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| Bill Molony posted, westbound Erie Lackawanna EMD SD45 #3609, leading a westbound EL manifest freight across the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern and the Grand Trunk Western diamonds at Griffith, Indiana - August, 1969. Update: Gary Clark posted a similar view, mid 70s. |
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| Josh Lemier posted
Here we see Erie Lackawanna 813 lead the Lake Cities through Griffith, Indiana on a day in September of 1969.
Photo Credit To Joseph Petric.
Brandon McShane Three units, three cars. Nice hp/ton ratio. [A reminder that there were tracks in Griffith other than the junction.] |
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| Lance Erickson commented on the above posting They used the units on freight with a slow order. The costs were charged off to the passenger service. Passenger trains were the best way to deadhead units. No light engine and crew costs. This is at the end of the service. Here's a view from the train looking ahead! After the train came off. The costs for light engines and their crews increased not decreased. Today with the demand for rail cut so much. Most railroaders never knew they ran light units for extra trains. The customers? They can wait. |
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| Mark Hinsdale shared, eastbound Griffith
In Northwest Indiana, the town of Griffith was a fabled railfan "hot spot," and with good reason. With main lines of four railroads and a branch line of a fifth, the action at Griffith was nearly non stop. Unfortunately, I did not spend much time there, even though a favorite railroad of mine, Erie Lackawanna, took center stage at the busy crossing. Usually enroute to Chicago from Michigan when I passed through there, I was making a bee line for the Rock Island, or Burlington Northern, or other roads that I could not experience anywhere east of Chicagoland. My "logic" was that I could always catch activity on most of those roads seen at Griffith closer to home, without the 4-5 hour drive it took to get the others beyond Northwest Indiana. Would that I could do it over, I'd surely make more stops at Griffith. Eastbound EL manifest crossing PC, GTW, EJ&E & Broad Street, June, 1973.
[It has crossed the mainlines and is going to cross the connector from EJ&E to C&O.]
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| Mark Llanuza posted Its 1975 with eastbound passing through Griffith Ind going past the EJ&E tower. |
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| William Johnson posted Griffith, IN is a pretty busy crossing found in its namesake city in Northwestern Indiana. But it's just a one horse show now, with the Borg of the North large and in charge. But return with us now to the thrilling days of yesteryear, namely February of 1976. Changes are coming, some just months away with the demise of the Erie-Lackawanna. But you'd never know it this day as a long eastbound, behind a U25B and a SD45, roll across Broad Street while the crossing guard, yes, a real person, performs his duties to perfection. Perfection was a close description of Griffith crossing, with five different carriers, and Amtrak, too, crossing each other in a heavy traffic pattern that lasted all day. We all know, all good things must come to an end some day. HI HO, Silver, AWAY!!! Tim Miller: I remember years ago in Marion Ohio those little buildings with road guards stopping traffic. Edward Kwiatkowski shared |
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| Larry Candilas commented on William's post Let's not forget though what a world-class bike-trail Lake County turned the superb RoW into - and look what Lake County is today! Here's a 1951 track chart. |
John Smith posted two photos without comment:
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| 2 [Westbound. Will first cross the EJ&E and then the GTW.] |
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| Mark Llanuza posted, westbound its golden hour at Griffith Ind 1974 with three E-units westbound .When Gary Clark and i were photographing the Erie back in 1974 and 1975 there about 20 scheduled trains a day on the Erie with three Hot TOFC each way a day. |
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| Josh Lemier updated, westbound
Here in our new cover photo we see the freshly painted Erie Lackawanna 3603 lead a freight past an EJ&E locomotive that's waiting on the wye at Griffith, Indiana in 1974.
Photo Credit To James Humbert.
[The track on the left would be C&O.] |
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| Josh Lemier posted, westbound
Here the Erie Lackawanna's Business Train is seen rushing past the tower and across the diamonds towards Chicago at Griffith, Indiana in 1974 headed by E-Units.
Photo Credit To Zeolite C O.
