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Deserted WG Tower at the west end, bay window caboose in view
Vandals and vacant buildings mean trouble anywhere, and so it was with WG tower after the control apparatus was removed. The brick building, once reasonably attractive in a functional way, has become an eyesore, its interior not only wrecked but also…
Looking east at the west end
Yard leads at the west end of Elkhart connect with the main tracks at a remote interlocking called "WG," controlled from B tower, 4.9 miles east. This is WG looking east, with the yard leads (2) in the foreground and the main tracks adjacent.…
11 track local yard
One supplementary facility not generally available at hump yards is a separate yard for making up local freights. The results are either that locals are delayed and production is slowed while these cars are handled in pullout areas, or that the…
West end of the class yard
The west end yardmaster gets this view of the pullout operation he controls as he looks out of the east window of the west end yard office, located immediately north of the car shop. Groups one through four are dead ahead, and the eastbound departure…
Classification tracks
Looks like an awful lot of room, but big yards attract traffic and traffic in modern times is carried in longer and longer cars, so that what in the beginning was plentiful class yard capacity at Elkhart changed later to adequate and more recently to…
72 track class yard
Eight groups of nine tracks each comprise the class yard at Elkhart. South and north bypass tracks flank the hump lead; westbound departure yard, cleanout tracks, and inbound freight lead are adjacent to the south (left, above), and eastbound…
Westbound departure yard and caboose tracks
The aforementioned footbridge was built to carry pedestrian traffic between the hump and the YMCA at times such as this, when long eastbounds on the receiving yard lead are pulling slowly by while a yard clerk records the consists from the TV…
Diesel cab units being serviced
Here are the diesel shop and fueling facilities as viewed from the upper floor of the hump building. At the pumps are F7s 1870-2455-1679, in off an extra from Toledo, and farther down on the same service track are Alcos 10323308-1077 off BC-5; on the…
Pacemaker boxcars rolling down
A more panoramic view of the hump is available from the retarder operator's room at the top of the six-story retarder building. BC-5 from Buffalo is coming up the hill out of receiving yard track 3. Beyond the fueling station, occupied by a stray F7…
Shoving, hump tower in view
The footbridge over the eastbound receiving track affords this view of the hump, as humper 7112 finishes off no. 92 from Kankakee. The south bypass track and pocket are in the foreground (the latter a handy place for special-move cars, do-not-hump…
Backing off the hump crest after a shove
Details in this photograph, made from the east window of the trainmaster's office on the top floor of the hump building, are as follows: the hump lead, with Fairbanks humper 7112 and slug 450 backing off after completing a shove; the fifteen-track…
Two head tri-color mast signal at 21st st. Interlocking
This is 21st Street interlocking, remotely controlled from B Tower, looking toward the west. The main tracks, connected here by universal crossovers and signalled in both directions, are on the right. The track at center comes from the eastbound…
Passing TV camera at Oakland Av.
A 144-car empty train from Selkirk behind units 1607-2452-6603 pulls by the TV camera and reflector at Oakland Avenue, just prior to entering the westbound receiving yard. The track on the left is the eastbound fast freight; the main tracks are…
Train DC-7 arriving from the east
DC-7 was pictured earlier leaving Niles, Michigan, for Gibson Yard. Six years later, the new yard at Elkhart has resulted in diversion of through freight traffic from the Michigan Central main line west of Jackson and elimination of Niles as a major…
Looking out from B Tower at the G&M Loop Local
From the steps of B Tower, the scene to the west includes the freight leads, in line with the camera; the passenger mains, curving across to their right; and the Jackson-Elkhart main in the right foreground. Traffic is stopped on Main and Middlebury…