Train no. 81

NG502053

Train no. 81

Steam Locomotive

Number 81, a pickup run from Indianapolis to Kankakee, eases through the depot at Lafayette behind L-2 no. 2847. The train continued across the Wabash River bridge, just west of the depot, then stopped after about 35 of its 59 cars had gone by. This was so that the 1581, the H-5 then serving as yard engine and helper, could cross over and back down against the caboose, from which point she would furnish assistance on the grade westbound out of the valley. The Nickel Plate tracks through Lafayette were not laid out in a manner conducive to efficient operations; they curve sharply, cross one street west of the depot and several east of it, to say nothing of a rather wide river, and start up a stiff grade at both ends of the curve. For this reason, road freights pick up and set out their Lafayette cars at Altamont, at the top of the hill to the east. The yard engine takes the cuts to Altamont, where there is an interlocking tower, passing tracks, sidings, and (formerly) a coal and water station.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

Winter, 1954

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4-8-2

484

L-2c

#2847

Alco-Schen

Lafayette, IN