Historic Railroad Photos, Page 13

This undated photo of a New York Central Pacific type locomotive pulling a westbound passenger train was probably taken shortly after the 1929 opening of the South Bend, Indiana track elevation project. Bend Tower and the track work around it look pretty clean and the baggage car behind the engine appears to be of truss rod construction. Photo is from the Bob Albert collection.

August 6, 1944 is normally hot and muggy in northern Indiana and one of the crewmen on Pennsy engine 8332 is getting some fresh air by riding on the tender. The train is eastbound at English Lake. Being war time, railroad photography was frowned on, especially around bridges, and there is a long bridge over the Kankakee River here. However, this photo was taken by Bob Kip while he was stationed at Michigan City in the Navy during World War II. Photo is from the Bob Albert collection.

Nickel Plate 2-8-4 730 is westbound and about to cross the Pennsy’s Panhandle line at Elwood, Indiana on June 30, 1952. The tower in the picture is still standing, but the Pennsy is gone. The Nickel Plate line is still in use and still runs in C Street. Photo is from the Bob Albert collection.

A northbound L&N train, lead by GP35 #1113, is about to cross the B&O at Alida, Indiana on November 5, 1972. This is the former Monon’s Michigan City line. Note the Monon covered hopper on the interchange track and that road crossing is Alida Road, a public highway. Photo is from the Bob Barcus collection.

This is a general view of the wreckage of 25 cars of a 90 car Pennsy freight train that derailed one mile west of Hebron, Indiana. There was a scare when the tank car pictured started burning, but nothing happened and no one was injured. The photo is dated August 6, 1956, so I would guess the wreck happened the day before. AP Wirephoto, from Bob Albert collection.

A scene that never will be repeated is Nickel Plate GP7 410 at the Indianapolis yard office. It is September 1, 1957 and the 410’s paint is still nice and shiny after six years of service. The cabooses don’t look too bad either: an ex-LE&W from about the turn of the century and a WW2 box car rebuild. Blue prints date the yard office to the late 1930s. All are now gone. Photo courtesy of Tom Gascoigne.

A Penn Central westbound train of auto racks is passing under the former Wabash 4th District bridge at Millersburg, Indiana in June 1972. Even though the picture is blurry it shows a transition in railroad practices in the 1970s. We have an old EMD cab unit mixed with later higher horsepower EMD road switchers and notice the single enclosed auto rack mixed with the older open side racks. The photo is from the HVRM collection.

Normally a picture taken in Chicago, Illinois wouldn’t be used in the historic photo section, but there is an Indiana connection in the picture. The Union Station gateman has taken down the destination sign for Penn Central train #66 for the last time on April 30, 1971. On May 1st Amtrak will take over intercity passenger service and train #66 will be eliminated. As you can see on the sign, North Judson was one of the stops was also eliminated. Chicago Sun Times photo from Bob Albert Collection.

We are looking south down the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern at Van Loon, Indiana. The Norfolk & Western (Nickel Plate Road) crosses between ‘VN’ tower and the highway overpass. The date of the photo is June 16, 1985. The tower is now history, but the NS and CN still do interchange here. James Marcus photo from Bob Albert collection.

I don’t have any information on this photo, but it is interesting. Wabash F7a 1141A has a westbound freight in tow passing the New Paris, Indiana tower and depot. Judging from the vegetation it is late summer in the mid-1950s. To the left beyond the maintenance building we see an interchange track with the Big Four (the Winona Ry. was gone by this time) and couple of people by the Big Four track. The factory is belching black smoke, in those days that was a sign of a good economy. Train has a cut of hopper cars and all the buildings appear to be well maintained. The Wabash is long gone, but the Big Four line survives as part of NS. Photo is courtesy of M. D. McCarter Photographs; please check our links page for his catalog.

A nice picture of a seldom photographed junction. It’s October 1949 and a westbound C&O Mikado is about to cross the former Pere Marquette at LaCrosse, Indiana. The crossing was protected by a smash board, which had to be lined by the train crew for movement. I will assume that it was left lined for C&O movements. The interchange track beyond the gate became the main track after the C&O was abandoned west of Malden. The photographer is standing on another interchange track. Photo is by Sandy Goodrick.

We are looking down Madison Street in Kokomo, Indiana where the former Clover Leaf crossed the Indianapolis-Michigan City line. On the morning of October 26, 1980 the N&W is trying to rerail GP9 #842 and a hi-cube boxcar. Not sure, but I heard two trains tried to occupy the crossing at the same time.
Photo is by Bob Albert.

On Jun 17, 1985 Norfolk Southern’s Michigan City local is switching their train in the Argos, Indiana yard. After making up their train, they will pull onto the IMC main and run around the train placing N&W 4117 in the lead and head north. South Shore GP38-2s were being used to pay back hours for using N&W power on coal train going west of Michigan City. I heard one the CSS engines ended up in Ohio for a couple of months. Photo is by Bob Albert.

Nickel Plate train #8 is making it’s noon time stop at Knox, Indiana on it’s trip to Buffalo, New York. Today a person may not be able to recognize this location because everything in the picture except the main track is gone. The water tank, buildings and sidings are all gone. The nose of the second unit is on the US35 highway crossing and I would guess the date would be the mid-1950s. Photo is from the Bob Albert collection.

The subject of this picture is Nickel Plate caboose 1090. When the N&W retired the 1090 it went to a restaurant in Lafayette, Indiana and had holes cut in the walls and the end platforms removed. Later it went to a trucking company in Remington where a restoration was done for display. The display plan fell through and it ended up at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum. After a couple of years the Wanatah Historical Society inquired about it and the museum felt that it would be in good hands with them. The caboose is now displayed in Wanatah, Indiana on the former Monon right of way. Photo is from the Bob Albert collection.