Train no. 419

NG502041

Train no. 419

Steam M&E Train

Indianapolis-Chicago local no. 419 - opposite number to the train just pictured - leaves Lebanon behind the 5437, sister to the 5441, In the background here are two landmarks which (if not as obviously as grain elevators) exude a midwestern flavor -- the Boone County Packing Co. plant and the dome over the Boone County courthouse. Also visible, across the field behind the packing plant, is the fill and ballasted roadbed of the Pennsylvania, which passes over the NYC here on its way from Indianapolis to Logansport. The train above was dropped from the schedule at the same time as its opposite, and this ended the last local service on the main line between Cincinnati and Kankakee. The larger towns such as Greensburg, Shelbyville, Lebanon, and Lafayette were served by the faster trains, and between the automobile, the bus, and the mail truck, the local passenger train was simply squeezed out of the picture in the rural communities - just as it has been in similar situations all over the country.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

Spring, 1954

To buy a copy of this photograph; click here NG502041

481

J-3a

#5437

Alco-Schen

Lebanon, IN