NorthAmericanInterlockings: 1988 levers model board steam locomotive 1984
Chicago and Northern Indiana Railroad Interlocking Towers (click the marker for the correct information)
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| John W. Barriger III Flickr, flipped Eric Reinert comment: "Looking westbound on Erie/C&WI at State Line Tower, Hammond, IN. The Monon joins a couple hundred feet up ahead. Image is reversed as can easily be told by the SL on the tower." |
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| Joseph tuch Santucci updated State Line tower at the Indiana/Illinois border in 1996. Originally a Chicago & Western Indiana operation at this point in time it was part of the Indiana Harbor Belt. IHB took control when the C&WI was being dissolved among its owners. In it’s heyday State Line controlled the crossing and connections of the Monon, Erie, Nickle Plate Road Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal, Indiana Harbor Belt, Elgin, Joliet & Eastern, Chesapeake & Ohio of Indiana, and the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend. And of course, all the successor railroads. State Line was the eastern terminus of the C&WI main line. The Monon track broke off here and headed to South Hammond Yard. It was technically owned by the C&WI, operated under the authority of the C&WI dispatcher between the north end of South Hammond Yard and the tower. IHB had two tracks here, the line from Calumet City to Burnham yard and the western terminus of the East Chicago Belt Line. IHB severed their East Chicago Bekt line west of Calumet Ave in Hammond but kept a short piece of it at State Line to reach an industry there still getting rail service. The line to Burnham Yard still sees regular service. The EJ&E had a line that broke off the Whiting Branch that went through East Chicago and Hammond through to the Hegewisch neighborhood in Chicago. EJ&E abandoned this line in favor of trackage rights on the B&OCT and NS to reach their own track in Hegewisch. After the Erie Lackawanna ceased operations and the C&O rerouted their traffic and the daily Amtrak trains, their track to State Line from the bridge shared with the N&W, the track was removed from service, eventually abandoned and finally removed. It was still there but severed as late as 1983 or 84. When Erie Western began operating through here via the former joint EL/C&O, a new connection was built in North Hammond near the north end of the abandoned EL yard to the Monon (now L&N) track and they reached State Line in this manner. Today the Monon/L&N track is long gone. The C&WI main line west of the tower is also gone. The tower itself is long since closed and I believe is also long gone. I was up in this tower several times in my career including way back in 1981 when I was taking my C&WI engineer’s qualification exam. It seemed like it was never new. In its heyday, the place was so busy there was both an operator and a lever man here around the clock. In addition to the freight traffic was all the passenger trains so it seemed there was always something rolling through here. Bob Poortinga: The Wabash also operated through State Line. They had trackage rights on the B&OCT (actually the SL&IC, but that's another story) and turned the corner at State Line and ran west on the C&WI. After the N&W bought the Wabash and the NKP, N&W trains from Clarke Junction went west on the former NKP. The EJ&E originally had a yard at 110th St on the Calumet Western and used trackage rights on the C&WI to reach it. Joseph Tuch Santucci: Bob Poortinga I meant to mention the Wabash, got pulled away and then forgot about adding it. Forgot all about Calumet Western. |
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| Steven M Geisler posted B&O GP40-2 4143 with a train at State Line Tower, IN-IL Sept. 1974 Steven M Geisler posted |
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| Kaiden Roberts posted I had to take a photo of it on my Chromebook so it’s not the best quality but what is this system of pipes along the mainline for? I’m assuming it’s some type of electrical system to power a few switches but not sure. This is at state line. [At first, I thought this scene was taken with a Chromebook. And a Chromebook is too new for signalling pipelines to still exist. But then I realized that, since it shows a Monon train, this is an image of an old photo. So the pipes would be signalling pipelines.] |
