View allAll Photos Tagged doubletracking
I was digging through a lot of early 2000s slides recently, BNSF wasn't the subject of the search but it was a pretty interesting time on the RR. The old 7300 rebuilds are among the pre-ETTS power that kept popping up. I began to wonder if I had any shots of one that has since achieved a certain level of notoriety. The E&LS has a pretty dedicated cadre of fans these days who record nearly every move the shortline makes. ELS 503 still wears BNSF colors and gets a lot of attention. I looked up its first number on BNSF, 7303, and watched for that number amongst the slides. I was happy to find a shot of 7303 on the point of a train headed down the St. Croix Sub in 2004.
It turns out I like this shot enough that I've already posted it to my Photostream here, 14 years ago to this day! I normally don't repost the same shot but this rabbit hole proved too irresistible so here is a new (better) scan of BNSF 7303 approaching East Winona, WI. Back when I first posted this it hadn't gone to the E&LS yet (via Independent Locomotive Service), the shot itself was 7 years old at that time. It's baffling how the years accelerate with age but I guess that's why I take pictures. In time it would be renumbered out of the way of newer power to 6964 on BNSF. By the end of 2011 it would leave the roster.
ILS renumbered this unit to 1338 and it ran for quite a while on E&LS with the leaser marks until E&LS purchased it:
www.flickr.com/photos/view2share/32681966120
Finally, after E&LS purchased it, it was renumbered into their SD40-2 number series as ELS 503:
www.flickr.com/photos/view2share/51637319780
With the steady contraction of the E&LS in 2025 it almost exclusively works the route between Channing, MI and Green Bay, WI.
April 28, 2004.
Fast freight Q540 (Etowah, TN - Cincinnati, OH) enters single track at Frantz, Kentucky on the L&N CC Subdivision on the hazy afternoon of May 2, 2021.
Train 505 waits for 608 to clear the bottleneck switch at the far East end of the Double-Track mainline near 11th Street Station. Car #1 is looking sharp (compared to #13) on the rear of 505 while waiting near the Lafayette Street grade crossing before proceeding East. This is CP 33.3 on the South Shore Line in Michigan City Indiana.
April 3, 2024
3rd try's the charm, they say. I('m still) pretty unfamiliar with BNSF ops out of the Twin Ports, and that showed when I missed the Grand Rapids turn with a BN duo because I was confused on which direction they came from (it was from Superior, for those keeping score at home).
So, a few days later, I went out to try again and waited at Boylston for them to roll south. As they get close, I reach for my camera, turn it on - no SD card. Out of literally three I have, I brought none. That's me. Luckily, the BN pair was split, and there was only 1832 leading. And, as the next day would demonstrate, the conditions (cloudy, dark) weren't the greatest.
Onto the 3rd try. The next day, with the night off of work and sunny skies, I set up at the end of the doubletrack at Irondale, Wi. Armed with two failures and a few friends talking me through this, I was ready to not mess this one up. A call time half an hour early of 1430 meant that they could go that much further before the reality of December daylight hours (future name drop, remind myself) humbled everyone.
HSUPNTW left superior around 1515, and the Grand Rapids Job, wasting no time OD, quickly followed them out. Just before 1530, they advised the dispatcher that their TGBOs had been issued to the wrong engine number, but with that fixed, west they went. However, the sun was quickly setting behind a line of very strategically planted pine trees behind me, and the shadows grew quite obviously longer across the rail as mere minutes went by. At 1536, the train was clear of Boylston, and a minute or so later I saw their headlights a few miles down the straightaway. It was my last chance to move to the wide open road a few hundred feet closer. I took my chances. Just a minute or two after their headlights appeared, the train rocketed through Irondale, and I got off a single shot of the headend not obscured by shadows, and flew after them.
In the parlance of GSP I would have to give this one "the shot of the day" nod. In what turns out to be a pun in this context, I was winging it old school with no scanner or ATCS in use, and lucked into this stack train flying west. The mainline remains a great place and a big part of it for me is the evening intermodal train ripping west toward the setting sun and eventually, the coast. Going back to the Falcons of old, the wind off these trains is still a thrill. August 11, 2018.
Turbo 166201 still in FGW livery departs from Malvern Link station on 10-8-22.
The working is the GWR 2C12 0845 Great Malvern to Westbury service and running 5 minutes late.
I have enjoyed photographing the Turbo's particularly those that remained in First Great Western livery. Having resumed photography in 2015 after quite a long break means that I timed it just right to capture these changes without realising at the time that their visits to Malvern would soon become extremely rare [if ever]. Does anyone know when the last one worked through? There have been a couple of workings from Paddington with Turbo's after the through trains to Bristol and beyond were finished with.
Ref: IMG_4623 10-8-22
This railroad has been a dream of mine to see since the first time I learned about its existence decades ago. The Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad is considered the last interurban railroad in America and it's right of way clearly belies that fact despite modernization over the years.
For me the big draw has always the nearly two miles of street running through downtown Michigan City. The railroad snakes down 11th street for 1.1 miles then jogs across Amtrak's Michigan Line (ex NYC new Michigan Central) Ybefore another 0.6 miles or so of street running down 10th street before regaining a private right of way for a fast race west thru the Indiana dune country.
