Assisting RF-16s #3815, 3708 on train no. KI-2

NG503062

Assisting RF-16s #3815, 3708 on train no. KI-2

Steam Locomotive

After setting out at Moorefield, the KI-2 which removed the last steam engine from the "Chi west" (as the Indiana Division between Indianapolis and Kankakee is known) was switched onto the Belt at KD. The more direct route to the Hill, via the depot and Shelby Street, was not available because of the late-afternoon hour, when there is a flurry of passenger-train activity on the NYC and PRR. Another reason for diversion of the train to the Belt was that there was some doubt about the soundness of the motive-power, and the IV could not risk the possibility that its railroad might be blocked at strategic Kentucky Avenue. Not that the 2849 faltered on such a significant run - on the contrary, her presence was most fortunate, since the Baldwins were afflicted by continuous action of the wheel-slip relay and were consequently of little help east of Lafayette, where the trouble started. The train is shown easing over the St. Louis line mains at BX, about half a mile south of KD on the Belt. The operator at KD, before releasing a train to the Belt, checks with BX and the two interlockings immediately 4 south of it to see if the route is clear; if not, he holds the train, because a red block at any one of these three places means the train cannot pass BX (since there is insufficient room to clear between the three), and an eastbound train held at BX almost inevitably blocks Washington street, the main artery of Indianapolis.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

6/28/1956

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4/8/2002

458

L-2c,RF-16

#2849, #3815,#3708

BLH

BX, Indianapolis, IN

See NG503062a