Happenstance and Heritage
While on the road today, I saw a diminutive train along an unknown line and made chase.
I got ahead of it and pulled into what turned out to Plymouth, Indiana. There I saw another line running more or less perpendicular, supposed a crossing to exist, and made for that. I was able to set up so that I could showcase the ancient Pennsy home signal, still doing its job after what I would suppose to be greater than a century.
I'm standing on what was once the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, which was part of the Pennsy of course (and now operated as the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern). Our little train is on what was the Lake Erie and Western Railroad, which became part of the New York Central and later the Nickel Plate (and is now operated by the Elkhart & Western).
The little train appeared to be powered by one Paducah geep on each end, with but a few cars in between. After it trundled away, I took an additional shot of the decaying station along the Pennsy, which can be seen lurking in the background of the first few images.
To add to the rail history in this spot, Rail Guide (a fabulous website where one can track down the heritage of any rail line in the US) says the the Panhandle (also part of the Pennsy) crossed here as well, creating a triple crossing. Go to the pull down menu under "maps" and click "early owners".
Five images by Richard Koenig; taken November 13th 2024.