Like much of the midwest Michigan City has a good variety of rail action though nowhere near what it once was. In addition to the CSSB and Amtrak (which sees a tiny bit of NS action) CSXT's main to Grand Rapids (ex Pere Marquette) that also hosts a pair of Amtrak trains, cuts through the city. In days of old the Monon and Nickel Plate also came to town though the Monon is long gone and the NKP has been cut and a good portion of it is now a branch operated by the CSSB.
Anyway, a bit of history of the famed South Shore:
The South Shore began in 1901 as the Chicago and Indiana Air Line Railway, a streetcar route between East Chicago and Indiana Harbor. Reorganized as the Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railway in 1904, by 1908 its route had reached South Bend, Indiana via Michigan City, Indiana. The company leased the Kensington and Eastern Railroad, an Illinois Central Railroad subsidiary, to gain access to Chicago. Passenger service between South Bend and Chicago began in 1909. The Lake Shore added freight service in 1916.
Samuel Insull, the Chicago utility magnate, acquired the bankrupt Lake Shore in 1925 and reorganized it as the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which it remains today. The railroad experienced two more bankruptcies, in 1933 and 1938. Despite having become unprofitsble again in the post WWII period, in 1967 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) purchased the road to gain direct access to then new Bethlehem Steel plant at Burns Harbor (which still today as an Arcelor Mittal plant is still the CSSB's largest customer). Under C&O ownership electric freight operations ended and the famed 800s (Little Joes in Milwaukee Road parlance) were retired. In 1981 10 GP38-2s were bought new and they have been stalwarts ever since.
In 1977 the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) began subsidizing the passenger operations on the South Shore Line and in 1984 the Venango River Corporation (VRC) purchased the South Shore from the Chessie Sysem. Venango declared bankruptcy in 1989 due largely to problems with its much larger Chicago Missouri and Western property. In 1990 the Anacostia and Pacific Company stepped in and purchased the South Shore, while at the same time NICTD purchased the passenger assets. The two operations are entirely separate businesses but closely integrated, and NICTD continues to use the familiar South Shore branding for its passenger operations.
To learn more check out these great articles from TRAINS:
cs.trains.com/ctr/b/mileposts/archive/2019/01/10/putting-...
www.anacostia.com/sites/www.anacostia.com/files/assets/Tr...
But these iconic scenes aren't going to be around for long. A massive nearly half billion dollar project to double track the line all the way to Michigan City in order to shave 30 or more minutes off transit times and allow greater train frequencies is supposed to start construction soon (though the Covid-19 situation may push back the dates). This will lamentably lead to the end of street running and the removal of nearly all the homes and structures on the south side of 11 th street. To learn more check out the project web site and the detailed PPT presentation on the project: www.doubletrack-nwi.com/images/DT_PRS_DTVirtualOpenHouse_...
But change is the only constant in life, and the CSSB has been modernizing and rebuilding since the Insull era. In fact in 1956 the long section of street running in East Chicago was bypassed and in 1970 the street running into downtown South Bend was abandoned...so I suppose this is just a continuation of what has come before.
Anyway, I do think this will not be my only visit before this trackage disappears because there just isn't quite anything like it.
As for this shot, here is eastbound NICTD train 503 with a consist of Nippon-Sharyo built electric multiple unit cars. Lead #48 is a double ended car built in 1992 though the oldest of the type date from 1982 and were the cars that replaced the old Pullman and Standard Steel cars dating from the 1920s.
The train is about to stop at Michigan City 11th Street station near MP 33.9. The historic station with its ornate facade was built in 1927 and closed to passengers in 1987. It has been vacant since with trains stopping at a bus stop style shelter adjacent to it. It was sold to the city in 2007 and has an uncertain future with the coming changes.
Michigan, City Indiana
Saturday August 15, 2020
This railroad has been a dream of mine to see since the first time I learned about its existence decades ago. The Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad is considered the last interurban railroad in America and it's right of way clearly belies that fact despite modernization over the years.
For me the big draw has always the nearly two miles of street running through downtown Michigan City. The railroad snakes down 11th street for 1.1 miles then jogs across Amtrak's Michigan Line (ex NYC new Michigan Central) before another 0.6 miles or so of street running down 10th street before regaining a private right of way for a fast race west thru the Indiana dune country.
Like much of the midwest Michigan City has a good variety of rail action though nowhere near what it once was. In addition to the CSSB and Amtrak (which sees a tiny bit of NS action) CSXT's main to Grand Rapids (ex Pere Marquette) that also hosts a pair of Amtrak trains, cuts through the city. In days of old the Monon and Nickel Plate also came to town though the Monon is long gone and the NKP has been cut and a good portion of it is now a branch operated by the CSSB.
Anyway, a bit of history of the famed South Shore:
The South Shore began in 1901 as the Chicago and Indiana Air Line Railway, a streetcar route between East Chicago and Indiana Harbor. Reorganized as the Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railway in 1904, by 1908 its route had reached South Bend, Indiana via Michigan City, Indiana. The company leased the Kensington and Eastern Railroad, an Illinois Central Railroad subsidiary, to gain access to Chicago. Passenger service between South Bend and Chicago began in 1909. The Lake Shore added freight service in 1916.
