#avonyard

Fifty Years Hence (7 of 8)

Being in Indianapolis for a conference last weekend, I made a series of down and dirty before and after work: the Big Four in Indianapolis, west of town to Avon Yard, and just a bit beyond.

This seventh pair in the series has us just one mile west of Avon Yard, at County Road 625 East and the so-called "Haunted Bridge" the story of which I know not. The vintage image here was made when Conrail was but one month old.

As stated in an earlier post, in 1976 we rail enthusiasts were excited as motive power from several eastern roads suddenly populated this Midwest engine servicing track and piloted trains on the mainline. Here we have a pair of Reading Company's GP35s running a train westward on the Big Four/NYC toward St. Louis.

I got an EB train in the newer image, but was not set up in time to catch the head end (not in the proper position anyway).

Fifty Years Hence (5 of 8)

Being in Indianapolis for a conference last weekend, I made a series of down and dirty before and after work: the Big Four in Indianapolis, west of town to Avon Yard, and beyond just past Danville, Indiana.

This fifth pair was made at the west end of Avon Yard (which is located west of Indianapolis by ten miles or so). The vintage image here was made when Conrail was but one month old.

We rail enthusiasts were excited as motive power from several eastern roads (which had been folded into the new consolidated railway) suddenly populated this Midwest engine servicing track and piloted trains on the mainline. Here we have a pair of Reading GP35s running a train westward on the Big Four/NYC toward St. Louis.

And the new image shows that not much had changed here for whatever reason. Prior to this trip, I had thought the hump may have been removed (they seem to have fallen out of favor over the last decade or two), but we now see that it's still alive and well. However: the two engines shoving cars over the top were remote control operated, which is different from the time of the vintage image.

Fifty Years Hence (6 of 8)

Being in Indianapolis for a conference last weekend, I made a series of down and dirty before and after work: the Big Four in Indianapolis, west of town to Avon Yard, and beyond just past Danville, Indiana.

This sixth pair was also made at the west end of Avon Yard. The vintage image here was made when Conrail was nine days old. Both the old and new here highlight the use of the hump yard for classifying rail cars. With this model, a long string of cars is slowly shoved over the hump with a person disconnecting them at the top; the cars then roll via gravity to this track or that, depending upon their destination.

As mentioned in the previous post, the locomotives doing the shoving seem to be remote control operated (note the flashing yellow lights on the lead unit). Unit 4010 was built as an SD40-2 for the L&N in 1979, while 8462 was built in 1969 for the Missouri Pacific as an SD40.

Fifty Years Hence (4 of 8)

Being in Indianapolis for a conference last weekend, I made a series of down and dirty before and after work: the Big Four in Indianapolis, west of town to Avon Yard, and beyond just past Danville, Indiana.

This fourth pair was made at the east end of Avon Yard, west of Indianapolis. Conrail was literally ten days old at the time. As mentioned in other posts, a common denominator in the work is an explosion of foliage—this made it impossible for me to stand in the same spot for the updated image, common with these pairs.

In the older image, the WB train (entering yard) is powered by a matched set of former New York Central GP20s (probably built around 1961) and is flying over Raceway Road. In the current view, some power was rolling light eastward.

Westbound from Avon

The first image here shows a westbound train ready to depart Avon Yard (in the distance, on the left hand side of the frame). We're on the former Big Four/NYC west of Indianapolis.

Conrail is two months old when these pictures were taken so the power standing off to the side is interesting—three units of the Erie Lackawanna along with a Penn Central unit with a Pennsy logo peeking out. Two of three EL units (SD45-2 and SDP45) were purchased with the idea of having larger fuel capacity for long runs from the east to Chicago without refueling.

The second image has the train down the line about six miles, directly south of Danville, Indiana. We're looking down on the railway from State Road 39.

My First F-Unit

I believe this may have been the first F-Unit I saw in revenue service. While a Penn Central unit, one can see the New York Central lineage coming through.

PC number 1847 is an EMD F7 built in 1952; it was photographed at the sprawling Avon Yard, west of Indianapolis, on the Big Four/NYC. This is a few months prior to the creation of Conrail.

Conrail’s First Summer

Here’s some interesting power seen at the Big Four Yard in Avon, Indiana (former New York Central line). It’s nice to see a variety of fallen flags here—sans patches or blue paint yet.

The Erie Lackawanna locomotive is an SDP45 (though never carried a steam generator), the Central Railroad of New Jersey unit is an SD35, and the Penn Central engine is an SD45. Even the “Reading Lines” boxcar is nice to see.

Code Line

Conrail had only been around a month at the time of this image being made. We’re on the Big Four/New York Central/Penn Central west of Indianapolis. I believe this is an eastbound train on the main along side Avon Yard—exactly ten miles west of Union Station.