Elkhart, IN: NS/NYC Railyard

(Satellite)

(Update: more information is in  NYC Roundhouses and Water Towers and NYC Depots)

This is one of the few railyards in the country that is just as important today as it was back in the heyday of railroading. The reason is that any railyards that Norfolk Southern has in Chicago have been converted to intermodal yards and all eastbound mixed freight trains are run through Chicago to Elkhart. Remember, a lot of freight traffic has been moved from mixed freight trains to unit trains and containers (and trucks) so a railroad needs fewer hump yards to handle carload traffic.

Richard Roberts shared 33 photos of the NYC/LS&MS railyard and depot including these two.

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Tim JT White posted, Facebook resolution
Don't remember where I got this article, but a short history up to the new Robert Young in Elkhart
[A photo of the Robert R. Young Rail Yards under construction in 1957.]

Elmer J Hershey commented on Heather's posting
Elmer J Hershey Elkhart

Rails Around Indiana posted

The facilities at Elkhart featured a large hump classification yard, built by the New York Central in 1957 and named after NYC President Robert Young. The yard had 72 tracks and classified all

westbound traffic for direct delivery to Chicago connections. In 1968 it became part of Penn Central. (Donald Pope, photos; David Oroszi collection)

Debbie Newsom Hampton posted
Elkhart (IN) Yard. Photo by Matt Burks.

Carl Venske posted
New York Central - B Elkhart Tower; East end of Elkhart yard - Elkhart Indiana, John Fuller Photo 1967 - Closed in 1958

Richard Roberts posted
Elkhart,IN from 1903.

Kerry Scaife $10 a month average wage. ... inflation really sucks.

Joe Barron posted three photos with the comment: "The powerhouse at the Elkhart Yard."

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Joe Barron shared
Sam Siklas It's quite likely that some of the engines in the yard at the time would have included the Central's well-known Hudsons which led the railroads' famed 20th Century Limited. The Century came through here on its regular route between New York City and Chicago. How many people don't realize how historic the yards are and the now Norfolk Southern line really is?
Joe Barron This is 1911. Notice the loco's are high wheelers. Hudson's came in 1927.

Timothy M Shanahan shared another Joe Barron post

Nathan Vester posted
2 separate slides I was able to stitch together. Elkhart, IN. Dated: 1964.

Morris Eastham posted four photos with the comment: "Elkhart Yard , Elkhart In."

[Some comments indicate that Conrail changed the name of the yard from Robert R. Young to Elkhart.]

Tim Moore: Work at the old west hump and new KC yard as a maintainer and signal maintenance foreman before retiring 2014 -60 bowl tracks,10 receiving and departure tracks.

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Ronald Neher posted
Aerial View of The Robert R. Young Yard opened for business on March 6th, 1958 at a cost of $14,000,000. At the time it opened it was then the largest train yard in the world.
Weston Ward Very nice photo. This is just the "Hump" assembly part of the yard. There is more.

Frannie Tepper shared
Jim Bourke What is the status of this yard today?
Carl Englund Owned and operated by NS
Eric Kammer The impressive thing is all these cars were sorted without computers just amazing

Tom Danza shared

Matt Brady commented on Frannie's share

Richard Van Vynckt posted
Elkhart, Indiana (95 sets of rails)...
Greg Fish: Soo it does not look like Elkhart yard. Spent 15 years as a engineer there. Also Elkhart yard has 72 and a half class tracks 15 receiving tracks 6 east bound tracks and 7 west bound tracks. [100 tracks] Not sure where they are coming up 95 tracks.
[There are a lot of replies to Greg indicating that this is Elkhart.]
Susan Gygi Yoder: Yes. The Elkhart yard used to be the largest in the nation. Might still be the largest. Keith Enck: Bailey Yard. The biggest in the United States. UP owns it.
Brian Cole: Crossroads of America. Only place I've ever seen signs that told motorists to turn off their engines while waiting for trains to pass.
[Several comments claim this yard is on the Russia target list for a nuke attack.]
[There are several comments about crossings being blocks. For example:]
Valerie Scott Bierlein: And they still block the crossings in Goshen waiting to get in there daily!
Ursula Digel Wishin: I think I looked once, and counted over 112 tracks. One of the biggest yards in the midwest.
J.B. Rail Photog shared

 

17:41 video

Four aerial photos

Seven 1978 photos  Includes view of the hump from the tower.

timelapse Facebook reel of cars going down the hump

Bath, ON: LafargeHolcom Cement Plant

(Satellite)

Satellite

I see from the satellite image that Bath has just one rotary kiln, but it does have its own limestone quarry.

