With a B unit on train no. SLB-8 coming off belt

NG503010

With a B unit on train no. SLB-8 coming off belt

Diesel Freight Locomotive

This is what the operator at Belt Junction would have seen had he looked out the west window of his tower on a blistering afternoon in July, 1956. In the center, two major arteries of commerce, the Central's main line and Massachusetts Avenue, extend in a southwesterly direction towards downtown Indianapolis. At the right, the tracks fan out into the Brightwood car repair area (this "rip" is now the only one in Indianapolis, since the closing of the Hill yard rip in May of 1956). At the left, the two mains of the Indianapolis Union Railway converge and join up with the NYC - hence the name of this interlocking. Coming off the so called "Belt" and heading for Brightwood yard is SLB-8, a semi-drag freight off the Illinois Division, powered here by diesels 1667-2463. Its consist had been reduced to 41 cars by two earlier setoffs within the Indianapolis terminal - one at Westside (cars for local industries and interchange in that area), and the other in the Hammer tracks near Belt Crossing (cars for Hill yard). Though unaware of this reduction, the frustrated motorists on Massachusetts Avenue will be on their way much sooner as a result.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

Jul-56

To buy a copy of this photograph; click here NG503010

F7A

374

DFA-2f, DFA-2g

#1677, #2463

EMD

Belt Jct., Indianapolis, IN

See NG503010a