Nostalgia & History > CSS&SB at South Bend -- June 82

A few shots at the former end of the line for the Chicago South Shore & South Bend.
This was on the west side of South Bend. Tracks and service to downtown South Bend had ended earlier (70's?).
In 1992 the South Shore abandoned its stop here (I believe Amtrak uses the station) and now ends at the Michigan Regional Airport.

(1)  Looking east at the station. To the right is the ex-NYC Chicago line.

(2)  Turning around to the view towards Chicago

(3)  A crossing near  #2.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/17 11:55 by gcm.

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(4-6)   Car 23 was built in 1927 by Pullman-Standard

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(7-8)  Car 28 built in 1929 by Standard Steel

(9)  At the station looking west

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Ah... When at school at Notre Dame in the late '60's, I rode the "Vomit Comet" to Chicago and back many's a time!

Love these shots!  Seeing pics of the South Shore east of the shops is a relatively rare occurance. In addition, it's interesting, if not a bid sad to see shots of them while they were in a pretty poor financial state.

- Jeff

I know that station well. Around the same time you lensed those shots, my friends and I would offten ride the South Shore to Michigan City and poke around the yard there.  It was around that time that they retired the Little Joes and replaced their tired ex-Chessie Geeps with brand new GP38-2s.  Fun times.

I was at Norte Dam e in the late 50s and rode the train numerous times also.  Went to so many sports events in Chicago that I broke the bank, almost.  There was a bridge that had a gantlet track so trains could go either direction  and I'm wondering if that bridge has been updated.

Jsporseen Wrote:
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> I was at Norte Dam e in the late 50s and rode the
> train numerous times also.  Went to so many
> sports events in Chicago that I broke the bank,
> almost.  There was a bridge that had a gantlet
> track so trains could go either direction  and
> I'm wondering if that bridge has been updated.


Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District had a very bad accident on that bridge in 1993. It was a head on with fatalities and headlined Chicago news.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-01-18/news/9303163513_1_westbound-train-cars-on-both-trains-south-bend-railroad

The bridge has been replaced with a double track bridge.

My first South Shore trips were in 1971, and I think the line to downtown South Bend had been abandoned a year or two earlier.  The terminal was at Bendix Drive, a name which those of us who have long years of experience in dealing with old motor vehicles brings back memories of a now-obsolete drive-gear mechanism for starter motors.  After the train arrived at Bendix, I needed to get downtown to continue my journey to Pittsburgh on the Greyhound bus.  I found it significant that passengers heading for the Notre Dame campus could take a local transit bus, but those of us headed downtown took a taxi.  The cab driver was a former Studebaker employee (the Studie plant had closed about seven years earlier) who had stories about how poor quality control contributed to the demise of what had been South Bend's largest industrial employer.  Railroad related history--for the last five years of locomotive productiion, Alco was a subsidiary of Studebaker-Worthington.