[The tower is "skunked" by the train. We can see the EJ&E tracks by the front wheels of the last car.] |
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| Gary Clark posted Griffith, Indiana. summer of 1974. [The two-story building in the background is the junction tower. The train is headed westbound. This is the posting that taught me the tower was east of the triangle and Broad Street.] |
Mark Llanuza posted four photos with the comment: "Its April 1975 its a busy day at Griffith Ind inside the EJ&E tower with three trains in 15 mins of each other .Its pouring rain this day but the friendly tower man of the J let us keep warm and dry this day"
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| 1, westbound [Looking southwest because we can see the C&O tracks on the left.] |
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| 4 [Looking northwest. The C&O tracks join the Erie tracks before they reach the junction. The GTW depot is still standing on the left. The Erie depot seems to be gone.] |
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| Josh Lemier posted, eastbound
Here we see Erie Lackawanna E-Units as they roll a freight train through Griffith, Indiana sometime during the year 1975.
Photo Credit To Bill Raia.
[This would be eastbound, and it catches the corner of the tower on the right.]
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| Mark Llanuza posted, eastbound Its 1975 with eastbound going past EJ&E tower in Griffith Ind Josh Lemier updated Mark-Patty Sadowski 15-18 trains a day and they shut the line down. Excuse me I'm going to shake my head in disgust/ |
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| Mark Llanuza posted Its 1975 westbound Erie picking up wide loads off the C&O interchange at Griffith Ind |
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| Mark Llanuza posted, westbound There were three Hot scheduled UPS trains that handles TOFC/COFC traffic only .They were PB-99 ,CX-99 and A-CX-99 A for advanced.Its March 27th 1976 this was train CX-99 first train of the day [UPS ] within four day everything would come to a stop .This was my last weekend i ever photographed the Erie and the last piggy back train we saw all day this Sunday sad to say. Mark Llanuza I had talked to former Erie men Bill Haines and he said they split the trains up have went to both Penn Central lines PRR and NYC lasted for about five years or so. [I'm assuming this was at Griffith because the EJ&E+C&O connector is in the left foreground and the EJ&E+Erie connector is at the right background. And the C&O mainline is curving off to the left from the Erie mainline.] |
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| Mark Llanuza posted, eastbound Eastbound at Griffith INd March 27th 1976 with only four days left of the Erie GP-35 leads the way .It was my last Eire I photographed before it shut down forever going past the EJ&E tower. [You can see the EJ&E+C&O connector that is featured in the following photos because it survived Erie's abandonment.] Ted Gregory posted |
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| Bill Molony posted Three Erie-Lackawanna GE U25B's on the diamonds at Griffith on August 26, 1965. |
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| Wayne Hudak posted, eastbound When railfanning had some meaning. Colorful locomotives and no graffiti. I visited Griffith to observe the Erie Lackawanna from 1972 to it's demise in 1976. Conrail totally destroyed it. An eastbound GE U33C gets ready to hit the diamonds at Griffith-1974 |
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| Gary Clark posted, westbound Here we see a Erie Lackawanna biz car being transported westward at Griffith. It's January 1975. That's my friend Bill there photographing the action also.
[Behind the photographer is the EJ&E+C&O interchange track.]
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Mark Llanuza posted a photo and a composite with the comment: "By 1997 most of all the Erie had been removed ,I'm here in Griffith Ind with only the EJ&E interchange track left .In my before & after shot the James Whitecomb Riley coming off the C&O and getting on to the Erie westbound."
[The reason the EJ&E-C&O interchange track was left is that a remnant of the C&O mainline serves the American Chemical Services plant.]
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| Mark Llanuza posted the "then" picture as a separate photo Its 1975 westbound Amtrak leaving the EJ&E-C&O and getting on the Erie at Griffith Ind .Today all this track is gone only a bike path. |
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| Mark posted another 1975 view where the C&O interchange track crossed the Erie. westbound |
Mark Llanuza posted two photos with the comment: "Its 1975 i'm inside EJ&E tower in Griffith Ind with westbound C&O train getting onto the Erie,today everything is gone at this location with the Erie bike trail."
