower he worked at for the NYC)

An eastbound Penn Central freight train cuts across the intersection of two roads in beautiful downtown Toto (Rye), Indiana. Pictures of trains at Toto are scarce at best; this is only the second one I have ever seen. The picture is probably in the late 1960s since the SD40 has nice clean paint on it. Photo is by Terry Hand.