Train no. 473

NG503003

Train no. 473

Steam M&E Train

The 137-mile main line of the New York Central between Bellefontaine and Indianapolis is known officially as the Indianapolis District of the Ohio Division. From East 38th Street, which crosses it on an overpass about a mile from Eastwood, its western limit, the freshly-ballasted right-of-way of this district shows to good advantage. (It will be recalled that the tangent above was mentioned in the introduction.) Along this line, terminal yard limits extend 5.1 miles from Eastwood out to Post. The latter point is so named because of the location nearby of the Army camp and finance center, Fort Benjamin Harrison. The extended yard limit territory here is now used mainly to enable terminal crews to switch the fort, and occasionally to pull stored cars from one of the two sidings at Post into Brightwood Yard. During World War II, however, solid oil trains were handled at Post to reduce the congestion at Brightwood. Terminal crews were then used to change cabooses and switch out bad-order cars on these high-priority through-runners. The train above, drawn by J-1 no. 5247, is no. 473, the mail and express from Cleveland to St. Louis. Its thirteen cars will be well-shuffled at Indianapolis Union Station, which is about 73 miles and fifteen minutes' running time from this spot, a mile and a half east of Eastwood.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

Summer, 1955

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366

J-1b

#5247

Alco-Schen

E. 38th St., Indianapolis, IN

See NG503003a