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| Mark Llanuza posted, eastbound Its June 1974 forty three years ago i was 17 years old the speed limit was still 50 for the Erie passing through Griffith but I never saw anything go faster then 40 this eastbound is kicking up dust and hauling ass getting ready to cross the GTW & the PC and EJ&E [I wonder what the speed limit is today for even fewer diamonds. The public doesn't want it too low because that makes the waits at ground crossings even longer.] |
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| Mark Llanuza posted, eastbound Its April 1975 were at Griffith Ind with eastbound James Whitcomb Riley coming off the Erie tracks and getting on the C&O. [The track in the foreground is the EJ&E-C&O interchange track.] |
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| Wayne Hudak commented on a Mark Llanuza posting Sam Beck Photo. He captured the rail removal train Nov 8, 1981. Rick La Fever What I read online after my initial query, the C&O was a bit surprised to find out that the Erie Lackawanna was going to be removed west of Griffith. So they started to reroute their traffic out of Cincinnati via the B&O. Eventually there wasn't enough online business to support the rest of the railroad so it got abandoned and removed in stages. |
Mitch Markovitz I'm told that when the train stopped in Huntington the doors on the subway cars opened and 3 drunk guys got off asking for Times Square.
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| Mark Llanuza posted Its 1970 a busy day a Griffith with eastbound .Everybody has a camera out back then. Ken Miller I like the converted gon/piggyback car myself. |
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| Gary Clark posted Hi-speed EL service in the rain. Griffith, Indiana 1974. Dennis DeBruler Griffith is still a puzzle shot for me. That would be GTW tracks in the road diamonds, EJ&E behind the crossing guard, and the C&O connector in the background, so this is a westbound piggy/container train. Wayne Hudak you can not see the C&O connector track, it's under the 2nd locomotive. The track farther behind the locomotive is the EJ&E Interchange with the C&O. Dennis DeBruler By C&O connector, I guess you mean where the C&O merged in with the Erie. I was thinking of the correct track, the one that curves between the C&O and the EJ&E. But now you have taught me that is called an interchange track. There is so much more to railroading than just trains. Thanks for the ongoing education. |
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| Steve Smedley commented on the above posting A half hour in Photoshop. Great photo. Smeds |
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| Mark Llanuza posted Its 1975 eastbound Amtrak leaving the Erie and getting on the C&O at Griffith Ind .Today all this track is gone only a bike path. [I believe the C&O connector track we see cutting across the foreground still exists. But all of the mainline tracks we see are gone.] |
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| Steven W Panek posted From my archives. A scene that will never happen again. C&O making a delivery to the EJ&E at Griffith, Indiana in the late 1970's, |
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| Josh Lemler updated group photo
Here in our new cover photo we see Erie Lackawanna 3636 rock the diamonds at Griffith, Indiana on a rainy day.
Photo Credit To Gary Clark.
Steven Ward Where was this at?
Dennis DeBruler Steven Ward This photo is relatively easy to figure out because it includes more context than a normal railfan picture. He is crossing the CN/GTW diamonds that are in Broad Street. He is about to cross the CN/EJ&E diamonds that are just east of Broad Street. The diamonds between the GTW and EJ&E are further to the east. So there is a triangle of diamonds here, one of which is in the road. The tower is east of that triangle. I spent a lot of time figuring out what this crossing looked like. Thanks to some input from Wayne Hudak, I can now identify train direction even if the picture is just a bunch of sheet metal in front of a train. This train is eastbound. The results of my research: http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../griffith-in-ej...
[This photo includes more of the street and the crossing guard shanty so it helps visualize the layout of the tracks.]