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| Bob Lalich commented on Kaiden's post State Line was said to be the largest mechanical interlocking plant in the world for a period of time. The frame had space for 224 levers. An operator was assisted by one or two levermen when the tower was put into service. By the time I first visited the tower in the early 1970s, one person operated the desk and levers. Here is an interior view from a c1900 newspaper article. |
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| safe_image for Flickr Jeffrey Schackart commented: 1980 - chicago and western indiana railroad tower, largest in north america state line tower, 220 mechanical pipe line, 95 % worked others were spare. i was the very last 'LEVERMAN-TELEPHONER-OPERATOR' HIRED FOR THE CWI IN 1979, LVERMAN IN 1980, FURLOUGHED AND GOT A JOB WITH I.H.B. Joseph Tuch Santucci: Was up there several times over the years. When I was qualifying on the C&WI in 1981, Superintendent Andy Anderson brought me up there for the first time. Recalled how huge the place was. He told me at one time they had both an operator and lever man on duty as the place was so busy with the multiple railroads using the lines through there. I have numerous photos in and around there. At some point I need to dig them out and post them.Jeffrey Schackart: andy was a good man, and i can only wish more could have been like him, ass chewin if ya needed it, no official paper wokk if he could avoid it, then he'd buy you a beer afterwards. when we had no one availible for conductor, he and moe henry and myself would work the local. |
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| John W. Barriger III Flickr, flipped Bob Lalich comment: "Looking west along B&OCT, showing NKP and Monon diamonds. Image is flipped." |
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| John W. Barriger III Flickr, flipped Bob Lalich comment: "Flipped image of Erie-B&OCT diamonds at SL looking east. B&O CPL signal not yet in service." |
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| John W. Barriger III Flickr, flipped Bob Lalich comment: "Looking NW from the tower, image is flipped." [Looking at all of the signaling pipelines.] |
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| 1959 by Dr. J W F Scrimgeour from Signal Box |
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| Jeffrey Schackart posted chicago & western indiana railroad, stateline tower, hammond indiana, 220 mechanical strong arm levers, originally a 3 man post. monon entry, erie-lackawana entry, nickleplate, B&O , e.j.e., i.h.b., chicago south shore. I WAS THE VERY LAST C.W.I. LEVERMAN HIRED IN 1980 AND WORKED THEIR 5 TOWER SYSTEM Ken Jamin: I was told that State line tower was the biggest Armstrong lever plant in the US. Jeffrey Schackart Author The Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad operated an extensive number of interlocking tower system on its system. From the north, towers were as follows: 12th Street tower, 15th Street tower, 16th Street tower, 21st Street tower, 40th Street tower, 47th Street tower, Ford Street tower (59th Street), 74th Street tower, 81st Street tower, Oakdale (later remote controlled by 81st Street), Pullman Junction, South Deering (112th St., later remote controlled from Main Line Drawbridge), Main Line Drawbridge and the famous State Line tower, which was North America's largest interlocking controlled by strong-arm mechanical levers. Pullman Junction was not a conventional interlocked junction, although there was a small interlocking machine for the signals protecting the C&WI-BRC junction there. The crossings were protected by gates and tilting targets. All trains were required to stop. Switchtenders were located at Dearborn Station, 31st Street, 80th Street and Pullman Junction. C&WI commuter Legend 0 Dearborn Station RI to LaSalle Street Amtrak SWS 1.7 mi 2.7 km Archer Ave. I-55 I-90 Stock Yards Branch 4.6 mi 7.4 km 47th St. 5.6 mi 9 km 55th St. 6.1 mi 9.8 km 59th St. 6.6 mi 10.6 km Englewood Green 7.2 mi 11.6 km Normal Park 7.7 mi 12.4 km Hamilton Park SWS RI 8.6 mi 13.8 km Auburn Park 8.9 mi 14.3 km 81st St. 9.2 mi 14.8 km 83rd St. 10.1 mi 16.3 km Oakdale 11.0 mi 17.7 km Euclid Park I-57 11.7 mi 18.8 km Fernwood 12.2 mi 19.6 km North Roseland 12.7 mi 20.4 km Roseland 13.2 mi 21.2 km Sheldon Park 13.7 mi 22 km Kensington ME Little Calumet River 16.6 mi 26.7 km Dolton This diagram: viewtalkedit The modest commuter service between Chicago and Dolton was discontinued on July 26, 1963. [2] However, the railroad remained the terminal switcher for the remaining carriers using Dearborn S |
