Eastern Railroad Discussion > Indiana Sub, Guessing, Dumb Luck and Code Line Poles on Thursday

And now the CSX Indiana Sub thread as promised in the thread

Indiana Rail Road, It's What I Did With Three Days Off

On Thursday morning August 4th I had the plan to go look at the Indiana Rail Road after posting the query here e of what to do with three days off. How I was going to get to the Indiana Rail Road was not as certain. I woke up to the alarm at 2:30 am and set it back for another hour. At 3:30 I set it back two more hours which ruled out going to Ft Wayne to chase the RoadRailers across the Wabash. At 5:30 am I woke up, made some hot decaffeinated tea and put some stuff in the car for the trip. Still tired I went up and slept another hour, finally leaving a little after 8am. I went across Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway to I-275 not realizing that the Date and Time had to be reset on the camera for some reason until I was just into Indiana. I went to the tracks in downtown Lawrenceburg to reset the camera and also to check out the signals at what used to be Dearborn Tower next to the Casino. All red. It took more than one attempt to set the date and time and when I looked up the signals had changed to Advance Approach! I was in business! I started West and stopped at signal 243 on the east end of Aurora. I went farther West and got to the signals at Cochrane Junction just in time to see M576 come through. 
1-2) M576 (Corrected)
I took off West, with the idea of stopping at the McDonald's in Versailles Indiana. I got behind a flatbed Semi who was going between 60 and 65 (but sometimes faster) on US 50 and figured I'd just keep up with him and be able to get to the McD's in North Vernon before 10:30 am and the end of breakfast being offered. I also maybe, just maybe would have a better chance of seeing something if I continued west. I got to Butlerville and saw a lot of cars in the sidings and then saw the local!
3) Left to Right, the flatbed truck driven by Speed Racer, codeline poles and CSX L422.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/22 02:38 by tq-07fan.

---

---

---

4) I stuck the camera out the window for a pacing shot. One of those codeline poles jumped out in front of the train. I'm not upset as not too many places this can happen any more. 
I got into North Vernon and found that the Tilting Target that protected the crossing with the Madison Railroad had been replaced by millions of dollars worth of modern signal equipment. Madison RR operates part of a former Pennsylvania branchline from Columbus Indiana to the 5.42 % grade at Madison Indiana. Also crossing here was the NYC from Elkhart Indiana that used the B&O Louisville Sub to get to Jeffersonville IN and then on their bridge shared by the interurban Indiana Railroad to get into Louisville KY. I have yet to figure out how all this trackage existed there in North Vernon. Anyways compare the cantilever on the other side of the station and the signals up front with picture 15 from this thread from the last time I chased on the Indiana Sub

CSX Indiana Sub Friday

5) scene shot showing the depot, with the CSX and North Vernon signage still on and the Westbound cantilever in the back.
6) Up close look at the local.

---

---

---

I got breakfast at McDonald's and drove over to Seymour. Seymour has really changed as well. One thing I like is that the L&I uses slightly different signals than CSX with LED lenses. The signal for the connection track to the L&I was lit for Approach and after L422 was done with switching they got their EC to Medora around MP105 and the signal went to Clear. 
7) The crossing signals at Obrien Street have been replaced but without gates. Also of note the siding has been cut back to the east side of the street. The Westbound siding was lifted sometime by the mid 2000's.
8) Heading west past the signals for the connection to the L&I. There is still a separate signal for the diamond with the L&I on this side.

---

---

I stopped at Huck's in Brownstown to fuel up, and get an Iced Tea. Huck's is one of those places that is a mandatory stop on a chase like this. I told the cute clerk that I was depressed that the Woke Generation had got to Huck's and made them get rid of the goofy looking red headed kid probably because it was offensive to goofy looking red headed kids or something. I must have really been depressed as I took longer than expected and missed getting a shot of the local going by the CPLs in RR Brownstown, but actually Ewing Indiana. I discovered that the speeds out here east of Seymour must be back to at least 40 mph and the speeds west of Seymour must be back to at least 25. So it was to drive fast to Medora. 
9) All kinds of throwback stuff in this picture. Crossing with no lights. B&O CPL and codeline poles.
10) Crossing Indiana State Rt 235 with more codeline poles. It felt good to stand under the wires again..
Well, I ended up getting behind some guy in a red pickup truck with a dog in the back. He drove at no more than 30 and in tended to take his half out in the middle of the road. I followed this guy for several miles with him not making any effort to let me go around. Finally on a long straight stretch I honked a couple times and overtook him, which I think may have pissed him off, who knows? Anyways I wanted to get a signal I had seen back in 2009. This unusual signal has to be one of the last B&O high signal CPLs with a squirrel cage. I find it curious that it would have a squirrel cage in such a remote area of the railway. My theory is that some goofy looking redhead kid who eventually grew up to drive a red pickup slow and in the middle of the road with a dog in back must have smashed all the lights out or something in the past...
11) Yep, that's the red pickup in the middle of the road..

Thank you for looking!

Jim 

---

---

---

Jim - your train at Cochrane was M576-02, Nashville to Cincinnati, and would have set some, if not all, of the cars you saw the local playing with at Butlerville.

Posted from iPhone

Neat pictures Jim!

Posted from Android

Your commentary is appreciated. Lol.

Regarding the signal cage: in rural Indiana, it was once common for signs and perhaps railroad signals to be targets for shotguns and 22 gauge rifles.

Posted from Android

Very interesting series!

Larry