Railfanning Hammond, Indiana: South Shore Line & State Line Crossing, 06.10.13

Train 1:
Outbound South Shore Line train #113 departs the Hammond station, heading eastward toward Michigan City. Car 107 leads an eight-car consist, including two un-motored trailer cars. This is one of the faster runs on the railroad- no stops are made from Van Buren St in the Chicago Loop, to Hegewisch. Clark Road and Beverly Shores are also not served by this express run.

Train 2:
Car 110 leads six-car westbound train #20 from South Bend across Indianapolis Boulevard / US 41 after coming downgrade from the line alongside the Indiana Toll Road / I-90. Train 20 was running about 15 minutes late.

Train 3:
I wasn't able to get any closer to this train by the time I noticed it, unfortunately! CSX GP15 #1504, several tank cars and a caboose make up a switch job that has come out across State Line Crossing from the B&OCT main. Having received a clear signal from the dispatcher, the short train shoves back on the main- at State Line, it will take the B&OCT branch line to the NS interchange and chemical plant at Burnham.

Train 4:
South Shore Line train #15, making all stops to South Bend, crosses Indianapolis Blvd and heads upgrade alongside the Indiana Toll Road. One of the cars appears to be fitted with a different design of pantograph than the others- anyone have any information about this?

Train 5:
Train 115 heads across the bridge over the CSX B&OCT main. Peiguss Yard, which serves local industries via a couple industrial branches and an interchange with the IHB, is in the background. South Shore once had an interchange track to this yard that snaked down from the Indiana Toll Road embankment, but after freight service was dieselized, this was abandoned in favor of trackage rights over CSX from Miller westward to the yard.

Train 6:
Six of the new Nippon-Sharyo bilevel cars compose train #215, a local run to Gary. Strangely, it is scheduled not to stop at East Chicago, one of the busier stations in this area.

Train 7:
Running elephant-style, BNSF 5141, 7254 and 7496 lead an empty oil train under the Toll Road and the South Shore Line westbound, heading for home rails.

Train 8:
Two CSX ES44AHs hustle through Hammond on the B&OCT with an eastbound stack train. The big brick building to the left is a Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCo) substation, originally built for the South Shore Line.

Train 9:
Westbound South Shore train #220 from Gary makes its stop at the "new" Hammond station, then departs toward Chicago. Car 108 leads the train through the snaking curves on Hammond's north side.

Train 10:
Two GEVOs and an AC6000 in new YN3 paint head west with a short stack train, approaching State Line on the B&OCT.

Train 11:
Another stack train, but this time with runthrough power- though it's pretty typical six-axle BNSF fare. It crosses NS's ex-Nickel Plate main line from Calumet Yard in Chicago, then the busy little Indiana Harbor Belt branch to IHB's Hammond Yard.

Train 12:
Deer and birds go about their business- this area is bordered by woods and lakes- as a Norfolk Southern intermodal train approaches from Chicago, passing the "Illinois" state boundary sign and first crossing the Indiana Harbor Belt, then the B&OCT. A very typical lashup of three NS C40-9Ws shakes my camera as it slams the diamonds, heading southeast (timetable east) on the old Nickel Plate.

Train 13:
After the NS intermodal had cleared, IHB SW1500s #1501 and 1504 cross NS on the IHB main line out of Gibson Yard at Hohman Avenue in downtown Hammond. The old concrete mileage marker to the left, reading "BUF 504", indicates there are 504 miles to Buffalo on the Nickel Plate main line.

~Thanks for watching!~