Road To Nowhere

This view is looking north on New York Centrals former Egyptian Line at Dunn, Indiana, MP IH 77 on April 10th, 2022. Standing and looking at this in person is like standing in a graveyard for me. This rail line did not dry up overnight though, like some did. This line declined for over 40 years until it was unfeasible to do anything about it. When the Egyptian stopped running in the 50's, the downfall started. Miles of double-track were reduced to sidings, maintenance declined, etc. In the 1970's, PC nearly destroyed it but fortunately Conrail took over and in 1980, the Milwaukee gained trackage rights, which forced Conrail to semi-maintain it to keep that business. But, in the late 1980's, slow orders were so frequent that half of the line was affected, and nothing was being done to fix them. By the early 1990's, Soo Line had the former Milwaukee trains, and the line was moving so slow that it was taking multiple crews to get the trains to Terre Haute and it became too much, so they moved to the C&EI, which was unfavorable in the beginning to the Milwaukee because they were taking a backseat to the Mopac and Seaboard trains and would not have priority. Nowadays, it sits in place for the most part like this, abandoned, rotting, rusting, falling apart. It has been severed in so many spots that rail crews can't get to it to tear it up. It will sit in place for people like me who like to take photographs for historical purposes and remember what was.......

 

NYC Egyptian Line

MP IH 77

Dunn, rural Benton County, Indiana

April 10th, 2022

View is looking north

Done