Samuel Insull, the Chicago utility magnate, acquired the bankrupt Lake Shore in 1925 and reorganized it as the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which it remains today. The railroad experienced two more bankruptcies, in 1933 and 1938. Despite having become unprofitsble again in the post WWII period, in 1967 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) purchased the road to gain direct access to then new Bethlehem Steel plant at Burns Harbor (which still today as an Arcelor Mittal plant is still the CSSB's largest customer). Under C&O ownership electric freight operations ended and the famed 800s (Little Joes in Milwaukee Road parlance) were retired. In 1981 10 GP38-2s were bought new and they have been stalwarts ever since.
In 1977 the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) began subsidizing the passenger operations on the South Shore Line and in 1984 the Venango River Corporation (VRC) purchased the South Shore from the Chessie Sysem. Venango declared bankruptcy in 1989 due largely to problems with its much larger Chicago Missouri and Western property. In 1990 the Anacostia and Pacific Company stepped in and purchased the South Shore, while at the same time NICTD purchased the passenger assets. The two operations are entirely separate businesses but closely integrated, and NICTD continues to use the familiar South Shore branding for its passenger operations.
To learn more check out these great articles from TRAINS:
cs.trains.com/ctr/b/mileposts/archive/2019/01/10/putting-...
www.anacostia.com/sites/www.anacostia.com/files/assets/Tr...
But these iconic scenes aren't going to be around for long. A massive nearly half billion dollar project to double track the line all the way to Michigan City in order to shave 30 or more minutes off transit times and allow greater train frequencies is supposed to start construction soon (though the Covid-19 situation may push back the dates). This will lamentably lead to the end of street running and the removal of nearly all the homes and structures on the south side of 11 th street. To learn more check out the project web site and the detailed PPT presentation on the project: www.doubletrack-nwi.com/images/DT_PRS_DTVirtualOpenHouse_...
But change is the only constant in life, and the CSSB has been modernizing and rebuilding since the Insull era. In fact in 1956 the long section of street running in East Chicago was bypassed and in 1970 the street running into downtown South Bend was abandoned...so I suppose this is just a continuation of what has come before.
Anyway, I do think this will not be my only visit before this trackage disappears because there just isn't quite anything like it.
As for this shot, here are three South Shore Freight units (GP38-2s 2005, 2007, 2008 from that 10 unit 1981 order) headed light engine back to the Caroll Ave. shops. This going away view looks east down 11th Street at the Ohio Ave. intersection, MP 34.35.
Michigan, City Indiana
Saturday August 15, 2020
Coming down the hill into Hudson is a favorite spot of mine since it retains a remnant of the double track that once graced long stretches of the Adams line. Featuring the hill can be tricky. This is the only overpass and like the rest of the hill is dominated by a tree tunnel. Having slightly filtered sun and snow on the ground went a long ways toward mitigating the shadows yet brightening up the scene. January 20, 2025.
This railroad has been a dream of mine to see since the first time I learned about its existence decades ago. The Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad is considered the last interurban railroad in America and it's right of way clearly belies that fact despite modernization over the years.
For me the big draw has always the nearly two miles of street running through downtown Michigan City. The railroad snakes down 11th street for 1.1 miles then jogs across Amtrak's Michigan Line (ex NYC new Michigan Central) before another 0.6 miles or so of street running down 10th street before regaining a private right of way for a fast race west thru the Indiana dune country.
Like much of the midwest Michigan City has a good variety of rail action though nowhere near what it once was. In addition to the CSSB and Amtrak (which sees a tiny bit of NS action) CSXT's main to Grand Rapids (ex Pere Marquette) that also hosts a pair of Amtrak trains, cuts through the city. In days of old the Monon and Nickel Plate also came to town though the Monon is long gone and the NKP has been cut and a good portion of it is now a branch operated by the CSSB.
Anyway, a bit of history of the famed South Shore:
The South Shore began in 1901 as the Chicago and Indiana Air Line Railway, a streetcar route between East Chicago and Indiana Harbor. Reorganized as the Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railway in 1904, by 1908 its route had reached South Bend, Indiana via Michigan City, Indiana. The company leased the Kensington and Eastern Railroad, an Illinois Central Railroad subsidiary, to gain access to Chicago. Passenger service between South Bend and Chicago began in 1909. The Lake Shore added freight service in 1916.
Samuel Insull, the Chicago utility magnate, acquired the bankrupt Lake Shore in 1925 and reorganized it as the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which it remains today. The railroad experienced two more bankruptcies, in 1933 and 1938. Despite having become unprofitsble again in the post WWII period, in 1967 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) purchased the road to gain direct access to then new Bethlehem Steel plant at Burns Harbor (which still today as an Arcelor Mittal plant is still the CSSB's largest customer). Under C&O ownership electric freight operations ended and the famed 800s (Little Joes in Milwaukee Road parlance) were retired. In 1981 10 GP38-2s were bought new and they have been stalwarts ever since.