Lafarge owns its own
Laker, the 404' English River, and ships cement to ports like Toronto, Hamilton, Oswego, Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit. [CarlzBoats]

Amanda Wood posted three photos with the comment: "The first two pics are the NACC Argonaut at the Lafarge dock in Bath. The third was taken onboard by my son."

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Karen Limardi: What are those 2 stack towers in the distance ?

Amanda Wood commented on Karen's comment

Nashville, IL: L&N Depot

(Satellite, 31 Photos)

Judging by the photos on Google Maps, the interior has been restored as well.

This town used to have the Nicholson Coal Mine.

Luke Welte provided three photos:

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Andy Zukowski posted
Louisville & Nashville Railroad Depot in Nashville, Illinois. 1971
Richard Fiedler shared

Bruno Donohue: Passenger trains stopped here until Amtrak day.

Mike Kirsch's photo, whose link is now broke, shows this area of Illinois takes advantage of the rail service provided by the Evansville Western Railway (EVWR) because three EVWR locomotives are pulling the train.

Terre Haute, IN: Big Four Depot and Duane Railyard

Depot: (Satellite, according to a topo map, it was between Tippecanoe Street and the tracks on the west side of 7th.)

Railyard: (Satellite)

I'm surprised that CSX got the Big Four tracks when they broke up Conrail because CSX already had Terre Haute because of L&N/C&EI tracks.

John R. Motz posted some photos of NYC action. Of course, these photos would be after NYC took control of the Big Four.

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Wayne Koch posted
NYC EMDS 4071 w E7 A unit Terre Haute, Indiana in May of 1958 NYCHS.
[Another reminder that NYC bought Big Four.]

1 of 10 photos posted by Bill Edrington
Brief stop today at Duane Yard, the former Big Four yard in Terre Haute, Indiana on the old St. Louis Division main line.  Captions are with the photos.
Duane yard office

Robert Steele: We would have been fired having weeds growing on the lead like that.

Street View, Aug 2019

The yard is in the other direction.

Street View, May 2023

Mendota, IL: BNSF Railfan Action

(Satellite)  (A general posting about the depot, etc. in this town.)

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5:02  While taking an overview of the Mendota static display and yard, I noticed that a train was coming.

5:03  It wasn't coming very fast.

BNSF #1528  GP28-2/GP23-2P, built 6/54, originally NP 203

BNSF #2119  GP38/GP38AC, built 2/71, Ex-BN < nee SLSF CP32AC 642

5:04  I took another photo of the second unit because I recognized that it still had one of the older BNSF paint schemes. When looking at the photo, I noticed the worker walking along the track.

I also noticed that they had a stack of track panels stacked next to the road and an excavator. I wonder if they are getting ready to change the rails in the crossing.

Digitally zoomed into the right side of the above photo

It was a pretty long cut of cars, but...

...there was just a red flag, no EOT, at the end of the train.

5:13  I spent some time taking photos of the static displays of passenger cars that are also displayed in this town. I had killed enough time that I noticed the train was coming back into the yard.

I now assumed that the crew member we saw previously walking along the track was going down to throw the turnout so that the train can go from the mainline to the yard lead. But when I look at a satellite image of the turnout, there appears to be some equipment next to the turnout. Is this turnout heated but hand thrown? Given all of that equipment and the fact that it is on the mainline, I assume it is remotely controlled by the dispatcher. Maybe the crew member was walking down to the crossing to stop traffic for what is now obviously a switching maneuver. Looking at the zoomed image again, I see he is carrying a red flag. It is possible that the gates down't respond to slow locomotive movements because some of those yard movements would never cross the road. This would be a reason to make a railfan trip to this town to see if I could catch more switching activity.

There is a crew member riding on the side ladder of the last car that is close to the first car of another cut of cars.

This is the first time I have had too much sun to take a photo of a locomotive. The sun really washed out one end of #2119.

As I left town, I noticed there was a fallen flag in the other cut parked in the yard. Fortunately the train had some empty center beam (lumber) cars or this car would have been completely "skunked."

Both predecessors of the BNSF merger were represented.

I've learned that when I first arrive at this town, I should first cruise around to see if there are any interesting freight cars because they may get hidden by the time I leave.