On the Former Monon

Here is an image of a southbound Louisville & Nashville train on the
former Monon in southern Indiana. The train is near the center of Mitchell,
Indiana, and is seen splitting the iconic semaphore signals there.

March 14th 1976







Northbound Amtrak Floridian

This scene was recorded at Mitchell, Indiana, where the Louisville &
Nashville, former Monon, crosses the B&O between Cincinnati and St. Louis.

The heater car, behind the lead locomotive, was devised from a Great Northern
F3B built in 1948—it was converted in 1966; it then went to the Burlington Northern,
and finally to Amtrak. The spanking new F40PH was built in July of 77, so the date
of the photograph has to be 1978 or mid-1979 at the latest. The photographer is looking
westward along the B&O, with the yard office for that company just behind them.

Taken in the late-1970s







Monon, Indiana (see text below)







Monon, Indiana

The first image above shows the spot where an “X” was formed by the Monon railroad.
Viewing a system map of the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville, better known as
the Monon, one sees a line moving from Chicago to Indianapolis and a separate line
moving up through Indiana from Louisville to Michigan City. The two lines crossed
here in the tiny burg of Monon.

A famous wreck occurred at this very location on September 18th 1951. A southbound
passenger train called the Thoroughbred same into town way too fast and
wrecked into the stone station here, demolishing it (the brick one pictured was its
replacement). It is believed that speed was a factor—the train not being able to
negotiate the curve of the wye track between the two lines at 50 miles-per-hour.
The engineer was killed and several passengers in the station severely injured.
The engineer may have had a medical issue which precipitated the wreck.

Recently I found this CSX unit working cars, moving back and forth, at the infamous
location. The locomotive was built in 1972 as L&N number 8162, a General Motors
EMD SD40-2. The second image shows a Monon caboose on display nearby where an
historical plaque explains the importance of the railroad to the local area
as well as to Indiana generally.

August 18th 2017







National

This is a view, looking northward, along Indiana’s own railroad, the Monon.
The location is a switch called National, just south of Clear Creek (the town),
which in turn is a few miles south of Bloomington. We see a southbound Amtrak
Floridian powered by an EMD SDP40F.

Taken in February of 1976







Peerless Road

Here is a shot of a Louisville & Nashville train moving south on the former Monon in
southern Indiana. I believe the location to be a spot off Peerless Road north of Bedford.

March 14th 1976







Peerless—an L&N Freight with Foreign Power

This Louisville & Nashville southbound train is in former Monon territory, just
north of Bedford, Indiana; the lead locomotive is of the Canadian National Railway.

May 15th 1977







Salem, Indiana

This southbound train, from Milwaukee Road’s Southeastern Division, was shot near
Salem, Indiana. It is utilizing Milwaukee Road’s trackage rights on the Louisville &
Nashville between Bedford, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky (former Monon).

Taken during the mid- to late-1970s







Amtrak’s Floridian

This is a southbound Amtrak Floridian on the L&N (former Monon). It was taken
from a signal mast, just south of Bedford, Indiana, at a siding known as Sand Pit.
This image has been published (albeit cropped a bit)—in Gary Dolzall’s book on the Monon.

Taken in the mid- to late-1970s







L&N Freight with Foreign Power

This is a southbound L&N train as seen approaching Sand Pit Siding, just south of Bedford,
Indiana; we’re along the former Monon here, which was subsumed into the L&N in 1971.

May 15th 1977







Wilders

This image was taken in a tiny town in northern Indiana—where the Monon, Indiana's
own railroad, crossed the Erie (later the Erie Lackawanna). Here the Monon is headed
due north toward Michigan City, while the EL makes takes a bead on Chicago, to the WNW.

The image was taken by myself in the mid-to late-1970s, looking westward along the Erie.
The Louisville & Nashville had subsumed the Monon by the time I was able to photograph it;
the EL had fallen into disuse by this time as it was folded into the newly formed Conrail.

December 22nd 1976



See a History of the Monon