In 1977 the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) began subsidizing the passenger operations on the South Shore Line and in 1984 the Venango River Corporation (VRC) purchased the South Shore from the Chessie Sysem. Venango declared bankruptcy in 1989 due largely to problems with its much larger Chicago Missouri and Western property. In 1990 the Anacostia and Pacific Company stepped in and purchased the South Shore, while at the same time NICTD purchased the passenger assets. The two operations are entirely separate businesses but closely integrated, and NICTD continues to use the familiar South Shore branding for its passenger operations.
To learn more check out these great articles from TRAINS:
cs.trains.com/ctr/b/mileposts/archive/2019/01/10/putting-...
www.anacostia.com/sites/www.anacostia.com/files/assets/Tr...
But these iconic scenes aren't going to be around for long. A massive nearly half billion dollar project to double track the line all the way to Michigan City in order to shave 30 or more minutes off transit times and allow greater train frequencies is supposed to start construction soon (though the Covid-19 situation may push back the dates). This will lamentably lead to the end of street running and the removal of nearly all the homes and structures on the south side of 11 th street. To learn more check out the project web site and the detailed PPT presentation on the project: www.doubletrack-nwi.com/images/DT_PRS_DTVirtualOpenHouse_...
But change is the only constant in life, and the CSSB has been modernizing and rebuilding since the Insull era. In fact in 1956 the long section of street running in East Chicago was bypassed and in 1970 the street running into downtown South Bend was abandoned...so I suppose this is just a continuation of what has come before.
Anyway, I do think this will not be my only visit before this trackage disappears because there just isn't quite anything like it.
As for this shot, here are three South Shore Freight units (GP38-2s 2005, 2007, 2008 from that 10 unit 1981 order) headed light engine back to the Caroll Ave. shops. This view looks west as they curl on to 11th Street after having crossed Amtrak at CP34.5 the 10th Street Interlocking diamond.
Michigan, City Indiana
Saturday August 15, 2020
Q116's single SD70M-2 has it lights dimmed as it rolls east to meet a west-bound freight at the end of the doubletrack in Potterville.
Initially looking like a coal train, these aluminum bottom dump hoppers seemed to be empty and only rated a single locomotive. Perhaps these cars are in coke service or something else. The cars all wore an HKRX reporting mark, that may mean something to anyone who is a better UP commodities mind than I. Grand Mound, IA, October 18, 2025.
@ Miner's trail head
(high clearance required for a few miles of doubletrack, 4WD for the mud along the way)
About 3/4 of a mile north of Ade, Indiana is Chizum Ditch Bridge, located at MP IH 54.39. This bridge is of the plate girder type. View is looking north with Ade behind me. This is accessible by a farmers private crossing. Taken March 20th, 2013.
NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD
Chizum Ditch Bridge
Ade, rural Newton County, Indiana
MP IH 54.39
March 20th, 2013
Status-Abandoned
While the main goal was to shoot the freight in the street I must admit I really do like shooting be electric mu trains too.
The Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad is considered the last interurban railroad in America and it's right of way clearly belies that fact despite modernization over the years.
For me the big draw has always the nearly two miles of street running through downtown Michigan City. The railroad snakes down 11th street for 1.1 miles then jogs across Amtrak's Michigan Line (ex NYC new Michigan Central) before another 0.6 miles or so of street running down 10th street before regaining a private right of way for a fast race west thru the Indiana dune country.
Like much of the midwest Michigan City has a good variety of rail action though nowhere near what it once was. In addition to the CSSB and Amtrak (which sees a tiny bit of NS action) CSXT's main to Grand Rapids (ex Pere Marquette) that also hosts a pair of Amtrak trains, cuts through the city. In days of old the Monon and Nickel Plate also came to town though the Monon is long gone and the NKP has been cut and a good portion of it is now a branch operated by the CSSB.
Anyway, a bit of history of the famed South Shore:
The South Shore began in 1901 as the Chicago and Indiana Air Line Railway, a streetcar route between East Chicago and Indiana Harbor. Reorganized as the Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railway in 1904, by 1908 its route had reached South Bend, Indiana via Michigan City, Indiana. The company leased the Kensington and Eastern Railroad, an Illinois Central Railroad subsidiary, to gain access to Chicago. Passenger service between South Bend and Chicago began in 1909. The Lake Shore added freight service in 1916.
Samuel Insull, the Chicago utility magnate, acquired the bankrupt Lake Shore in 1925 and reorganized it as the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which it remains today. The railroad experienced two more bankruptcies, in 1933 and 1938. Despite having become unprofitsble again in the post WWII period, in 1967 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) purchased the road to gain direct access to then new Bethlehem Steel plant at Burns Harbor (which still today as an Arcelor Mittal plant is still the CSSB's largest customer). Under C&O ownership electric freight operations ended and the famed 800s (Little Joes in Milwaukee Road parlance) were retired. In 1981 10 GP38-2s were bought new and they have been stalwarts ever since.
In 1977 the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) began subsidizing the passenger operations on the South Shore Line and in 1984 the Venango River Corporation (VRC) purchased the South Shore from the Chessie Sysem. Venango declared bankruptcy in 1989 due largely to problems with its much larger Chicago Missouri and Western property. In 1990 the Anacostia and Pacific Company stepped in and purchased the South Shore, while at the same time NICTD purchased the passenger assets. The two operations are entirely separate businesses but closely integrated, and NICTD continues to use the familiar South Shore branding for its passenger operations.
