Fort Wayne, IN: 1868, 1880 and Railroad Maps (NS Railroad Hub)

Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana posted
Matthew Zavodny Apparently the city has done some dredging of the St. Marys River. The confluence in this picture was further north-northeast than it is now (it is now just north of the St. Joseph Boulevard/Columbia Street bridge).

Jeff Landis also posted
David Gerlock Actually, this view is looking south. The first street going east and west was Water St. It is now Superior Street. The next streets are what they currently named. Main and Berry. Where the canal was, where you see the long boats, is now where the elevated railroad is. The area just above the river on the right side of the picture where it dips is where Headwaters Park is. Where you see the circle track at the bottom right of the picture is now Lawton Park. And lastly, the road right in the middle of the picture that leads to the covered bridge is where Spy Run is now. As was mentioned, they didn't draw these exactly to scale and they are only a close representation of what it actually looks like.

This shows the canal with some heavy industry downtown. And another reminder that the artists had black smoke coming out of each smokestack because that was a sign of progress. I see a sailboat at the confluence. I wonder how real that was. It had to come down the St. Joe because the two covered bridges are too low for it. And the south side of the St. Mary covered bridge has now road leading to it. Note the horse race track in the lower right corner.

Lauren Wilcox commented on the above posting
 Love these old time images! This is similar to one I have hanging in my home in North Carolina.
[The top image seems to have been cropped from Laren's image.]

Update: 1868 seems to have been a good year for maps.

Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana posted

Randy Harter posted
The panoramic map was drawn by a group of German artists in 1880 the last year there was still water in the canal through downtown. By the end of 1881 this portion of the canal had been filled in and railroad tracks (now Norfolk Southern’s) laid atop it.

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Viral Media posted two images with the comment:

NS in Fort Wayne

Fort Wayne is a meet point several lines; 3 east-west lines, 1 north-south line, and the remnants of 2 other lines. 

Chicago/Fostoria District

This is the former Nickel Plate mainline between Chicago and Buffalo. This line is Norfolk Southern's primary routing for Chicago trains to and from the southern part of the US.

Huntington District

This is the former Wabash mainline between Detroit and Kansas City. This line is the busiest line through Fort Wayne.

New Castle District

This is a former Nickel Plate branch line between Fort Wayne and Rushville, Indiana. In the 1970s, N&W upgraded it as a mainline route to Cincinnati, and a path to the southeastern US.

Fort Wayne Line/Fort Wayne Secondary

This line is the former PRR mainline between Chicago and Pittsburgh, now operated by Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern (CFE). They have a small yard (Piqua Yd.) on the southeast side of town.

GR&I Industrial Track

This is a remnant of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, which was operated by the PRR.

OmniSource Industrial Track

This was built as the Fort Wayne & Jackson Railroad. 

Union Belt

The Union Belt runs between the NS Huntington District and Piqua Yard.

Snake Track

Connect the Huntington District with East Wayne .

1
[Junctions that I have noted so far: Junction, Mike, Adams.
I've also noted Piqua Yard.]

2

Viral Media posted

Fort Wayne Truck Frames

Flatcars with truck frame loads are frequently seen on the Norfolk Southern in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The flatcar is on the Norfolk Southern Huntington District tracks in New Haven, Indiana. This is the former Wabash mainline between Detroit and Kansas City.

The frames are destined for Fort Wayne Assembly vehicle manufacturing plant in Roanoke, Indiana. The plant was opened in 1986 by General Motors and produces GM light-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickups. In 2015, GM invested $1.2 billion to expand its pickup truck assembly plant in Fort Wayne. The facility now has 4.6 million square feet of manufacturing space on 716 acres of land. Fort Wayne Assembly builds more than 1000 trucks each day.

Automobiles no longer use frames. Instead, autos use unibody construction which involves manufacturing the frame and body of the vehicle as a single piece.  Trucks use Body-on-frame construction, which mounts the body of a vehicle on a chassis carrying the powertrain. 

The frames are manufactured by Autokiniton Global Group.  The truck frame plant in Plymouth, Michigan was formerly Tower Automotive.