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| Larry Burk posted Another Erie Lackawanna by State Line Tower at Hammond, IN October 1968 Dave Regittko photo. John DePauw collection John LaRochelle: State Line Tower (Chicago & Western Indiana RR) was once considered the largest mechanical interlocking plant in the world. RR Management from around the world visited there. Eric Berg: In the old days, State Line had 3 men on duty around the clock...a train director and 2 levermen. John LaRochelle: Eric Berg : The leverman used roller skates. Richard Fiedler shared
State Line tower near Hammond Indiana Dennis DeBruler: I've seen many photos of this tower. This is the best photo so far in terms of capturing the pipelines. |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on his share I never realized until I looked for the exact location of the tower, https://maps.app.goo.gl/9KvoxZTjeWWoaVEW6, that the tower was a couple of hundred feet into Indiana. 1939 aerial photo |
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| Craig Holmberg commented on Dennis' share |
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| Jeffrey Schackart posted how many went by state line tower-Hammond ind. world's largest control tower with 220 strong arm mechanical pipeline levers...I worked there 1980 Tim Lockley Quite possibly the biggest survivor at the time, but not the biggest ever. AFAIK the largest single-row mechanical lever frame was the 295 lever Locomotive Yard signalbox, York. Jon Moore Not too long after I hired on we had to stop to pick up a fax for a hazardous waybill right before it closed. As big as it was I can see why it took three operators per shift to work it! Jeffrey Schackart they also had a real blacksmith and a help assigned to that tower for repairs/ Gig Anderson Worked on the IHB as an electrician lineman. Removed all electric from the state line tower after it closed. Also maintained The bridge at Torrance Avenue . Made a lot of money maintaining that nightmare of a bridge. IHB finally sold it to the city of Chicago. |
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| Noah Haggerty posted Two Erie E8A's lead a passenger service across one of the many railroad diamonds at Griffith, Indiana sometime during July of 1958. This is on the Erie line which has been ripped out and turned into a rail trail. Unknown photographer, Thomas Dyrek Collection. Jim Sank: Richard Blunt Stateline Tower looking East. This is State Line tower. B&OCT in the Foreground. NKP on the right. Tim Shanahan shared |
Jim Griffith posted four photos with the comment: "State Line Tower."
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| 1 [The signaling pipelines are still intact.] |
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| 4 Stan Stanovich: ...the semaphore(s) were gone by July 1985, I would remember their presence!!! |
Mike Breski posted three images with the comment:
State Line Tower
Hammond, Indiana
Hammond, Indiana
State Line Tower was build by the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad in 1897. The interlocking sat on the Illinois and Indiana boarder, hence the name State Line. The tower was of brick and concrete and had a slate roof. The tower was 100 feet long and 16 feet wide. It housed a 224 mechanical lever machine made by the National Switch & Signal Company of Easton, Pa.
At the time of installation in 1897 the machine had 136 levers in service, 20 spare levers and 68 spare spaces. The locking bed was of vertical type and was on the front and back of the interlocking machine. The locking bed had over 900 locking dogs and had 2,500 feet of locking bars. Almost 62,000 feet of pipeline was used and 109,000 feet of wire used. The interlocking operated 62 signals, 68 switches, 70 facing point locks, 1 movable point frog, and 39 crossing bars. The longest pipeline for a signal was 2,492 feet and 1,242 feet for the switch.
In 1910, 24 of the spare levers and spaces were put in service for the Kensington and Eastern Railroad which was expanding its tracks through the interlocking. Through the years tracks where removed and slowly the interlocking plant saw less and less traffic. The mechanical pipelines started being replaced by electric signals and electric switches. By 1985 the C&WI tracks had been removed and the IHB, B&OCT, CSS&SB, and the NYC&STL where the only railroads left at the interlocking. By the 1980's State Line Tower was under the ownership of the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad. The tower was closed on August 5th, 2000 and was tore down the following October. Nothing remains at the site of the tower today, not even a hint of a tower foundation.