To learn more check out these great articles from TRAINS:
cs.trains.com/ctr/b/mileposts/archive/2019/01/10/putting-...
www.anacostia.com/sites/www.anacostia.com/files/assets/Tr...
But these iconic scenes aren't going to be around for long. A massive nearly half billion dollar project to double track the line all the way to Michigan City in order to shave 30 or more minutes off transit times and allow greater train frequencies is supposed to start construction soon (though the Covid-19 situation may push back the dates). This will lamentably lead to the end of street running and the removal of nearly all the homes and structures on the south side of 11 th street. To learn more check out the project web site and the detailed PPT presentation on the project: www.doubletrack-nwi.com/images/DT_PRS_DTVirtualOpenHouse_...
But change is the only constant in life, and the CSSB has been modernizing and rebuilding since the Insull era. In fact in 1956 the long section of street running in East Chicago was bypassed and in 1970 the street running into downtown South Bend was abandoned...so I suppose this is just a continuation of what has come before.
Anyway, I do think this will not be my only visit before this trackage disappears because there just isn't quite anything like it.
As for this shot, here is wesbound NICTD train 606 with a consist of Nippon-Sharyo built electric multiple unit cars. Trailing #10 is a double ended car built in 1982 and was one of the cars that replaced the old Pullman and Standard Steel cars dating from the 1920s.
The train is departing the Michigan City 11th Street station near MP 33.9. The historic station with its ornate facade was built in 1927 and closed to passengers in 1987. It has been vacant since with trains stopping at a bus stop style shelter adjacent to it. It was sold to the city in 2007 and has an uncertain future with the coming changes.
Michigan, City Indiana
Sunday August 16, 2020
This railroad has been a dream of mine to see since the first time I learned about its existence decades ago. The Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad is considered the last interurban railroad in America and it's right of way clearly belies that fact despite modernization over the years.
For me the big draw has always the nearly two miles of street running through downtown Michigan City. The railroad snakes down 11th street for 1.1 miles then jogs across Amtrak's Michigan Line (ex NYC new Michigan Central) before another 0.6 miles or so of street running down 10th street before regaining a private right of way for a fast race west thru the Indiana dune country.
Like much of the midwest Michigan City has a good variety of rail action though nowhere near what it once was. In addition to the CSSB and Amtrak (which sees a tiny bit of NS action) CSXT's main to Grand Rapids (ex Pere Marquette) that also hosts a pair of Amtrak trains, cuts through the city. In days of old the Monon and Nickel Plate also came to town though the Monon is long gone and the NKP has been cut and a good portion of it is now a branch operated by the CSSB.
Anyway, a bit of history of the famed South Shore:
The South Shore began in 1901 as the Chicago and Indiana Air Line Railway, a streetcar route between East Chicago and Indiana Harbor. Reorganized as the Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railway in 1904, by 1908 its route had reached South Bend, Indiana via Michigan City, Indiana. The company leased the Kensington and Eastern Railroad, an Illinois Central Railroad subsidiary, to gain access to Chicago. Passenger service between South Bend and Chicago began in 1909. The Lake Shore added freight service in 1916.
Samuel Insull, the Chicago utility magnate, acquired the bankrupt Lake Shore in 1925 and reorganized it as the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which it remains today. The railroad experienced two more bankruptcies, in 1933 and 1938. Despite having become unprofitsble again in the post WWII period, in 1967 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) purchased the road to gain direct access to then new Bethlehem Steel plant at Burns Harbor (which still today as an Arcelor Mittal plant is still the CSSB's largest customer). Under C&O ownership electric freight operations ended and the famed 800s (Little Joes in Milwaukee Road parlance) were retired. In 1981 10 GP38-2s were bought new and they have been stalwarts ever since.
In 1977 the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) began subsidizing the passenger operations on the South Shore Line and in 1984 the Venango River Corporation (VRC) purchased the South Shore from the Chessie Sysem. Venango declared bankruptcy in 1989 due largely to problems with its much larger Chicago Missouri and Western property. In 1990 the Anacostia and Pacific Company stepped in and purchased the South Shore, while at the same time NICTD purchased the passenger assets. The two operations are entirely separate businesses but closely integrated, and NICTD continues to use the familiar South Shore branding for its passenger operations.
To learn more check out these great articles from TRAINS:
cs.trains.com/ctr/b/mileposts/archive/2019/01/10/putting-...
www.anacostia.com/sites/www.anacostia.com/files/assets/Tr...
But these iconic scenes aren't going to be around for long. A massive nearly half billion dollar project to double track the line all the way to Michigan City in order to shave 30 or more minutes off transit times and allow greater train frequencies is supposed to start construction soon (though the Covid-19 situation may push back the dates). This will lamentably lead to the end of street running and the removal of nearly all the homes and structures on the south side of 11 th street. To learn more check out the project web site and the detailed PPT presentation on the project: www.doubletrack-nwi.com/images/DT_PRS_DTVirtualOpenHouse_...
