Train no. 415

NG503052

Train no. 415

Steam Passenger Train

Although in the present version of the timetable the schedule and consit of no. 415 have been altered considerably, in the fall of 1954 it was due out of Cincinnati only 45 minutes after the "Riley". It then followed the latter to Chicago on a slower schedule befitting its heavier consist, which included sleepers from the C&O and Southern at Cincinnati. Here is the earlier no. 415, with 13 cars, braking into Indianapolis at Virginia Avenue behind L-4 no. 3129. A diesel was normally assigned, but when none was available, it was customary to use an L-3 or L-4 from Cincinnati to Indianapolis and a J-1 or J-3 from Indianapolis to Kankakee (the diesel ran through to Chicago over the IC). The reasons for this practice were twofold: first, the more powerful engine adhered to the schedule, more easily on the east end of the run, where Guilford Hill was a major factor; and second, no passenger engine bigger than a J-3 could be run west of Indianapolis, since the turntable at Kankakee was too short for larger pover. At Shelby Street, the latter situation resulted in many a passenger-engine dispatchment which would not have occurred otherwise.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

Spring, 1954

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440

L-4b

#3129

Lima

Freight house, Indianapolis, IN

See NG503052a