Lafayette, Indiana – Trains in the Street

 

I made three trips to Lafayette, Indiana to photograph Amtrak street running before the railroad relocation project was completed. Before the relocation, Lafayette's Fifth Street was one of two places in the U.S. where this practice remained. The other was Thurmond, West Virginia.

 

The first set of photographs was taken in March, 1988. Two daily trains operated each way down Fifth Street; the Chicago – Washington, D.C. Cardinal, and the Chicago – Indianapolis Hoosier State. A primary reason for the Hoosier State's existence was ferrying equipment between Amtrak's Chicago hub and the heavy repair facility at Beech Grove, near Indianapolis. The Hoosier State's consist varied on an almost-daily basis.

 

The 1902 Big Four depot was moved in 1994 from this location on Second Street to a place nearer the river and relocated railroad lines. Now it's part of a park and pedestrian walkway and serves Amtrak and city buses.

 

 

 

Tippecanoe County's courthouse, built 1881 – 1884, was designed by local architect Elias Max and incorporates features from several architectural styles. It cost $500,000, and when Samuel Clemens saw it in 1885 he commented that it "must have struck the taxpayers a very hard blow."

 

The 1988 pre-renovation photos show obstructed windows and window air-conditioning units. It was starting to look pretty dowdy, and the restoration brought back its magnificence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The passenger depot was the Lahr Hotel. The hotel was no longer in business, and I think the Amtrak ticket office was the only part of the building that was open.

 

 

The limestone building ahead on the left is the former Monon passenger depot. It was a community theatre when this photo was taken.

 

 

 

 

 

On a Saturday morning in May, 1988 I arrived downtown early and picked a parking spot with a good view of the railroad crossing. I had a 1982 Chevy pickup with a cap on the bed, and I set up my camera on a tripod atop the truck and waited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ducked into a nearby restaurant for breakfast while waiting for the second train. I heard a diesel horn, so I dashed outside to grab a couple of shots of a CSX freight rumbling through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kankakee Beaverville & Southern RR (former Wabash RR) bridge had its remaining track realigned over the existing piers to accommodate the new highway bridge.

 

 

The train in these July, 1992 photos is probably the Hoosier State. The two superliner cars behind the locomotive were vacant, and superliners didn't normally run on the Cardinal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Blast from the Past

 

In 1984 Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society operated a steam-powered passenger excursion train from Fort Wayne to Lafayette and return. These are photos of coaling and servicing Lima-built Nickel Plate Berkshire locomotive 765 at Lafayette for the return to Fort Wayne.<br><br>

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's all.

Wow.  Very cool.

Very nice!

I rode the Cardinal a few times in the 80's and remember stopping in the middle of Lafeyette.  The train ran sooo slow through town and many other sections of track, that it was a much longer train ride than it should have been.

Cool!

wow!

 

and that courthouse is quite something, eh?

kinda looks like the entrance should be higher up, and the bottom part grew afterwards...and the middle section to the dome is neat

Great courthouse!

 

Trains look pretty good going down the street.

Trains look pretty good going down the street.

 

They don't do that any more. Several years ago Lafayette completed a massive railroad relocation project to consolidate several lines through the city and eliminate many grade crossings. For some 2005 photos of the depot/transportation hub and other shots around town, click here

That's very cool looking...reminds me of the South Shore Metra line that runs down the middle of the street in Michigan City Indiana. 

 

    I know of two places where a railroad main line runs down a street: LaGrange, Kentucky and Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

 

  Thanks for the photos.

Come to think of it, my hometown of Franklin has some tracks down fourth street for a spell.

Awesome shots, Rob. But you should've posted a few of your "today" shots like these as a compare/contrast. I think these are terrific photos of one of the best new intermodal stations in the entire Midwest. In fact, I would love to have "clean" copies of these for a rail/transit newsletter I edit (I would give you credit, of course!)....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KJP - I can do that. I feared the original RAW files had been lost in a hard drive crash, but a search through a file drawer full of CDs turned up the originals - on the last disc in the drawer, of course.

 

I'll PM you to work out the details.