Anderson NYC Passenger NYC Niagara 4-8-4 6005(?) leads a passenger train downtown Anderson We are headed west and crossing Main St. Notice the crossing gate watchman's bulding and the water tank. There were several of these type crossing towers in Anderson plus crossing watchmen at the ground level. This was an example of normal, if there was such a thing, water tanks on the Big 4 in this aera. Steel frame with a wooden tub. The depot sits on the left out of the picture. LEW

Mattoon IL - Niagara 6018 has just arrived with the westbound Knickerbocker. Class J-1e hudson 5404 waits to take over the trip to St. Louis. Richard Baldwin Photo.

Yes, it was at Anderson, LEW. And no, I don't have an explanation for it's being there. I've checked the photo several times and have confirmed that it is Anderson and late 1953 or 1954. :-)

Southbound (Time table East) James Whitcomb Riley approaching Lafayette Junction on June 28, 1954. Don Burkhardt Photo

NYC 6385 - Engine 2-8-2 H-6a at Wabash Indiana, c.1955. Note the sand tower and coaling crane behind the engines. Craig Berndt collection

GP7s 5797 & 5798 lead a mail/express eastward near Anderson along old SR 67 near Mounds Park. James C. Suhs Collection.

Here is a motor car/section gang picture in front of the Vienna, Illinois depot on the NYC/Big 4 Cairo Line. Photo dates from about 1955 and looks east; motor car is on the main line and the short passing track in front of the Vienna depot is just barely visible under the weeds in the background. CAPT Rex Settlemoir

NYC 6015 at Beech Grove. Last Niagara in service Charlie Smith said: June 30, 1956. Last run of 6015 in passenger service, train no. 416, Indianapolis to Cincinnati on account of a diesel failure. Departed Indianapolis 34 minutes late, arrived Cincinnati 6 minutes late. July 2, 1956. Returned to Indianapolis in freight service, train CC-3. Final run. - Photo by Soph Marty. For more info on the 6015 and the retirement dates of many of the Niagaras, see: NYC Niagara 6015 (Jacobs) and Niagaras Retired - 6015 Last Run on the Memory Pages.

Class J-3a 5415 heads the westbound James Whitcomb Riley through Addyston, OH in 1955. Richard Baldwin Photo.

Northbound New York Central 4-6-4 Hudson steam locomotive no. 5452 departs downtown Dayton, Ohio, in December 1955. Photograph by J. Parker Lamb Pete Zimmerman photo

Class J-3a leaves Cincinniati OH with the westbound James Whitcomb Riley in May of 1955. Harold Stirton Photo, Darwin Simonaitis collection.

Class J-1e 5401 leaves Chesterton IN on Oct 1, 1955 with the Chicago-elkhart morning local. Harold Stirton Photo, Darwin Simonaitis collection.

Goshen, IN - NYC/Big Four Crossing Description by John Jauchler

October 14, 1955

Class J1d 5310, train #303, passing class DFA-2g #1715 on a Stanley extra at Warner Yard, Monroe, Michigan on October 14, 1955. (Photo by Ernest L. Novak, NYCSHS Collection)

An L-4b at work in Anderson just before the end came for it. This Mohawk was retired in June of 1956. James C. Suhs Collection.

#2. Close up the 5753 taken at the same time and same location.

#3. [Cairo Terminal] This picture was taken when steam still ruled in Cairo. Note the round house in the center of picture. It appears to be either a 5 or 7 stall facility. It has 7 smoke stacks but the 2 on the right maybe an office area. Also pictured are other Big 4 buildings on Second Street. The passenger depot is located on the far right. The freight and passenger cars pictured in the lower right corner are on the IC/M&O’s Cairo loop track that circled the city at this time. The photo would have been taken prior to 1937. Flooding at that time took out some of the loop trackage and IC and M&O trains quit circling the city. (Note: The IC and M&O passenger depot was just a couple of blocks to the north of the Big 4 passenger depot) I think this picture was taken from one of the upper floors of the Holiday House Hotel which was about a block behind the Big 4 terminal in Cairo. The passenger depot and freight house were taken down in early ‘60’s when Washington Avenue was widened at the point when the NYC tracks crossed the street. The others were mostly gone before my time.
Russell Mertz Photos and description

