The Real Terminator
the essence
I've described the South Shore as the Duneland Essence on more than one occasion on here, and many many more times than that in real life conversation. While I'm grateful for the unique photo opportunities the Double Track NWI project is bringing, I can't help but feel sad that the centuries-in-the-making interurban feel will effectively die with it. That is what I, and most others that I know, will miss the most. Scenes such as this, an electrified commuter railroad coming within 25' of a house, and but up against multiple backyards with nothing in between the two. This isn't some two-times-yearly used branchline for railcar storage, though I've always felt this location certainly gives that impression. You might notice the basketball hoop in the backyard of the blue house - sure enough, a few minutes before this was taken, the local youth were playing a friendly game that resulted in their ball landing right in the middle of the gauge multiple times.
But, as I mentioned, I have to be grateful that there are still -some- opportunities available to photograph trains in these places, and with so much work going on, what you can frame up are often subjects you could almost never see before the project began. This train was no exception.
The current infrastructure has had the capability to run electrified passenger trains many times a day between mileposts 33.0, where we are here, and 44.0 near Dune Park. Now, this stretch has been completely deenergized - overhead electric, signals, everything is now dark. Instead of doing 79 miles per between Michigan City and Chesterton, all train movements are now warrant-controlled, restricted to 25mph max, and all road crossings between the two mileposts are considered out of service, requiring all trains to stop before proceeding at each. Thankfully, a very small amount of CSS freight trains and the occasional work train on the NICTD side are all that pass through this stretch. This is a bit different though.
NICTD is still offering options for passengers to be bused between stations at Michigan City and Dune Park (out of the work zone, where business is still as usual). As a result, the passenger trains now begin and terminate at Dune Park, where they can be serviced at the base level - mostly just janitorial tasks. But, like everything in life, it's only a matter of time before something more serious requires attention from a shop - in this case, the South Shore's shops in Michigan City.
To take care of this, the passenger guys have been doing occasional ferry moves of EMUs between the two locations through the work zone, and here is one such example. My favorite motor on the South Shore period (freight and passenger considered), NICD 1001, with all its nose light excellence, was the power this morning with five EMUs for Dune Park. The crew has just received their track warrant to pass the dark signal directly behind me, and are treating me and my camera to quite a smoke-filled show getting their train back up to speed... smoking is another nice trait about this unit. The horn ain't bad either!
And thus completes another caption that is entirely too long. I should try writing a book sometime or something, so many words would look a lot less awkward in one...
the essence
I've described the South Shore as the Duneland Essence on more than one occasion on here, and many many more times than that in real life conversation. While I'm grateful for the unique photo opportunities the Double Track NWI project is bringing, I can't help but feel sad that the centuries-in-the-making interurban feel will effectively die with it. That is what I, and most others that I know, will miss the most. Scenes such as this, an electrified commuter railroad coming within 25' of a house, and but up against multiple backyards with nothing in between the two. This isn't some two-times-yearly used branchline for railcar storage, though I've always felt this location certainly gives that impression. You might notice the basketball hoop in the backyard of the blue house - sure enough, a few minutes before this was taken, the local youth were playing a friendly game that resulted in their ball landing right in the middle of the gauge multiple times.
But, as I mentioned, I have to be grateful that there are still -some- opportunities available to photograph trains in these places, and with so much work going on, what you can frame up are often subjects you could almost never see before the project began. This train was no exception.
The current infrastructure has had the capability to run electrified passenger trains many times a day between mileposts 33.0, where we are here, and 44.0 near Dune Park. Now, this stretch has been completely deenergized - overhead electric, signals, everything is now dark. Instead of doing 79 miles per between Michigan City and Chesterton, all train movements are now warrant-controlled, restricted to 25mph max, and all road crossings between the two mileposts are considered out of service, requiring all trains to stop before proceeding at each. Thankfully, a very small amount of CSS freight trains and the occasional work train on the NICTD side are all that pass through this stretch. This is a bit different though.
NICTD is still offering options for passengers to be bused between stations at Michigan City and Dune Park (out of the work zone, where business is still as usual). As a result, the passenger trains now begin and terminate at Dune Park, where they can be serviced at the base level - mostly just janitorial tasks. But, like everything in life, it's only a matter of time before something more serious requires attention from a shop - in this case, the South Shore's shops in Michigan City.
To take care of this, the passenger guys have been doing occasional ferry moves of EMUs between the two locations through the work zone, and here is one such example. My favorite motor on the South Shore period (freight and passenger considered), NICD 1001, with all its nose light excellence, was the power this morning with five EMUs for Dune Park. The crew has just received their track warrant to pass the dark signal directly behind me, and are treating me and my camera to quite a smoke-filled show getting their train back up to speed... smoking is another nice trait about this unit. The horn ain't bad either!
And thus completes another caption that is entirely too long. I should try writing a book sometime or something, so many words would look a lot less awkward in one...