Eastern Railroad Discussion > A Quick Night in Dyer

Dyer, In sits on the Indiana - Illinois state line just a little south of Chicago. It's the first stop for Amtrak's Hoosier State and Cardinal out of the Windy City. Both Amtraks run on CSX's Monon Sub on basically alternating days. The Hoosier State is a beleaguered little train who's future is always in jeopardy, which made people scratch their heads when the Amshack was recently replaced by a beautiful little station. The Canadian National is the bigger player in town, operating the double track mains of the old EJ&E while CSX tracks sees just a handful of freight trains, besides the northbound and southbound Amtraks. A visit on Sunday evening gives a little glimpse at the action.

1, P318, the southbound Hoosier State, gets panned just south of the depot in Dyer. Somebody has cleared away some heavy brush, opening up this scene. Thanks to whoever!

2. The CN was in town waiting for the short Amtrak to clear the diamonds and is now heading east towards Griffith and then Kirk yard in Gary. Leading is a SD70M-2.

3. The long days of summer sometimes allow you to catch southbound Q643, the regular freight out of Barr Yard for Lafayette and then Indianapolis. We stretched the ISO to allow a decent look at some surprise power on him tonight, two BN GE's. He's slowly rolling past the new station. Slowly because there's another CN occupying the crossing.

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4. The spiffy new station at Dyer. Everybody wonders why?

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WrongMain Wrote:
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> 4. The spiffy new station at Dyer. Everybody
> wonders why?


Wow. Very nice

Is there even a McDonald's "Golden Arches Country Club" in Dyer?
Gonut

WrongMain Wrote:
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> 4. The spiffy new station at Dyer. Everybody
> wonders why?

The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District wants to inaugurate commuter service to Dyer. Its route will come off the South Shore in Hammond and run south on the abandoned Monon trackage that extends from downtown Hammond to Dyer.

However, no work has been done yet on resuscitating the Monon and I'm not sure that money has been secured for the project. So it is indeed surprising that the station has already been constructed.

The new station will of course serve Amtrak too, but that can't be the reason for building the station. Dyer is the least patronized station between Chicago and Indy. In fact, Dyer is the only town along the Chicago-Indy route that refused to contribute funding for a revitalized Hoosier State train. The reason given was that not enough people used it.

McD's is just up the road to the north on Calumet Ave., but the big draw in the neighborhood is the world renowned Three Floyds Brewing Company in Munster IN, home of Dark Lord, Zombie Dust, Gumballhead, Dreadnaught, et al. Maybe it's time for a "beer train" . . . Lots of changes since Maynard Tower kept watch over the Pennsy, Grand Trunk, and Monon junction between Munster and Dyer near my old neighborhood.

Great photos, number 2 is my favorite.
Dan

Posted from iPhone

And you need to check out Park Lane Hobbies in Dyer too.

http://www.parklanehobbiesonline.com/home.php



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/14 07:32 by wabash2800.

I also LIKE Pic 2!!!

Re that nice station: The town of Dyer no longer wants to maintain the station, even though Amtrak pays them $1000/month to do so. The town government says it's not worth it.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/dyer/dyer-ending-amtrak-station-maintenance-aug/article_9cda131d-3faa-5cb0-88fd-f4b7de6e46de.html