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| Tim Hager commented on a posting here is a Google Earth map of State Line Interlocking in Hammond, Indiana. The tower was leveled in 2000. This is all that’s left of what used to be a much busier location, with the former Erie Lackawanna (C&WI) mainline, Indiana Harbor Belt’s East Chicago Belt, the Monon mainline, and EJ&E and Wabash’s run through trains. The IHB, NS, CSX and CSS&SB are all that remain. If you were to return to this location today, you would never see a trace of where the tower was. [Satellite] |
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| Bob Lalich commented on Mike's post State Line interlocking went through numerous changes over the years. Here is the layout when the famous tower and interlocking machine were installed in 1897. There had to have been an earlier installation to protect the junction of LNA&C/Monon, the NYC&StL-LNA&C crossing and the crossings of B&OCT predecessor Chicago & Calumet Terminal RR. I have not yet found any information about that though. It was most likely a switchtender arrangement with mandatory stops for all trains. |
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| 1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP |
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| David Young posted state line other side David Young shared |
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| Steve Lewandowski posted State Line circa 1972 35mm negative Eric Reinert I don’t think Ive ever seen a photo of State Line Tower with that lean-to on the back side. |
Bill Urbanczyk posted two photos with the comment: "State Line Tower - 1995"
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| Jim Griffith posted |
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| Steve Shook Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) [Please click the link for the text, it is copyrighted.] John Smatlak shared Early view of State Line Tower showing the original windows on the ground floor. Lawrence Smith: wow never saw those widows. Bob Lalich: Lawrence Smith - no one still alive ever saw those windows. |
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| John Smatlak commented on Lawrence's comment I gather the smaller windows on the ground floor happened pretty early on- but you could always see where the originals had been due to the different color bricks. Here's a shot I took in 1987. |
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| Jim Griffith posted Peter Zimmermann posted I'm not much into passenger trains but I hope this will be okay, a picture of the famed C&WI state line tower when it was brand new looks like!! Dennis DeBrulerYou are an administrator in this group. There is a lot more to railroading than engines and passenger cars. It does capture that a long interlocking frame needs a long tower building. From the style of the caption, it looks like this is from the 1915 Smoke Abatement Report. |
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| Rod Truszkowski posted [1915 Smoke Abatement Report, p497] |
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| Steven J. Brown posted A South Shore interurban glides by State Line Tower in Hammond, Indiana - December 1990. |
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| Larry J. Perlman commented on the above posting |
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| Steven J Brown posted Norfolk Southern GP33ECO 4708 with a string of auto racks waits for an eastbound BNSF train on CSX at State Line in the Hegewisch neighborhood of Chicago - February 25, 2017. [The reason there is so much autorack action here is that IHB's Gibson Yard, which is a little east of here, handles nothing but autoracks and handles all of the autorack trains for the entire Chicagoland area.] |
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| Rick Kessler posted
Here is another photo from the same group that I posted earlier. I believe it is at State Line Tower mid 1930's. That's my Grandfather's tool/handcar/ shed/ on the left. I have his swivel office chair from there. I was in that shed in the early 70's with my Dad. It was empty and had no doors on it, but what was really cool was my Grandfather had carved into the wall on the inside when he got married in 1920 and throughout the place there were other carvings like "First snow- Dec 12 1934" and different names and things that were important to them at the time. I wish now I would have gone back there and taken some of those boards off. My Dad told me at the time about 8 years later, he was going by with a train, and saw them pick it up with a crane from the rails and drop it into a gondola. Oh well, at least I still have his office chair I guess. I wish I had some better pictures of the place or knew it's exact location. I might go snoop around there. All I really remember is we had to walk along the tracks from Marble street in Hammond to get there.