1955-56 Even with all of the exclusions shown on the back of this company pass, there were still plenty of other NYC trains to ride in 1955-1956. My Father, H.C. Settlemoir, was NYC/Big 4 agent at Vienna, Illinois at the time this pass was issued. CAPT Rex Settlemoir Collection

Anaconda Wire located at 31st Street and the railroad was on the Big Four. Note the line that goes straight ahead across the Main Line. - 1955-56

NYC locomotive, engine number 6015, engine type 4-8-4, Indianapolis, Ind., June 30, 1956. Otto Perry photographer, Denver Public Library Special Collections Pete Zimmerman

FM Class CPA 24-4 4506 with an EMD F-3 B-unit leads the westbound Mercury through Battle Creek, MI in 1956 Jim Shaw Photo

Two Beech Grove workers check bearings in 1956. NYCSHS Photo

Conductor Baggerly in 1956
Two years after the Xtra 2104, STEAM WAS GONE!!! Alas, and Alak! The Cairo Line then became history when Conrail abandoned the line in the '80s. Ignoble testimony to those wonderful folks that won WWII with the Cairo Lines contribution with the 'OIL TRAINS' from Norris City in 1942!! Skip Farrington has to be spinning in his grave vs his lucid writing re the Cario in WW II. - LAB [Thanks to WRF for his courtesy..] - Lawrence Baggerly Collection.

April 1956. the local freight to Wabash crosses the Bee Line from South Anderson Yard to get on the Michigan Division main. H-6a 6344 will be retired in the following month. Photo by Jeremy Taylor, Taylor/NYCSHS Collection.

Photo of NYC 3001 taken in Wabash, April 1956 Vollrath Photo

October 1956 NYC's Train X "The eXplorer" at Cincinnati Union Terminal Baldwin Built Power Unit had Hydraulic Drive Roger Hensley Collection.

1957 This is an original Illinois Division bulletin order, discontinuing "The Egyptian" between Chicago and Harrisburg on the Cairo Line. Notice that it was posted at Stonefort, Illinois and was signed by NYC station agent . I obtained this bulletin order about 1965, when I accompanied my Dad (H.C. Settlemoir - Official Agent at Harrisburg), as he picked up agency paperwork at Stonefort in conjunction with the closing of the station. CAPT Rex Settlemoir Collection

May 3, 1957 - Cincinnati OH NYC 1977 2-8-2 H-7E The last engine to have the fire pulled on the NYC

Here is a Wintertime shot. Photo looks North, towards Harrisburg, depot overhang is visible in the foreground. The picture dates from the last days of steam in 1950's; NYC water tower, pumphouse, and water spiggot are all shown here. This is the same company water tower that H. C. Settlemoir used to take the 'airborne' picture of the station area in 1948. CAPT Rex Settlemoir

(Ever wondered just when the NYC changed from grain boxcars to grain hoppers. In 1957 boxcars were still in use.) Unloading grain from boxcar, Farmers' Union. GTA Elevator, Upper Levee (foot of Chestnut), St. Paul, MN.

E8 4071 pauses with the Eastbound Southwestern Limited at Terre Haute in May of 1958 Collection of James C. Suhs

EMD E-7 4016 leads a Cincinnati, OH bound passenger train east of Shelby Street Yard in Indianapolis in February 1959. Richard Baldwin Photo.

Class DCA-1a units 3503 and 3502 (EMD F-3 with steam generator) at Muncie, IN on August 14, 1960. Note cast plate nose logo. (NYCSHS Photo)

New York Central GP-7 locomotives numbers 5803 and 5804 have a milk train in tow as the roll through a guarded crossing in Waterloo, Indiana. This idyllic scene will soon be swept away, vanishing into history with the massive New York Central itself. Taylor Rush Original photo taken by Herb Harnish.