But change is the only constant in life, and the CSSB has been modernizing and rebuilding since the Insull era. In fact in 1956 the long section of street running in East Chicago was bypassed and in 1970 the street running into downtown South Bend was abandoned...so I suppose this is just a continuation of what has come before.
Anyway, I do think this will not be my only visit before this trackage disappears because there just isn't quite anything like it.
As for this shot, here are three South Shore Freight units (GP38-2s 2007, 2008, 2005 from that 10 unit 1981 order) headed light engine back to the Caroll Ave. shops. This view looks west at the intersection of 11th Avenue and Franklin Street at MP 33.94 in the heart of downtown just east of the NICTD commuter rail stop.
Michigan City, Indiana
Saturday August 15, 2020
BR Standard 9F No. 92178 (92212) passes through Swithland sidings on the up main hauling a rake of windcutters at the Great Central railway. The locomotive was renumbered for a Timeline events photo charter.
There was another eastbound that we just barely missed, then a good-sized lull in the action. At Lisbon a hyrail truck went east on main 2 and at the same time this coal empty rolled west on main 1. Here is the "cheater" shot of the DPU bringing up the rear of the coal train. October 19, 2025.
UP 6352 (ex-SP 329) brings up the rear of a huge North Platte to Portland mixed freight as it passes through the classic signals protecting the entrance to the yard at Cheyenne.
MNPPD 01
A Milwaukee Road 2-6-2 class K1-as 'Prairie' locomotive leads a train onto the Sandsoft River bridge in the early 1950s.
The models belong to Ted Richardson. The freight cars are resin craftsman kits; the locomotive started as an unassembled kit he bought secondhand from his friend and fellow club member George Thelen for $20. Using a photo of the prototype, Roger Ackert assembled and detailed the model to match the prototype as it looked in the 1950s (Ted models the Illinois Central's Freeport Division in the 1950s and needed a Milwaukee Road steam engine for interchange traffic). Ted painted and weathered the locomotive model and was able to show his finished work to George Thelen a few days before George passed away in 2013. George had a smile when he saw what had happened to the pile of pieces he had bought on eBay.
Photo by NAPM member Mark Mathu. This image is a composite of 5 photos shot at different focus distances, then combined into a single fully focused image using Helicon Focus software. Visit the HO scale club on-line at www.napmltd.org.
A pair of Wisconsin Central SD45s were roaring through Grayslake with train T045 on a hot and humid day in 1999.
The single-track Chicago Subdivision would soon become the doubletrack Canadian National Waukesha Subdivision when CN took over in 2001.
Articulated motorcar 385 (Düwag GT6) on TCC route T at the stop Pasteur. Collection Rail Asia / photographer unknown.
BNSF eastbound exits Abo Canyon in September 2001. This was one of the few remaining sections of single track and a major bottleneck on the transcon until the doubletracking project was completed about 10 years later.
200109.1-22 ef
Things were pretty quiet on the mainline as I made my way through Fond du Lac. I kept going south to see if anything was happening around Valley. It was not a huge surprise to find the U724 ore loads waiting at the bottom of the hill for a helper set to tie onto the rear.
Sure, I got plenty of shots of this train that morning but lacking anything better to I parked on Lost Arrow Road and waited. The sun beat down for about an hour with only an occasional diversion in the form of historic planes passing over on the way to EAA AirVenture. Of course, once U724 started pulling and approached the curve a solitary cloud appeared from nowhere and made a bee-line for the sun. CN 3835 gains a little speed on the double track as it starts up Byron Hill. July 20, 2024.
Not just yet, fellow Gorge lovers. This was taken in 2009. But it's just a couple of months away for the 2010 season.
On the face of it there's nothing particularly wrong with this photo but it irks me and will for a long time I'm sure. We were on a quick family trip to Duluth and I'd successfully avoided hijacking the trip for any railfan sidelights.
A week ago we were headed home on a beautiful bluebird day. On the way out of Superior I spied this train of GATX hoppers departing on the "coal main". With a slight detour I was able to beat them out here just east of the 15.9 control point. They were easing to a stop. I had also seen the Rapids local ready to head this way as well. I figured it was the Rapids that had the green here to highball up to Cloquet. With this shot in the bag I got back into the car to reposition for the Rapids. Unforced error, I had just enough time to get myself out of position for when the local came bounding around the corner.
I had the rest of the drive home to stew in the realization that all I had to do was sit still for one minute and collect the well-lit overtake shot here (with a handsome H-3 SD40-2 leading). Thus it will take some time to make my peace with a perfectly average shot of a GEVO-led unit train without the regrets of what should be in the frame with it. March 28, 2022.
The sun has set and the day is about done as we return for another frame from last summer's midwest adventure.
This railroad has been a dream of mine to see since the first time I learned about its existence decades ago. The Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad is considered the last interurban railroad in America and it's right of way clearly belies that fact despite modernization over the years.
For me the big draw has always the nearly two miles of street running through downtown Michigan City. The railroad snakes down 11th street for 1.1 miles then jogs across Amtrak's Michigan Line (ex NYC new Michigan Central) before another 0.6 miles or so of street running down 10th street before regaining a private right of way for a fast race west thru the Indiana dune country.
