#readingcompany

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).

Foreign Power on the Big Four

Back when Conrail was but one month old, I was able to chase this train, with interesting foreign power from the eastern part of the new system, westward from Avon Yard. This is the Big Four/New York Central/Penn Central line between Indianapolis and St. Louis.

After we first see a couple pictures of the train leaving Avon Yard, it is seen upon the so-called Haunted Bridge two miles west at S. County Road 625 E and White Lick Creek.

After that, there are two shots taken from the bridge at Mackey Road south of Danville. The going away shot is more interesting here as the crossovers of Nash can be seen to the west.

Beyond that we see the Reading units, a matched set of GP35s, going over a small bridge over S. County Road 450 W at a place that might be called Hadley. I believe the shot across field may be at S. County Road 800 W at Reno.

Lastly we were able to catch up with the train at Crows Bridge Road north of the east side of Greencastle, Indiana.

Wanamaker, Kempton and Southern

While I was in eastern Pennsylvania to watch raptors at Hawk Mountain, I must have been attracted to the commotion caused by this steam engine. The WK&S is a little tourist line operating a section of the former Reading Company line. Number two pictured is an H. K. Porter 0-4-0 locomotive built in 1920.