At some point, you are bound to get tired of all these old depot pictures, but they were sure a part of our common NYC family background. As a young boy, can't tell you how much time that I spent in these old structures -- pot bellied stove, train order hoops, telegraph key, Underwood typewriter, Official Guide, semaphore signals -- the list goes on and on, but I remember all of them so well. Anyway, this is the NYC/Big 4/P & E depot at Veedersburg, Indiana. There is a car, barely visible to the left of the depot, so I would guess this photo to be about 1960, or so. No semaphore in sight, no station sign on the end of the building, and the place looks fairly desolate, so I would assume that the picture was taken sometime after the agency was closed -- probably after the massive Perlman cutbacks that took place starting in 1958 after Robert R. Young died. CAPT Rex Settlemoir collection

NYC Yard at Greensburg IN Looking East in the 1960s Marc Haston Collection.

DS-4-4-6 760 - ANDERSON IN - 03/10/1961 H. N. PROCTOR Photo - Gary Stuebben Collection

1961

ANDERSON IN - 07/24/1961 (H. N. Proctor Photo) - {Gary Stuebben Collection} These locos were known as the 600 wonders. Some had horns as this one does or whistles as some did. I don't know which had what . The same with the throttles ,some had notches and some had I called slide throttles. Notches were good if you had road work like a local but if you were switching the ladder the slide throttle was best. On the Niles ,Mich. to Benton Harbor, Mich. local every 30 days we would have a change engine for the yard engine at Benton Harbor. They used the little 600 H.P. engines so most of the time we would only have 15 or 20 cars both directions. After jumping the hurdles getting from the yard through town we left town with the throttle wide open. Rather then hold it open I would tie it open with a rubber band. If you would get above 30 mph I would slip a little air to the train and never touch the throttle. On the way back and you might have 25 cars but they or at least most would be loads. From the town limits to Niles Jct. about 2 miles 1mile was up a 1.5 % grade. With the loco wide open we would use a little engine brake and with good sand we would make the hill. But the exhaust stack would be red hot about half way up the stack. As far as I know it never hurt them in any way. The 1000 and 1200 HP were better to work with but the little 600 did a good job with what it had to work with. We had a City job that would have 55 or 60 cars out of the yards. We head east and around the south leg of the Y and after all of the train was around the Y stop and then back through town doing our work. It was slightly uphill out of the yards and around the Y, so with the big cut they would put another 600 HP on the rear end and shove us out of the yard. That was how it was in the old days. LEW

FA1 #1016 - SW1 #599 - FA2 #1063 F7A #1639 - F3A #1604 - F7A #1684 GP9 #6056 - F7A #1726 - RF16 #3805 RS3 #8229 All photos are from Anderson, IN - Jim Arnett Collection

La Salle Street Station - Chicago in 1961

Here's WB #35 at Collinwood, Ohio, in 1962.

Here's a mix of everything. Also WB #35 at Collinwood.

...and two more.

November 25, 1963 NYC Train Order 201 to No. 71 at Shirley Indiana All trains will cease operation between... For 2 minutes, the New York Central came to a stop in respect for a fallen President of the United States, JFK. Here is that Order.

Rex Settlemoir sez Here is a 1963 photo of No. 312, The Southwestern, at Indianapolis. Very typical consist for that particular time, except that it's probably the weekend with little or no head end business. 5937 & 5932 passenger Geeps in the lead, with rooftop air reservoirs ("torpedo tubes"). Local coach and diner behind the baggage car (for Cleveland), followed by New York coach and sleeper on the rear, to be handed off to No. 16 at Cleveland. I'm thinking the diner in the background is from Nos. 302-305 (Cincinnati Special/Sycamore); the diner on that pair of trains operated Indy-Chicago only, at that time.

Courtesy of James A. Peters. The first Pass is his fathers, the others are his. James A. Peters collection

The Anderson Railroad Club makes a run to Westport on 20 Sep 1964

Here is one more comparison that spans several decades. First photo, of course, is the NYC/Big 4 Freight House at Harrisburg, Illinois in a shot that was taken about 1964, when HCS was the Freight Agent there. Second photo is from the same spot, and shows the Gum Street location as it appears in 2007 -- quite a difference, though not quite as bad as a hamburger joint in place of the passenger station. CAPT Rex Settlemoir

Here is the NYC/Big 4 depot at Stonefort, Illinois in a photo that I took on October 5, 2007. This is one of the few remaining company structures on the former Cairo Line -- it was still an open station into the early 1960's. It was closed about 1964, and its work (primarily coal billed from the Will Scarlett Mine) was transferred to Harrisburg. A lumber company had been using the building for several years, but apparently is no longer doing so. Surprisingly, the mast for the manual block (or train order signal) is still laying on the ground after all these years. CAPT Rex Settlemoir Collection.