[The remaining photos that he posted were of workmen.] |
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| Bill Molony posted The Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad's State Line interlocking tower - June 10, 1958. |
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| Josh Lemier posted
Here we see the Erie Lackawanna 3681 roll past State Line Tower at Hammond, Indiana on December 22, 1975.
Photo Credit To John Eagan.
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| Kevin Piper posted SD9 601 at State Line Tower in Hammond, IN, date unknown. Scanned from a 4x6 print. PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN [I wonder whose tracks the EJ&E train is using. It looks like the second unit is an Alco.] |
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Mark Llanuza posted three photos with the comment: "Its 1974 I'm at State line tower with eastbound COFC train first hot shot eastbound in the morning and a view of inside this classic tower."
Crew Heimer posted five photos with the comment: "State Line Tower 1977."
This is a repeat of the top photo, but it is worthy of a repeat and Peter provides some interesting comments.
Jim Griffith posted three photos.
Mike Breski posted nine photos with the comment:
[The initial text is deleted because it is a repeat of a post above. The remaining text is deleted because it is another plagiarism of CRJ.]
Mike Breski reposted the above comment with thirteen photos. These are the additional photos. Those that are already in these notes are small here.
I repeat a map because it has new comments.
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| Kevin Piper posted SD9 601 at State Line Tower in Hammond, IN, date unknown. Scanned from a 4x6 print. PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN Dennis DeBruler There were six railroads here: B&OCT+Wabash vs. Monon and NKP+Erie+C&O. But EJ&E was significantly further south and east. This would be a timecard eastbound, so I wonder where it is transferring from and how it will get to its own tracks. Kevin PiperGroup Admin EJ&E ran over C&WI to South Deering. Rick La Fever The EJ&E sort of wandered a bit to get back to home rails near Gary. They ran along what used to be known as The East Chicago Belt from Grasselli to State Line and then C&WI to S. Deering. They also serviced a USS fence plant in Hegwisch which, maybe where this train is coming from. |
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| Sam Carlson commented on Kevin's posting This may help, though you'll have to zoom in to read it. Dennis DeBruler Do you know what the numbers along the routes mean? For example 4s and 5s along the GTW. My first reaction was the number of tracks, But I think many of the numbers are too big for that. I'm also trying to figure out the difference between the "dot dash" lines and just the "dash" lines. It helps in general because it still has the Panhandle, LN/Monon, Erie, C&O, MC Joliet cutoff, Pennsy, and EJ&E Porter branch. |
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| Sam Carlson commented on Kevin's posting |
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| Sam Carlson commented on Kevin's posting |
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| Kevin Piper posted
In its heyday, State Line was one of the most complex interlockings in the United States. The Erie, Chesapeake & Ohio and the Monon ran through here, paralleling the Nickel Plate, and crossing the B&OCT just east of the state line. The Erie/C&O double track main was jointly owned by the two roads, but the Monon used a a parallel single track through Hammond that fed into the Erie after crossing B&OCT and NKP. At the state line, the Erie/C&O main became the property of the Chicago & Western Indiana, the terminal railroad for lines using Dearborn Station in Chicago. Erie, C&O and Monon trains all used C&WI tracks within the Chicago city limits, and timetables from years ago show that C&WI also operated the Monon track through Hammond to Monon's South Hammond Yard. All of these tracks have now been removed, and it is no longer easy to locate the old right-of-way that ran between the tower site and NS. The tower was originally owned and operated by C&WI, but when the tracks were torn up, control shifted to the IHB. Trains of the now largely abandoned Wabash line to Toledo once passed through here on trackage rights, using the B&OCT east of the junction and C&WI to the northwest. Also, Elgin, Joliet and Eastern accessed the junction using an IHB track in the northeast quadrant that ran behind the tower and crossed the B&OCT before heading east to Gary. State Line was a much busier place back in the good old days and was a well-known railfan hotspot.
