Muncie & Western #7 a
GE 65 Tonner is shown setting behind the south facility at Ball Brothers Glass in Muncie
Indiana in 1992. Serving its final days on the M&W, the engine was sold to Shideler
Grain in Shideler Indiana where it still works loading grain. (Doug Boyd Slide) |
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It appears that the male
population of Poneto, Indiana are not camera shy. Poneto is located about six miles south of
Bluffton on the Lake Erie & Western (now Norfolk Southern) line from Ft. Wayne to New Castle.
Check out the fenced lawn and the Big Four boxcar. Postcard from Bob Albert collection. |
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B&O engine #5584 is
crossing the C&O's Pere Marquette District at Wellsboro, Indiana. The Grand Trunk
Western crossing is about the fifth car back from the tender and the depot is barely
visible behind the tower. The date is unknown, but must have been the early to mid
1950s, note the B&O semaphore still in use. The tower was razed in the late 1950s,
the depot was destroyed by a GTW train wreck on November 21, 1985 and the C&O diamond
was removed in 1998. Photo is courtesy of M. D. McCarter Photographs; please check our
links page for his catalog. |
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A little known,
five-mile long branch of the Wabash ran between Helmer and Stroh, Indiana. The branch
was built in 1899 to serve a cement plant and was out of service by 1945. The town of
Stroh must have been bustling with the cement business as a 1901 Stroh newspaper
reported the freight agent took in $4800 in freight charges. Stroh also had a limber
yard and a combined flouring mill and grain elevator. Of note is the caboose in the
photo; it appears to be set up for passengers and LCL freight. Postcard from Bob
Albert collection. |
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Smoke is apparently
not an issue on this day in 1946 as Nickel Plate #626 heads north across the Wabash at
Peru, Indiana. The Nickel Plate made a sharp curve here, crossed the Wabash and started
a steep uphill climb to Denver. Helpers were a normal routine leaving the Wabash River
valley. Take note of the tilting target signal, these were very common on the IMC
District and a few still exist. Also of note is the rider car behind the engine,
these were common on locals to accommodate an extra brakeman and LCL shipments. Photo is
courtesy of M. D. McCarter Photographs; please check our links page for his catalog. |
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The Pittsburgh, Ft.
Wayne & Chicago built the Plymouth, Indiana depot in 1856 served the railroad until
about 1914, when a new brick depot was built. The 1856 depot was sold to Jacob Lacher
for $315; the lumber was used to construct a barn. The two depots appear to be built
on or very near the same site, so Plymouth may have been without a Pennsy depot for a
short period of time. The water tank is just west of the LE&W crossing, which is just
west of the Vandalia crossing. Postcard from Bob Albert collection. |
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Pennsy 2-8-0 #9985
(as near as I can tell from the photo) is working, near the bulk oil plant in Culver.
My guess is that ballast is being dumped at the wreck site. The engine is on the main
line, the center track leads to the grain elevator and the closest track is for the bulk
oil plant, which the corner of can be seen in the photo. Notice the weather has warmed
up and the snow is gone. Photo by Charles Faulkner, HVRM collection. |
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As can be seen in
this photo another light snow has fallen since the track was re-laid. The crane is on
the passing track and is rerailing cars on the main track. The tracks run on the shore
of Lake Maxinkuckee and some of these cars almost ended up on the ice. Photo by Charles
Faulkner, HVRM collection. |
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On January 30, 1951
the Pennsy derailed 14 cars at Culver, Indiana near the State Road 17 crossing. The cars
contained autos and auto parts coming from the Studebaker plant in South Bend. The
weather was near zero and a broken rail was determined as the cause. It took several
days to clean up the wreck and rebuild the track. The next two photos will show how
quick the Indiana weather can change. Photo from Bob Albert collection. |
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The photo is not very clear, but the
scene is timeless. Nickel Plate agent George Thornburg does his paper work duties at Hibbard, Indiana.
Take a look at the office. A thermometer and calendar (August 10, 1956) above his lunchbox, the Underwood
typewriter (or maybe Royal), clock, extension phone and telegraph equipment. Train consists were thrown
off at Hibbard and then send to Ft. Wayne by a teletype machine to aid the in the reblocking of eastbound
trains. Photo from September 9, 1956 South Bend (Indiana) Tribune. |
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Nickel Plate #749 passes under an unusual
cantilever signal at Claypool, Indiana in the late 1950s. The NKP had very few of these, this was probably
installed to help crews see the signal around the curve that the Argos Turn has just come though. The Big
Four crossed the NKP here. The local had probably left its train east of town, worked the elevator and now
is heading west. Paul Willer photo, Bob Albert collection. |
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The Monon depot at Francesville,
Indiana sat between two elevators; the shadow of one can be seen by the word "Crose". In later years the
depot was shortened to about 1/3 of the length shown here and a bay window was also added. The building
was razed in 1978. Postcard from Bob Albert collection. |
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This postcard supposedly shows the
first CR&M (C&O) depot in Peru, Indiana. I would rather think this really the freight house, even though
it resembles a depot. The brick and stone depot was built in 1901, which was the year the CR&M started
running to Peru. I can't explain the train order board. I did talk with a C&O retiree and he said he
remembered the building as a yard office after it had been moved near the river. I am open to comments
on this one. Postcard from Bob Albert collection. |
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Nickel Plate #750 appears to have its
eastbound train on a good roll at Sidney, Indiana. Judging from the flags on the smoke box the train is
the first section of #56. The photo is undated, but appears to be from the early 1950s. The depot was
located just east of state road 13, but is now gone. Photo is courtesy of M. D. McCarter Photographs;
please check our links page for his catalog. |
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Lakeville, Indiana was where the Wabash
4th District and the Pennsy's South Bend branch crossed. This postcard view is looking west showing the
depot, the tower and water tank. Nothing remains here today and you really have to look hard to tell the
railroads were ever here. Postcard from Bob Albert collection. |
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On February 3, 1962 a westbound New
York Central freight train rear-ended another just east of Walkerton, Indiana. Four crewmen were injured
and the caboose was destroyed, that is part of it under the boxcar. The locomotive facing the boxcar is
an Alco FA2 #1076. Photo from Bob Albert. |
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South Shore coach #14 wears an
experimental paint scheme in this undated photo taken at South Bend, Indiana. Coach #15 also wore this
maroon on the bottom and orange on the top scheme, which was applied when the cars were rebuilt in 1942.
