Nostalgia & History > Porter County, Indiana Railroads

I made this up for my book signing-presentation yesterday at Portage, Indiana. If there are any comments, corrections or questions, let me know.

Victor A. Baird
http://erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/14 16:22 by wabash2800.

---

Growing up I lived just North of Joliet Illinois on the GM&O and Santa Fe with the Rock Island and EJ&E in Joliet along with the Penn Central (NYC). But after college I would venture over to Griffith Indiana. There it had the EJ&E, PC (NYC), GTW, C&O, and the EL. That was a good place for chasing trains.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Yup, Bob, a great place to watch trains in the next county to the west, Lake County. I understand the tower has been preserved and there is a train show there once or twice a year. I'll be at the train show October 5, 2014 in the American Legion Post. More details on the show are on my Upcoming Events Page on my website.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/14 15:57 by wabash2800.

Victor, the NYC (originally LS&MS) between Burdick and Dune went through Porter. Gerry

Great map, Victor; thanks for putting it together. The only correction I can suggest is tiny, but that is for Spriggsboro; when I was on the N&W we spelled it with two g's. As for Griffith, the city's website shows a "Rock and Rail" street festival around Labor Day weekend. Several years ago they held an annual 'Griffith Railroad Days' in late September in a little park north of the mains by the relocated tower. I reside two time zones away now so do not know if it is still held. As info, Griffith Tower closed at 23:59 on December 31, 1999.

Rich



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/14 00:39 by Seventyfive.

Gerry:

I went by an old RR map that shows the town of Porter rather than Porter Junction, however, the distance btw the two might be slightly exaggerated on my map. Can anyone confirm that?

Rich:

You are correct. I spelled Spriggsboro incorrectly. Thanks.

wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gerry:
>
> I went by an old RR map that shows the town of
> Porter rather than Porter Junction, however, the
> distance btw the two might be slightly exaggerated
> on my map. Can anyone confirm that?


IIRC from my own trips there, the town of Porter was just
north of the Porter Junction where the PM and the MC got
onto the MYC(LSM&S?). Plus the MC crossed the NYC there,
and that route became the Kankakee Belt route. This would
become the Streator connection to the Santa Fe. By the
time I got to Porter, the rail crossing was gone and the
MC line was operated, if not owned, by Amtrak.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gerry:
>
> I went by an old RR map that shows the town of
> Porter rather than Porter Junction, however, the
> distance btw the two might be slightly exaggerated
> on my map. Can anyone confirm that?

Victor, I am familiar with Porter, Indiana from about 1969 on and back then everything came together at Porter Tower ("PO" on the NYC) which was at the west end of 'downtown' Porter. The only exception I recall was the EJ&E from Griffith; it did not cross the NYC but ended at a wye with hand-throw switches to a small yard along the south side of the NYC and a little east of, and outside of, PO interlocking.

PO Tower lasted until the mid-80's and when the bulldozers showed up former PO day shift operator Everett Schroeder recorded the destruction on film.

Rich

ntharalson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wabash2800 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Gerry:
> >
> > >
>
> IIRC from my own trips there, the town of Porter
> was just
> north of the Porter Junction where the PM and the
> MC got
> onto the MYC(LSM&S?). Plus the MC crossed the NYC
> there,
> and that route became the Kankakee Belt route.
> This would
> become the Streator connection to the Santa Fe.
> By the
> time I got to Porter, the rail crossing was gone
> and the
> MC line was operated, if not owned, by Amtrak.
>
> Nick Tharalson,
> Marion, IA

The town of Porter is pretty much north of the junction (PO tower) CP 482 these days. The MC main went into Hammond IN and eventually joined the IC at Kensington Jct. The Kankakee Belt was farther east, splitting off at South Bend and going farther south, via Walkerton (B&O, NKP) San Pierre(MON), North Judson (EL,C&O, PRR).

Thanks folks. I'll see what I can do about the map. I have some B&W 35mm photos I took at Porter, Indiana back the 70s including the tower and the French Turbo train. One of these days I'm going to get a quality neg and slide scanner and get them posted here.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/14 09:52 by wabash2800.

ntharalson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wabash2800 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Gerry:
> >
> > I went by an old RR map that shows the town of
> > Porter rather than Porter Junction, however,
> the
> > distance btw the two might be slightly
> exaggerated
> > on my map. Can anyone confirm that?
>
>
> IIRC from my own trips there, the town of Porter
> was just
> north of the Porter Junction where the PM and the
> MC got
> onto the MYC(LSM&S?). Plus the MC crossed the NYC
> there,
> and that route became the Kankakee Belt route.
> This would
> become the Streator connection to the Santa Fe.
> By the
> time I got to Porter, the rail crossing was gone
> and the
> MC line was operated, if not owned, by Amtrak.
>
> Nick Tharalson,
> Marion, IA

Nick, the Michigan Central west of PO was known in NYC days as the Ivanhoe Branch, and ran to Ivanhoe Tower. The NYC owned the IHB and this was their direct route to the Harbor at Gibson Yard. The diamonds at PO came out in the late 80's if I remember correctly. It is now operated by the CSX and called the Porter Branch. The Kankakee line began at HF Tower in South Bend and ran to Streator. I believe the line is gone from South Bend to a power generating station east of Schneider, Indiana, and intact from that plant to Streator.

Rich

Seventyfive Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ntharalson Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > wabash2800 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Gerry:
> > >
> > > I went by an old RR map that shows the town
> of
> > > Porter rather than Porter Junction, however,
> > the
> > > distance btw the two might be slightly
> > exaggerated
> > > on my map. Can anyone confirm that?
> >
> >
> > IIRC from my own trips there, the town of
> Porter
> > was just
> > north of the Porter Junction where the PM and
> the
> > MC got
> > onto the MYC(LSM&S?). Plus the MC crossed the
> NYC
> > there,
> > and that route became the Kankakee Belt route.
> > This would
> > become the Streator connection to the Santa Fe.
>
> > By the
> > time I got to Porter, the rail crossing was
> gone
> > and the
> > MC line was operated, if not owned, by Amtrak.
>
> >
> > Nick Tharalson,
> > Marion, IA
>
> Nick, the Michigan Central west of PO was known in
> NYC days as the Ivanhoe Branch, and ran to Ivanhoe
> Tower. The NYC owned the IHB and this was their
> direct route to the Harbor at Gibson Yard. The
> diamonds at PO came out in the late 80's if I
> remember correctly. It is now operated by the CSX
> and called the Porter Branch. The Kankakee line
> began at HF Tower in South Bend and ran to
> Streator. I believe the line is gone from South
> Bend to a power generating station east of
> Schneider, Indiana, and intact from that plant to
> Streator.
>
> Rich

Thanks for this information. I didn't get to this spot until
about 1993, and in those days, the Kankakee Belt stuff took
off at Porter, I have a couple of shots of those moves.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

Been waiting for this map to show. My entire interest in RR's and rail photography comes from my dad and his cousin spending their summers in Porter, IN with their grandparents back in the 1930's. They spent a good amount of that time around the Porter tower with "Augie" a tower operator back then who let them throw a switch lever now and then. I got to visit up in the tower back in 1973, a nice treat.

PaulJ