Train no. 472 taking water

NG501037

Train no. 472 taking water

Steam Locomotive

Train 472, whose 17 cars include 5 of strawberries received from the Illinois Central at Mattoon, pauses at Muncie for some head-end work. It is a "pause that refreshes" for the spic-and-span 5435, just out of the backshop at Beech Grove and resplendent in her new paint (this was taken in the spring of 1953, when such magnificently groomed steam engines could still be found on rare occasions). Muncie, with a population of about 60,000, is the largest city on the Indianapolis-Bellefontaine line, and a heavy contributor to its freight traffic (the two big industries are Ball Brothers and Warner Gear). The NYC competes here with the Nickel Plate (whose main line, identified by the freight-cars in the right background below, parallels the NYC through town), and, to a somewhat lesser extent, with the C&O and Pennsylvania. Anderson, at 47,000, is the next largest city on the line, but since it is the principal terminal of the so-called *Michigan District", yard and industrial switching there are under the jurisdiction of the Indiana Division. After Muncie and Anderson, the towns along the line diminish rapidly in size and importance. Sidney (12,000) and Winchester (6,000), the latter with its Anchor Hocking glass works, are the only ones which generate a substantial amount of traffic. In fact, a veteran trainmaster once remarked of this territory that it was the "easiest" on the Ohio Division (in terms of likelihood of delays to trains, proneness of crews to overtime, irascibility of shippers to be satisfied, etc.).

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

Apr-53

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4/6/2004

336

J-3a

#5435

Alco-Schen

Muncie, IN

See NG501037a