NWI chapter members pose in front of a South Shore car at their Michigan City, IN shops.
Trip Report -- Lance Wales
A nice sunny day, a train trip and a tour of the shop made
for a complete day as around two dozen North Western Illinois Chapter members
enjoyed the outing to the South Shore in Michigan City, IN on Saturday, September
10, 2005. Chapter members Jerry Stauffer and Dennis Kern once again did a great
job lining up a trouble-free event.
The Dixon-Meyers motor coach picked us up at each of the three
designated stops and we made good time into downtown Chicago. We were dropped
off at the Randolph Street Station in plenty of time for our 10 a.m. departure.
We spent the time shooting a couple of South Shore trains from the platform before
boarding our own car (#3) on train #507 for the ride down to Michigan City, IN.
Upon leaving the station, the employees opened up the back vestibule, allowing
us better views through the clear windows.
We got to meet Iowa Division train M337 around 91st Street,
with the WC SD45 6497 leading an IC SD40-2 as it was headed up toward Hawthorne
Yard. A short while later we crossed over the CN freight lines at Kenningston
Tower while a Metra Electric train was headed north.
Now on the South Shore’s own right-of-way we zipped right along, meeting train #504 at Hegewisch. Two different South Shore freight movements were spotted--a trio of the their GP38-2s running light at Gary (probably going to get a coal train) and
another pair of geeps working at Bailey Yard near Miller. The South Shore’s
line was impressive--being able to ride in the back vestibule provided a chance
to view the cab speedometer. At one point it read 78 mph as we were moving
right along.
Things slowed down a bit for us as our train trundled down
the middle of the streets at Michigan City, IN--at one point we even had to wait
for a fire truck coming up behind us with its lights and siren going--sort of
hard to pull over to the curb for that!
At the Carroll Ave stop in Michigan City the crews cut free
the trailing two cars and we were pulled alongside the shop buildings. From there
we detrained, going into the office for a quick safety reminder along with a
presentation about the South Shore. Bob Burnett (Safety) and John Parsons (Marketing
Director) provided us with an overview of the South Shore Line.
The South Shore operates 41 trains each weekday, typically
using 62 cars out of their current fleet of 68. The line had been carrying about
12,400 riders per weekday until the recent round of gas price hikes. Now the
railroad has been averaging 13,500 riders since the first part of August. The
line is expecting to carry close to 3.7 million passengers this year, approaching
the all-time record they set back in 2001.
This increase in business is not without its drawbacks though--the
aging physical plant on the route is steadily being upgraded. In recent years
the railroad has replaced several of the pin-truss overhead bridges with through
girders. The power distribution system has also been a concern, as the new system
they are currently installing allows them to isolate stretches of track better
to minimize disruptions. The old system had both main tracks engerized at the
same time and the new system separates the power
to each of the mains where there is double track. New signals along the line
are also going up and the old ABS is changing to CTC control. The South Shore
will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2008 and these upgrades to the fixed
plant should have it in a good position to handle the increased passenger traffic
as it enters a second century of service.
Beyond these upgrading issues, the South Shore is also seeking a couple of projects that will speed up train movement. The junction between the Metra Electric and the South Shore Line at Kenningston Tower at 115th Street on Chicago’s
south side, can be a source of significant delays. The South Shore trains must
cross over a couple of CN freight lines to enable them to reach the Metra Electric
lines. A proposed project there would have them joining the Metra route a bit
further to the north, eliminating this issue. Another
project in the planning stages would change the way their trains access the
South Bend Airport by building a new route through the south west side of South
Bend. That project could cut 8 to 12 minutes from the current 2-1/2 hour trip
into downtown.
Enough of sitting inside the conference room--time to head
outside to photograph some equipment. First up was the MTW-100, their Catenary
Maintenance Vehicle. It traditional interurban terms, this would have been a
line car--responsible for maintaining the overhead trolley wire--but this piece
of modern equipment was much more than that. Capable of using either the overhead
wire or diesel propulsion, the CMV was custom built for the South Shore. With
its support flat car, has a boom with interchangeable work heads. For
example it can use the auger attachment to drill a hole for a caternary support
pole and then switch to a claw to place the pole in the hole. The deck of the
flat car has spools of overhead trolley wire ready to go should an emergency
situation arise.
From there we went inside the shop where a couple of cars
were being overhauled. Going through a nearly complete strip-down were cars 9
and 33. They had been involved in a derailment a while ago and were being redone.
The shop had all the windows out of the cars, the end step wells were being replaced
and the interiors refurbished. These two cars were also some of the oldest on
the South Shore, more than 20 years old themselves.
Heading outside we found the NICTD 1000, their maintenance
of way GP38, spotted for photos. The gray unit was acquired a few years ago to
replace an ex-Army GE center cab that struggled to move a few loads of ballast,
according to Bob as he guided us around. The engine was built for the Grand Trunk.
Since it was Saturday, quite a bit of the fleet of stainless steel cars were present at the shops. We took note that only one or two of them have the “Chicago South Shore and South Bend” sign
boards above the windows that they came delivered with. The railroad is known
as the South Shore Line now, and the signage reflects that for the most part.
Although sharing the same tracks, the freight portion and
the passenger service are operated by two different companies that share the
railroad. This is true on the mainlines and at the shop, where four South Shore
GP38-2s were sitting around in the their orange paint with the maroon stripe.
Although we were on the north (shadow side), a request to go over to the sunny
was allowed, but we had to walk a few extra steps around the far side of the
electric car wash rack to do so.
A check of the watch revealed that it was close to 2:30 p.m.
and our westbound train would be through just after 3 p.m. to pickup our two
cars and continue onward to Chicago. We made a quick tour of the inspection shop,
looking at their wheel lathe for turning and the air brake shop where the components
are rebuilt. With that we thanked our South Shore hosts for their hospitality
and their time--they truly enjoyed working for the railroad and their devotion
to it showed during our visit.
We boarded car #3 again and we were coupled up to the rear of train #510 for the westbound trip to Chicago. We wouldn’t
have the car to ourselves going back, as the Rolling Stones were having a concert
at Soldier Field that Saturday evening and the whole six-car train was packed
after leaving East Chicago for the trip downtown.
Our bus was waiting just outside of Randolph Street and we
were out of downtown in no time, headed back home. Thanks again Jerry for organizing
our outstanding time along the South Shore Line!
[ Home ] [ Activities ]
Copyright
2011, NWI-NRHS
Webmaster: Roger Hervey
Revised: 09/07/2011