EJ&E 418 is seen entering C&WI track for a run to South Deering on 10-30-65. The EJ&E/IHB connection here from State Line Junction east toward Gary, and the C&WI to Chicago is now abandoned. LOUIS CERNY PHOTO/KEVIN PIPER COLLECTION
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| Mark Llanuza posted Its 1980 looking west at Erie main line at State line tower in Hammond Ind .The tracks a rusting away with deep weeds where 42 years ago there was as many as 20 Erie frt's a day over a 24 hour's. Stan Stanovich ...on my first visit to Chicago from the east coast in July of 1985 this is basically how the place looked but the vegetation was green! The most haunting thing about the experience is that the signal system was still active. The rails had so much rust on them it was questionable that a train would be able to shunt the circuit!!! Matt McClure Tracks were gone by either 1986-87. Waited nearby for the J611. Rick La Fever Tower and trackage are gone. |
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| Sam Carlson posted Eastward caboose hop going through State Line interlocking in March, 1976. |
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| Crew Heimer posted Day of 8/6/1977 Bob Lalich Great perspective on State Line and the approaches! Nearly everything was still there at the time. Marty Gatton The white building in the upper left between the CSS and the CWI was burned down as a training fire in the early 90's Ken Draus Building in the foreground, with the large white tanks, is now a scrap metal recycling place called marble metals. |
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| Michael Mireles commented on a posting State Line tower |
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| Mike Breski posted B&O, Hammond, Indiana, 1977 Westbound Baltimore and Ohio Railroad freight train at Indiana State Line in Hammond, Indiana, on March 26, 1977. Photograph by John F. Bjorklund, © 2016, Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Bjorklund-92-25-11 |
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| Peter Zimmermann posted
State Line tower WAY back when more windows were in place on the operators floor. I think the view shows possibly an a Nickel Plate Road train[westbound].
Back then this was quite the place as the crossing of the...
B&OCT Railroad[now CSX]
Nickel Plate Road[now Norfolk Southern] Indiana Harbor Belt Chicago South Shore & South Bend Wabash Railway[on B&OCT trackage rights] EJ&E Railway[abandoned] Erie Railroad[abandoned] C&O Railway of Indiana[abandoned] Monon[abandoned] Chicago & Western Indiana Railway[abandoned].
in 2018 only CSX, NS, IHB & CSS&SB still run through/cross here, the tower is gone and the interlocking is handled by the Indiana Harbor Belt's "East Dispatcher" in Calumet City Illinois.
Stan StanovichStan and 42 others joined Windy City Rails within the last two weeks. Give them a warm welcome into your community! ...the Nickel Plate main is toward the right, the tracks closest to the tower were Chicago and Western Indiana! Quite possibly an Erie train!!! |
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| Mike Breski posted [I recognized the comment as Bill Gustason's style of writing. After confirming the comment is an accurate plagiarism of CRJ, I deleted the comment because the source of Mike's text has more information.] Robert Jordan Not sure when that photo was but I seem to remember at the end it was a shack in the brambles. Bob Lalich C&O of Indiana ownership ended at HY Tower, which was located at the east end of Erie's Hammond Yard. C&O had trackage rights over the Erie from HY to State Line. Before using the IHB's East Chicago Belt track to access SL, EJ&E had their own line which joined the Erie just east of the interlocking limits. |
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| Mark Llanuza posted Its 1976 { photographer Don Ellison } captured this westbound at State line tower Hammond Ind. Walt Fles U36C and SPD45 |
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| Jim Griffith posted |
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[The initial text is deleted because it is a repeat of a post above. The remaining text is deleted because it is another plagiarism of CRJ.]