Photo courtesy of Richard Andrews. |
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This photo of the Pennsy tower at
Bourbon, Indiana is interesting for several reasons. The photographer was facing west when he snapped
this picture. You will notice the canted telegraph poles on each side of the tower. They were probably
canted to allow to the tower to be built. The workmen appear to be laying sod and everything else is
neat-as-pin, notice the straight ballast line. I would date this photo to about 1903, when the Pennsy
was double tracked in this area. Photo from Bob Albert collection. |
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The St. Joseph Valley Lines was a
short-lived (1905 - 1917) railroad and interurban that operated every type of equipment possible.
Gasoline powered car 173 was built by Kuhlman in 1910 and is stopped at the Inverness, Indiana station.
Inverness was the site of a wreck on December 30, 1916 in which two people were killed and eleven
others injured. Photo from Bob Albert collection. |
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Thought to be a New York Central
inspection engine, it is running at 40 M.P.H. on the Lake Erie & Western through Cowan, Indiana. The
enclosed car body of the engine allowed railroad officials to ride "up front" to inspect their
property. Notice the steps going up the front. The date of this photo is unknown, but it may well be
just before the Nickel Plate take-over of this line in 1922. Photo from Bob Albert collection. |
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Lena Park, located
just southeast of North Judson, Indiana didn't develop as a town as the planners had
hoped. In 1910, the Square Realty Co. of Chicago, had 1000 lots available for purchase
and ran free excursion trains on the C&O of Indiana to bring prospective buyers to the
site. In recent years the site has developed as a housing area. Postcard from Bob Albert
collection. |
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The Nickel Plate depot at Knox,
Indiana had many additions to it during its lifetime. Here it is shown in its original form in this
pre-WW1 view. The depot still exists, being moved to the north edge of town near the Yellow River on the
former New York Central right-of-way. The water tank sits just west of what is now U.S. 35. The train
order board was placed across the tracks from the depot because of track curvature. Postcard from the
Bob Albert collection. |
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Erie E8a 819 appears to have the
eastbound "Lake Cities" well in hand in June 1965 at Newton Tower east of Laketon, Indiana. The 819 is
about to cross the Pennsy's Butler branch, which ran northeast from Logansport. Notice the signal rods
on the left side of the track; at one time the Erie was double tracked through here. That's Bern
Kelker's 1956 Plymouth V8 behind the GMC pick-up. Photo by Bernard Kelker. |
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This Vandalia bridge over the Eel
River at Collamer, Indiana is interesting because of the protection on the pilings. The picture appears
to be taken on the down stream side of the bridge and maybe from the north bank. It seems the
photographer may have been looking into the sun. Postcard from Bob Albert collection. |
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When a person stepped
off a Monon train at Cedar Lake, Indiana they did not have far to go for a swim.
The back of this postcard says "Cedar Lake's third Monon R.R. depot, built in 1898
replacing Armour and Paisley 1882 depots - all along western shores." Postcard from
Bob Albert collection. |
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The Winona Railway is shown in the
Akron, Indiana business district. In Akron, traces of the Winona can still be found on the Pike Lumber
Company property in the form of bridge abutments where the Winona went over the Erie Railroad. The right
of way is traceable both north and south of town. State Route 19 comes in from the north on the old
right-of-way and you can trace it south of town by following an electric power line. Postcard from
Bob Albert collection. |
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On March 24, 1963 a Pennsy westbound
freight derailed at Hanna, Indiana at the former Pere Marquette crossing. The line parallels U.S. 30,
which was just to the north of the right-of-way. This made for easy viewing of the clean up. Six month
old U25B 2515 was also derailed, while a sister engine remained on the track. Photo by Bob Albert. |
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These are some of the
forty-four cars involved in the Hanna wreck. Cars were piled up on both sides of the
crossing. Many of the cars contained small items such as radios, televisions and toys.
Clean up took many days, as this was in the days when they actually salvaged goods from
damaged freight cars. Photo by Bob Albert. |
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A Chicago bound Pennsy
passenger is stopping at North Judson, Indiana to receive and discharge passengers. The
photo is undated, but I'm guessing it is the late 1940s or early 50s. The station was
damaged in a December 1956 wreck and was rebuilt without the bay window. The Railway
Express office
to its left was completely destroyed. Photo is courtesy of M. D. McCarter Photographs,
please check our links page for his catalog. |
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