Here is NYC company officer H.C. Settlemoir surveying the results of a collision with the Illinois Central at Cairo in about 1965. As I recall my Dad's description of the event, the "Cairo Turn" (Harrisburg-Cairo train nos. 180 & 185 at this time) was pulling over the IC crossing when they were hit by the IC train, whose crew was "shoving blind." Pretty basic safety violation by the IC crew and I'm certain that the Illinois Central paid dearly at the joint investigation and resulting litigation. NYC/Big 4 Trainmaster W.J. (Bill Mellen) happened to be on vacation at the time of this accident, so Harrisburg agent H.C. Settlemoir got the honors of overseeing the cleanup of the mess created by the IC. CAPT Rex Settlemoir

These two photos are at Harrisburg, Illinois, and date from about 1965. The first photo is at Harrisburg Yard, and looks south toward the hump. Today, this area is all flattened and has been built over with apartments. The second photo looks north toward the freight house on Gum Street. The last time that I was in Harrisburg, the freight house was still standing, although the brick passenger station adjacent to the former main line had been torn down and replaced with a hamburger joint. CAPT Rex Settlemoir

1965 This is the NYC company pass issued to my Father (H.C. Settlemoir) in 1965. I believe this is the last year that "NYC" passes were issued to employees. As the Penn Central merger approached, the company simply extended the expiration of old passes, rather than issuing new ones. CAPT Rex Settlemoir Collection.

1966, July M-497's Record Setting Run Don Wetzel was the engineer on a July day in 1966, when a crew from Collinwood with Mr. Perlman as co-pilot roared into the history books with a one-of-a-kind rail car locomotive rigged with two jet engines. Racing along an arrow-straight track between Butler, IN, and Bryan, OH, Wetzel and his crew reached a top speed of 183 mph, a U.S. record that still stands. Alfred E. Perlman's M-497 Letter to Chuck Crouse           (PDF Format) M-497 tribute 6-2009 wk.pps (Power Point Presentation - 4.4meg)

1967 From: Ken Hojnacki If you ever wondered what it would be like sitting across the desk of an NYC Division Superintendent, here we see Division Superintendent Larry Baggerly hard at work at his desk in the Rochester, NY station on 5/21/67. Ken Hojnacki Collection.

1967 The scene looks good until you realize that there are 2 locos, 1 baggage and 1 coach...

On August 19, 2002, Maurice Lewman and I toured the CSX Big Four Avon Yard with permission. For the photo essay, Click Here

Westbound NYC #341 as it approaches the Dan Jones Road overpass on February 8, 1968. Notice all the fields and how rural the area is. Now it is all apartments and shopping centers. Also, a photo of NYC #312 heading east at IJ Tower on the west side of Indianapolis Photos taken by Jim Latimer.

John sez: I came across the last New York Central HEADLIGHT, February, 1968. Attached is a copy of a picture of a welded rail trail taken from Taft Tower. I don't know when the picture was made but, there is snow on the ground. (209K) Also, here is a copy of a proclamation by the last meeting of the Board of Directors of the NYC. Was in color but the paper has fade to a yellow cast so I did it in black and white as well. (277k) John Reehling Collection

. . . .

NYC 6894 (0-6-0 class B-10W) arrived in Connersville, IN as a donation to the Whitewater Valley Railroad. It was unloaded from the flatcar on 2/27/06. The third photo shows it by the restored (Dearborn) interlocking tower from Lawrenceburg. Photos by David Farlow and EA Vaughan. Courtesy of WVRR.

Here's a shot of the HIckory Creek at her current home in Lebanon, NJ: And Otto Vondrak said, "Here's a picture from a few years ago of the Hickory Creek rolling past Bannerman's Island..."