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| Bob Lalich commented on Mike's post Not to nitpick but to clarify with a few details, the C&O used trackage rights over the Erie from State Line Tower to HY Tower where joint ownership of the line to Griffith began, each RR owning one track of the line operated as double track. The EJ&E had their own track east of State Line Tower to Grasselli, which paralleled and crossed the IHB East Chicago Belt. The EJ&E line connected to the Erie WB main track just outside the interlocking limits of State Line. Here is a 1978 photo by Jim Burd showing the connection. Note the man on the ground calling for permission to throw the switch and enter the EJ&E. At this time, the ex-Erie east of SL was operated by the Erie Western Ry, which failed a little over a year later. |
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| Bob Lalich commented on the ninth photo of Mike's post I have seen the above map before. There are a few odd details. SC&E should be SL&IC, for example. Here is a nice drawing from Trains. It is accurate for 1947. |
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| Jim, Peter and Rod posted |
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| Mike Breski posted B&O, Hammond, Indiana, 1977 Westbound Baltimore and Ohio Railroad freight train at Indiana State Line in Hammond, Indiana, on March 26, 1977. Photograph by John F. Bjorklund, © 2016, Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Bjorklund-92-25-11 |
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| new photo |
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| Michael Mireles commented on a posting, but this is a different exposure |
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| Court Bob Lalich Ean Kahn-Treras Hmmmmm. Whats up with the ex-MC and then the dashed Monon line paralleling each other...? Bob Lalich The IHB's East Chicago Belt was originally owned by the MC and LS&MS. The line was built by the MC, then leased or sold to the IHB under one of several reorganizations. When I first went into the tower in the early 70s, the operator still referred to that track as the MC. The dashed Monon line in the drawing was an industrial lead that serviced the numerous North Hammond industries north of the Grand Calumet River. |
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| Dave Durham posted |
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| Dave Durham posted |
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| Pete Fileca posted Monon in Hammond Pete Fileca  State line tower in the picture. |
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| Pete Fileca posted Removed el. Hammond ind |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Pete's post That is State Line Tower behind the power pole. I like these overview shots of a junction because it helps visualize the track layout. Since the Chessie train is between us and the tower, we are looking timecard West. The tracks on the left were Nickle Plate, and they still exist as NS tracks. The curve in the NKP and Erie tracks also indicates we are looking West. But what is of particular interest is the train on the right side of the photo. It is either an EJ&E or an IHB train. Now that I have learned a new interface to the topo maps, http://historicalmaps.arcgis.com/usgs/, I'm using them more often. Unfortunately, this junction shows that they can be quite inaccurate. I put a yellow rectangle around the tower building in this 1953 excerpt @ 1:24,000 scale. The B&OCT tracks should be south of that tower. And, as we see in the above photo, there should be tracks to the east of the tower. Tim Valiquet The train on the right of the photo seems to be on the old connection between the B&OCT and CWI, On the right side of the tower the old Wabash 4th district to Toledo used trackage rights over the B&O from Clarke Jct in Gary to Stateline tower then used the CWI to access Landers yard VIA Belt Jct in Chgo...The J also had a connection to the CWI but ran on what we see in this view would be the left side of the tower., If I remember correctly the J actually connected to the Erie, the track didn't become CWI until it crossed the B&OCT. The WAB connection was on the right side of the tower . I don't have a photo for reference but I did see the old Wabash connection way back when it was still in service . |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Pete's post Here is a 1947 drawing provided by Bob Lalich that shows a layout consistent with the photo. |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Pete's post And this aerial also shows tracks on the other side of the tower. And it shows the B&OCT tracks were between the tower and Marble Street. |
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| Monon in Hammond Dennis DeBruler  Again, I like these overview shots because it helps me visualize what the junction looked like. The C&WI+Erie tracks have been torn up. The photographer is standing where the Monon track joined the C&WI tracks, and he is looking southish along the remnants of the Monon. The black tracks on the right is the NS/NKP. The brown tracks crossing the photo in the middle is the IHB. The B&OCT tracks are on the other side of the tower and are not visible. |
