Eastern Railroad Discussion > Butler, IN Rail History Article

Interesting little article by a local rail buff.

http://www.kpcnews.com/Main.asp?SectionID=16&SubSectionID=16&ArticleID=32485

A little snippet...

In July of 1966, the U.S. rail speed record was set just outside Butler.

A New York Central jet train outfitted with a scooped nose and two General Electric turbo jets followed one of the straightest sets of tracks in the region to speeds up to 184 mph, sometimes making the train take flight.

Another interesting article on the Eel River Railroad.

http://www.kpcnews.com/Main.asp?SectionID=16&SubSectionID=16&ArticleID=32194

Thanks for the links. Craig Berndt is a friend of mine, originally from Butler that is researching and collecting material on the Eel River. His presentation was standing room only. I would have attended but was doing a presentation for the NRHS chapter at Upland that same night. Craig will do more presentations. Craig is also working on a project on the Ferdinand Railroad (southern Indiana.)

However, I often cringe at providing historical material for the local papers, having been misquoted many, many times. Many of the reporter folks don't know the difference btw a boxcar and a locomotive. Look at the caption at the bottom of the photo in the second link. Even if it was the wrong photo, the caption is all wrong. Also, LOL, the reporter starts the article as the "time of the locomotive". Don't we still use locomotives? Oh well. Thanks again for the links and I passed them along to Craig in case he hadn't seen them.

Wabash,

How do I go about becoming a member of the local rail society? What chapters and/or groups are there? I've always been a fan of certain lines, but being as I don't live anywhere near them right now, I love the rails anywhere and want to learn more.

We were able to attend Mr. Berndt's presentation
in Butler, Indiana. It was a really well done ,
interesting, and scholarly work.I especially liked
the old maps.

Mark

Yes, mistakes and misunderstandings are frequent in newspaper articles about railroads. I often wonder if the newspapers are so riddled with mistakes in areas that I haven't the knowledge of, I remember my father reading articles about his field of expertise and saying they were full of mistakes.

The picture in the first article showing the LS&MS train says that the signal control tower is in the left background but it looks like a depot to me. I know that there was a brick two-story tower at Auburn Jct. in later years but wouldn't be surprised if it didn't replace an earlier wooden structure, which wasn't uncommon. Anyone know if the diamond was really controlled from a depot at one time? Wabash 2800?

lew wrote:
> The picture in the first article showing the LS&MS train says
> that the signal control tower is in the left background but it
> looks like a depot to me. I know that there was a brick
> two-story tower at Auburn Jct. in later years but wouldn't be
> surprised if it didn't replace an earlier wooden structure,
> which wasn't uncommon. Anyone know if the diamond was really
> controlled from a depot at one time? Wabash 2800?

Lew:
The building in the photo is indeed the Waterloo depot. NO, the intelocking was never controlled from the depot. The last intelocking tower was a distintively frame roofed LSMS style tower and it was located across the from the depot in the southeast corner of the quadrant. I was probably torn down in the late 1950's when the diamond was removed and the mainline CTC'd. Also what I had a problem with was that someone made the assumption that a "control tower" controlled the interurban crossing. The interurban ended south of the NYC and did not cross here but had a turnaround wye and depot. The tower guarded the NYC mainline and the NYC Fort Wayne branch. There are other mistakes in the caption but don't get me started. However, Criag has nothing to do with this and was not even aware of the photo in the aritcle. Yes, he did a great presentation and I am looking forward to more.

Craig informed me the caption for the photo was for a photo taken at Auburn Jct and not Waterloo.