Like much of the midwest Michigan City has a good variety of rail action though nowhere near what it once was. In addition to the CSSB and Amtrak (which sees a tiny bit of NS action) CSXT's main to Grand Rapids (ex Pere Marquette) that also hosts a pair of Amtrak trains, cuts through the city. In days of old the Monon and Nickel Plate also came to town though the Monon is long gone and the NKP has been cut and a good portion of it is now a branch operated by the CSSB.
Anyway, a bit of history of the famed South Shore:
The South Shore began in 1901 as the Chicago and Indiana Air Line Railway, a streetcar route between East Chicago and Indiana Harbor. Reorganized as the Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railway in 1904, by 1908 its route had reached South Bend, Indiana via Michigan City, Indiana. The company leased the Kensington and Eastern Railroad, an Illinois Central Railroad subsidiary, to gain access to Chicago. Passenger service between South Bend and Chicago began in 1909. The Lake Shore added freight service in 1916.
Samuel Insull, the Chicago utility magnate, acquired the bankrupt Lake Shore in 1925 and reorganized it as the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which it remains today. The railroad experienced two more bankruptcies, in 1933 and 1938. Despite having become unprofitsble again in the post WWII period, in 1967 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) purchased the road to gain direct access to then new Bethlehem Steel plant at Burns Harbor (which still today as an Arcelor Mittal plant is still the CSSB's largest customer). Under C&O ownership electric freight operations ended and the famed 800s (Little Joes in Milwaukee Road parlance) were retired. In 1981 10 GP38-2s were bought new and they have been stalwarts ever since.
In 1977 the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) began subsidizing the passenger operations on the South Shore Line and in 1984 the Venango River Corporation (VRC) purchased the South Shore from the Chessie Sysem. Venango declared bankruptcy in 1989 due largely to problems with its much larger Chicago Missouri and Western property. In 1990 the Anacostia and Pacific Company stepped in and purchased the South Shore, while at the same time NICTD purchased the passenger assets. The two operations are entirely separate businesses but closely integrated, and NICTD continues to use the familiar South Shore branding for its passenger operations.
To learn more check out these great articles from TRAINS:
cs.trains.com/ctr/b/mileposts/archive/2019/01/10/putting-...
www.anacostia.com/sites/www.anacostia.com/files/assets/Tr...
But these iconic scenes aren't going to be around for long. A massive nearly half billion dollar project to double track the line all the way to Michigan City in order to shave 30 or more minutes off transit times and allow greater train frequencies is supposed to start construction soon (though the Covid-19 situation may push back the dates). This will lamentably lead to the end of street running and the removal of nearly all the homes and structures on the south side of 11 th street. To learn more check out the project web site and the detailed PPT presentation on the project: www.doubletrack-nwi.com/images/DT_PRS_DTVirtualOpenHouse_...
But change is the only constant in life, and the CSSB has been modernizing and rebuilding since the Insull era. In fact in 1956 the long section of street running in East Chicago was bypassed and in 1970 the street running into downtown South Bend was abandoned...so I suppose this is just a continuation of what has come before.
Anyway, I do think this will not be my only visit before this trackage disappears because there just isn't quite anything like it.
As for this shot, here are three South Shore Freight units (GP38-2s 2005, 2007, 2008 from that 10 unit 1981 order) headed light engine back to the Caroll Ave. shops. This going away view looks east down 11th Street at the Maple Ave. intersection, MP 33.5 about one block from the east end of the street running segment that can be seen ahead. Note the railroad speed sign affixed to the telephone pole at right intermingling with the standard street signs.
Michigan, City Indiana
Saturday August 15, 2020
What's a trip to Rochelle without a stop by the west end of Global Three for the standard shot of the remotes? It would be nice to see them on the mainline again but this will have to do, hey they're clean and pointed in the right direction. August 11, 2018.
Back when the BNSF-bonnets were new enough to really look nice. These days I'd rather have something orange that is fresh than the sadly deteriorated warbonnets. Fountain City, WI, July 9, 2002.
While the main goal was to shoot the freight in the street I must admit I really do like shooting be electric mu trains too.
The Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad is considered the last interurban railroad in America and it's right of way clearly belies that fact despite modernization over the years.
For me the big draw has always the nearly two miles of street running through downtown Michigan City. The railroad snakes down 11th street for 1.1 miles then jogs across Amtrak's Michigan Line (ex NYC new Michigan Central) Ybefore another 0.6 miles or so of street running down 10th street before regaining a private right of way for a fast race west thru the Indiana dune country.
Like much of the midwest Michigan City has a good variety of rail action though nowhere near what it once was. In addition to the CSSB and Amtrak (which sees a tiny bit of NS action) CSXT's main to Grand Rapids (ex Pere Marquette) that also hosts a pair of Amtrak trains, cuts through the city. In days of old the Monon and Nickel Plate also came to town though the Monon is long gone and the NKP has been cut and a good portion of it is now a branch operated by the CSSB.