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| Photo by Wallace W. Abbey
C&WI, Hammond, Indiana, 1956
Operator inside the Chicago & Western Indiana's State Line Tower in Hammond, Indiana, on September 9, 1956. Photograph by Wallace W. Abbey, © 2015, Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Abbey-03-121-07 |
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| Richard S Eule posted State Line Tower Ean Kahn-Treras Sweeeeeet! Making the bullet train on the NKP take a seat lol. Richard S Eule If you look in the back ground you can see N&W engines before they became Norfolk Southern. Rick La Fever I was thinking, is this a view towards Chicago but then realized, Yes it is. Mike Breski Heading into Burnham Yard? Ean Kahn-Treras Mike Breski honestly the C&O hopper has me a bit confused, but I dont think there was a connection to the South Shore at this time. Safest bet without know is that he is headed for IHB Burnham. Mike Breski Ean Kahn-Treras American maize or another industry may have taken in coal at that time looks I think that paint scheme on the loco may have all been gone by mid 80's but i could be wrong. It does look empty maybe a bury car. |
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| Rob Conway posted Although technically a Conrail train, a westbound with untouched Erie Lackawanna power waits for the lineup at Stateline Tower in May of 1976. |
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| Jim Griffith posted Chuck Mager: I rode Amtrak's "Floridian" from Florida to Chicago when it was still running on the MONON. There was a deadhead dome in the consist and a very understanding Conductor let me ride there for a great portion of the trip!! I was able to get photos of many places along the way. This picture reminds me happier times of that trip and early Amtrak adventures!! |
David Parker posted two photos with the comment: "Taken from State Line Tower June 13th 1983. IHB 8782 heads a transfer South while N&W 2403 waits in the background with an Eastbound transfer. (Photos by David Parker)"
Bob Lalich: The line with the diamonds removed from the IHB crossing was the Chicago & Western Indiana RR, a terminal line used here by the Erie/EL, Monon, C&O of Indiana, Wabash, and EJ&E. At the time of the photo, Monon successor Family Lines was still running a local freight to the old Hammond Times printing plant in downtown Hammond IN.
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Dan Tracy posted two photos with the comment: "B&O Westbound with a GP38 and 2 GP40's roll by State Line Tower in Hammond IN January of 74."
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| 2 [I can read the sign STROM on the plant in the background. Please leave a comment if you know what STROM made.] |
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| Pete Fileca posted, cropped |
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| Larry Candilas commented on Pete's post State Line; about to cross the B&O. |
Paul Enenback caught two westbound Erie Lackawanna Geeps that have crossed the B&OCT and are approaching State Line Tower.
The comments on a posting indicate that State Line was the largest "armstrong" tower in the world with 224 levers.
John LaRochelle The operator there told me at one time, it took 2 operators to handle the phone work and then communicate to the two tag team levermen on roller skates, the line up. This for each shift.
Mike Spencer When SL was commissioned, there were 3 Levermen and 1 Director. That's ca.1908-ish.
Bob Lalich Flickr 1984 Photo, MoPac local delivering paper to THE TIMES in downtown Hammond.
Bob Lalich Flickr 1985 Photo, interior view
Bob Lalich Flickr 1990 Photo, N&W 1218 steam locomotive with a clean stack passing the tower on the former NKP. (I need to study how the NKP route went pass this tower.)
John Smatlak Flickr 1987 Photo starts a sequence of seven photos in his Chicago Southeast Side Album
1956 Wallace W. Abby interior view
(Facebooked)
The comments on a posting indicate that State Line was the largest "armstrong" tower in the world with 224 levers.
John LaRochelle The operator there told me at one time, it took 2 operators to handle the phone work and then communicate to the two tag team levermen on roller skates, the line up. This for each shift.
Mike Spencer When SL was commissioned, there were 3 Levermen and 1 Director. That's ca.1908-ish.
Bob Lalich Flickr 1984 Photo, MoPac local delivering paper to THE TIMES in downtown Hammond.
Bob Lalich Flickr 1985 Photo, interior view
Bob Lalich Flickr 1990 Photo, N&W 1218 steam locomotive with a clean stack passing the tower on the former NKP. (I need to study how the NKP route went pass this tower.)
John Smatlak Flickr 1987 Photo starts a sequence of seven photos in his Chicago Southeast Side Album
1956 Wallace W. Abby interior view
(Facebooked)
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