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| Mark Llanuza posted Its 1975 I'm inside the warm tower of the EJ&E at Griffith Ind with westbound passing a eastbound on this very busy main line .I went back to the same location by the tower 1992 and only the EJ&E interchange track was left. Mark posted again One of my all time favorite before and after shots i did back in April 1975 is this westbound at Griffith Ind taken inside the tower on a cold rainy day .The EJ&E tower man let us inside to keep warm .It was a busy day back then with more then 15 Frt's in five hours on the Erie .I went back again in 1992 to my same spot again to line everything all back again .Today this is part of the Erie Lackawanna bike train from Crown Point to Hammond ind .The interchange track that curves on the lower bottom is still there today but everything else is gone .I have shown this a while back but with new member's its new to them .This was sad memories for me only being 18 years at the time |
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| 1967 Aerial Photo |
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| Mark Llanuza posted Its April 1975 with westbound coming into Griffith Ind early morning. [It is about to cross the EJ&E-C&O interchange track and the EJ&E-Erie interchange track is in the background.] |
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| Mark Llanuza posted Its April 1975 I'm standing inside the EJ&E tower at Griffith Ind with early westbound UPS Hot shot train heading for 51st street .I went back to the same location 2013 |
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| Mark Llanuza posted ts March 27th 1976 the last week of operations of the Erie .I'm here at Griffith Ind with last Erie train i photographed before Conrail eastbound going by the EJ&E tower .I went back 2013 to match up the same location. [The track in the foreground was the EJ&E and C&O connector. It remains so that a chemical plant along the former C&O mainline can still get tank cars.] |
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| Mark Llanuza posted Its April 1975 with Hot U.P.S PB -99 heading for 51st yard first of three TOFC in the morning at Griffith Ind |
Its Nov 1975 its pouring rain but warm and dry inside the EJ&E tower .The tower man was nice enough to let us stay inside and photograph with the window open to capture this westbound with three Eire E-units but before he headed west he made more then a two hour pick up at Griffith Ind interchange with the EJ&E .the brakemen is talking to the engineer in the rain to make sure he has all his information right before heading into the J yard.Dennis DeBruler Not just the E units are historic. The PFE boxcar, the Lima crane on a flatcar, and the open autoracks are all scenes that we will not be able to capture today on a Class I railroad. In fact, probably not even a tourist line. I don't remember seeing a single autorack car at the Illinois Railway Museum.
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| Mark Llanuza posted Its 1975 two trains meet each other at EJ&E Griffith tower .By 1989 only weeds and rusted rail remain at the once busy Jct |
Its Nov 1975 at Griffith Ind in the pouring rain .Within 25 mins we had three Erie trains and one C&O just one heck of a busy place back then.The EJ&E tower man was nice to let us stay inside the warm tower and photograph trains.
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| Mark Llanuza posted Its 1975 with westbound at Griffith Ind with two GE's getting ready to cross over the EJ&E interchange track with the C&O The below shot was 1985 same location. |
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| Josh Lemier updated Here we see Erie Lackawanna RS-3 Locomotives using the wye connecrion with the EJ&E on a cloudy day of May 9, 1975. Photo Credit To Gary Clark. Mark Llanuza Gary Clark this is so rare how did i miss this ? was i in the bar drinking beer .I only ever got one on a train. Brian Fieldon I just Love those old smokin Alcos. |
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| Mark Llanuza posted Westbound at Griffith tower 1973 [photo collection mark Llanuza], |
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| George M Stupar posted Griffith IN, Erie Lackawanna E units and Amtrak's James Whitcomb Riley on the C&O, in 1975. View [timecard] west. This would be south of the junction before the C&O and Erie merge to go through the junction. |
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| William Johnson posted Erie Western RS3 1602 waits at Griffith for its opportunity to head west for the city on a late sunny afternoon back in February of 1979, you know, when winters were winters. It doesn't look like it was a good idea to paint old Alcos in white, because they don't tend to stay that color very long. Despite the poor color selection, it seem like everyone was rooting hard for the ERES to be a success. It was the first attempt to revive the remains of the Erie-Lackawanna, but all the high hopes and best wishes couldn't save the shortline. It was a hard loss, because we all had visions of white RS's and C420s, (not white) rolling across the farmlands of Indiana. Richard Fiedler shared |
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