#earlyconrail

Limedale—Now and Then

A couple of years ago I was able to revisit a locale where I made images back in the 1970s. Limedale is a spot just south of Greencastle, Indiana, and is 180 miles south of Chicago along the former Monon Railroad. An east/west line of the Pennsylvania crossed here. (At that point in history, the Monon was owned by the Louisville & Nashville, while the Pennsy had been folded into the Penn Central and then part of the newly formed Conrail.)

The first three images, taken in 2018, were made along the CSX (former Monon/L&N) with the Pennsy line long gone by that point. Back in 1977, there was still action on the latter line, as we can see in the final two images. The lineup of locomotives on the eastbound Conrail train includes GP9 7368 (ex-NYC), F7B 3865 (ex-PRR), GP38 7938 (ex-PC), and GP9 7405 (ex-NYC). The long hood is indeed the front of the lead unit, which was built in 1956 and would make it long enough to wear the Conrail blue paint scheme.

Avon Yard

Here we see a string of cars headed up over the hump at Avon, west of Indianapolis. This is along the former New York Central line between Indianapolis and Terre Haute.

The string of road power seen is making its way from the engine facility to waiting outbound trains. Again, we’re just a week into the Conrail era with most things around here looking like the Penn Central.