Anyway, a bit of history of the famed South Shore:
The South Shore began in 1901 as the Chicago and Indiana Air Line Railway, a streetcar route between East Chicago and Indiana Harbor. Reorganized as the Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend Railway in 1904, by 1908 its route had reached South Bend, Indiana via Michigan City, Indiana. The company leased the Kensington and Eastern Railroad, an Illinois Central Railroad subsidiary, to gain access to Chicago. Passenger service between South Bend and Chicago began in 1909. The Lake Shore added freight service in 1916.
Samuel Insull, the Chicago utility magnate, acquired the bankrupt Lake Shore in 1925 and reorganized it as the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, which it remains today. The railroad experienced two more bankruptcies, in 1933 and 1938. Despite having become unprofitsble again in the post WWII period, in 1967 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) purchased the road to gain direct access to then new Bethlehem Steel plant at Burns Harbor (which still today as an Arcelor Mittal plant is still the CSSB's largest customer). Under C&O ownership electric freight operations ended and the famed 800s (Little Joes in Milwaukee Road parlance) were retired. In 1981 10 GP38-2s were bought new and they have been stalwarts ever since.
In 1977 the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) began subsidizing the passenger operations on the South Shore Line and in 1984 the Venango River Corporation (VRC) purchased the South Shore from the Chessie Sysem. Venango declared bankruptcy in 1989 due largely to problems with its much larger Chicago Missouri and Western property. In 1990 the Anacostia and Pacific Company stepped in and purchased the South Shore, while at the same time NICTD purchased the passenger assets. The two operations are entirely separate businesses but closely integrated, and NICTD continues to use the familiar South Shore branding for its passenger operations.
To learn more check out these great articles from TRAINS:
cs.trains.com/ctr/b/mileposts/archive/2019/01/10/putting-...
www.anacostia.com/sites/www.anacostia.com/files/assets/Tr...
But these iconic scenes aren't going to be around for long. A massive nearly half billion dollar project to double track the line all the way to Michigan City in order to shave 30 or more minutes off transit times and allow greater train frequencies is supposed to start construction soon (though the Covid-19 situation may push back the dates). This will lamentably lead to the end of street running and the removal of nearly all the homes and structures on the south side of 11 th street. To learn more check out the project web site and the detailed PPT presentation on the project: www.doubletrack-nwi.com/images/DT_PRS_DTVirtualOpenHouse_...
But change is the only constant in life, and the CSSB has been modernizing and rebuilding since the Insull era. In fact in 1956 the long section of street running in East Chicago was bypassed and in 1970 the street running into downtown South Bend was abandoned...so I suppose this is just a continuation of what has come before.
Anyway, I do think this will not be my only visit before this trackage disappears because there just isn't quite anything like it.
As for this shot, here is wesbound NICTD train 606 with a consist of Nippon-Sharyo built electric multiple unit cars. Trailing #10 is a double ended car built in 1982 and was one of the cars that replaced the old Pullman and Standard Steel cars dating from the 1920s.
The train is departing the Michigan City 11th Street station near MP 33.9. The historic station with its ornate facade was built in 1927 and closed to passengers in 1987. It has been vacant since with trains stopping at a bus stop style shelter adjacent to it. It was sold to the city in 2007 and has an uncertain future with the coming changes.
Michigan, City Indiana
Sunday August 16, 2020
Wednesday, 28 December 2016
The 0729hrs Great Western Railways "The Devon Express" service from Ealing Broadway to Paignton departs its scheduled stop at Dawlish. 43xxx+43053 providing the power.
© Finbarr O'Neill
I was ready for a blue hour reprise of the Lost Arrow Rd. shot, no clouds to foil my effort this time. I watched A446 accelerate out of Valley and start into the curve. At the same time this stack train eased around the curve behind me in dynos to control their decent, crossed the road and proceeded to block out the shot I was trying for the 2nd time this day. July 20, 2024.
This was a strange catch, westbound coal loads on the St. Croix Sub. Coal trains are scarce on this line, when you do see them they are going to Alma loaded or returning empty. IIRC there was major track work on the Marshall Sub causing some Detroit Edison trains bound for the MERC dock in Superior to take the long way around across southern Iowa to Illinois then north via La Crosse and the Twin Cities. It was an unusual sight here west of Maiden Rock, even more so passing my house in Fountain City. September 11, 1999.
Fresh GP20 954 flies by Gifford Rd.with two other GP20's and a unknown rear unit at Oconomowoc,Wisconsin.
©Charles Porter/Diestler coll.
NOTE: This is a photo from my collection that was NOT TAKEN BY ME! Every effort has been made to credit the photographer. Unfortunately, at times the author has not marked his or her work. If you know who may have taken it please contact me! I believe posting these old railroad images are important to preserving our railroad heritage. M.J.D
Another train of tailings heads up the hill from Silver Bay to the dumpsite behind an SD18 and two SD28s. The trailing unit, 1233, would be destroyed in a collision two years later. October 10, 1998.
Racing the end of the day can be a losing battle this time of year. A logjam of trains has let loose in the minutes after sunset around Alma. This eastbound manifest was held up at Mears (west end of the Chippewa River bridge single track) for two westbounds to pass. Now the sky glows across the river as BNSF 3956 heads downstream at track speed. October 22, 2016.