Nostalgia & History > IN - South Bend Union station

The South Bend Union Station was a joint effort of the New York Central + Grand Trunk Western, whose names are up on the city side of the station. The station is done in a light brick, with several patterns woven in, and medallions up high. The platform and track level is raised on a viaduct, which keeps the busy traffic off the streets.

Amtrak doesn't use this building, as it enjoys a small building a mile or so west. I attempted to gain access to this Union Station building, but was told I needed an appointment.

Picture 1 -the vault like roof line is very impressive. The tracks are to the left, behind the trees. I was told the large industrial building at the extreme left was once part of the Studebaker factory.

Picture 2 - from the front of the building. There's a new (?) baseball stadium directly behind me, so I don't know what might have preceded it. The front of the building suggests a courtyard or drop off area might have been there in the 1950s.

Picture 3 - the current Amtrak shed. There's a spartan building behind me for the ticket agent and a small waiting room. Passengers are not permitted to cross the tracks without the agent.

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this so called shed is just a shelter for folks using trains going east
the depot across the tracks has a history with the South Shore and
I am guessing NYC or PC before Amtrak

The NYC and GTW had joint trackage through the area and a big interlocking tower.

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> The NYC and GTW had joint trackage through the
> area and a big interlocking tower.


I took a ride past the Amtrak station, past a lovely Polish church, and over a bridge. There was a large rail yard underneath, and a CN freight waiting west of the bridge. Prob not more than a half mile from the Amtrak.

Hmmm, rail yard underneath the bridge? The bridge nearest to the station goes over a river.

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> Hmmm, rail yard underneath the bridge? The bridge
> nearest to the station goes over a river.


So, I went to google to take a look.

Took Olive Street, which is a block east of the Amtrak station. Crossed the track, passed the post office, and continued south on Olive. Olive Street crosses the railroad on a bridge. I didn't continue any farther south. The church was St Adalbert's which now offers several masses in Spanish.

The current Amtrak station was a built by the South Shore in the seventies. When the South Shore airport extension was built they no longer needed the Bendix Drive facility.

Dave

Lackawanna:

I thought you were referring to a railroad bridge. Sounds like you are referring to an overpass over the tracks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/11 09:03 by wabash2800.

You were going over Oliver's Yard. It really isn't much of a yard anymore. CN will use it to shuffle cars on its local from Battle Creek and return. NS has a small office there where a local goes on duty to switch New Energy ethanol plant and several other small industries. The spur that they get into the yard on was the former Kankakee Belt which is cut off a couple miles west of Olive st yard. They use the K Belt alignment to access former N&W trackage that serves the plant. Driving another quarter mile south of the overpass on Olive st you would have found the former NJI&I roundhouse still standing. Its only a small roundhouse with a couple stalls but it is pretty cool.

-Ryan

BN7149 Wrote:
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> You were going over Oliver's Yard. It really
> isn't much of a yard anymore. CN will use it to
> shuffle cars on its local from Battle Creek and
> return. NS has a small office there where a local
> goes on duty to switch New Energy ethanol plant
> and several other small industries. The spur that
> they get into the yard on was the former Kankakee
> Belt which is cut off a couple miles west of Olive
> st yard. They use the K Belt alignment to access
> former N&W trackage that serves the plant. Driving
> another quarter mile south of the overpass on
> Olive st you would have found the former NJI&I
> roundhouse still standing. Its only a small
> roundhouse with a couple stalls but it is pretty
> cool.
>
> -Ryan


That's interesting, thank you. I'm sure I'll get back to South Bend sometime soon, and I'll want to check it out.

Reminds me of the time I took the South Shore to the end of the line at Bendix Drive. (Old auto buffs may remember when starter motors had a "Bendix drive" gear on the starter shaft to engage the flywheel ring gear). Along with a couple of other passengers, I went downtown in a cab driven by a former Studebaker employee. I was going to the Greyhound station because the only Amtrak train A) went to New York and I wanted to go to Pittsburgh, and B) it would have left South Bend hours ago. The driver regaled us with stories about why Studebaker became a "fallen flag" of motordom. Now, there was a transit bus at the South Shore terminal, but it didn't go downtown; it went to the Land of the Hostile Hibernians, the Notre Dame University campus. It gave us a good idea of where the important spot was.

There was a rail siding from the side of the Amtrak shed into the Bendix plant, and what looked like a second siding beginning inside the security wire. I was surprised to see the line of utility poles alongside the track. I wonder if these had been part of the South Shore electric system?