Modeling South Bend in 3 Rail O Scale

@The-576-Guy posted:

For my layout, I will be loosely modelling the railroads of South Bend, Indiana, as they were in the early 1950s. However, the Grand Trunk Western, Which served the area heavily, is not heavily available in 3 Rail O Scale. I Know that the PRR served the area as well as the CSS&SB. I am wondering if any other  Big Class I railroads operated around that area. - Kyle

You might want to do more research, as I remember the New York Central had a good sized "Union Station" in South Bend. Pretty sure the Monon RR also went through South Bend, as well as the Grand Trunk Western.

I pulled out my Kalmbach reprint of the Rand McNally 1948 Railroad Atlas. In addition to PRR, NYC, and GT, South Bend was served by the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend. There is another short line running south to a connection with the Wabash. It is very hard to read the initials, but I think it is the New Jersey, Indiana, and Illinois, which I've never heard of. I don't see any Monon rails near there.

And don't forget the Studebaker plant.

@Ken Wing posted:

I pulled out my Kalmbach reprint of the Rand McNally 1948 Railroad Atlas. In addition to PRR, NYC, and GT, South Bend was served by the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend. There is another short line running south to a connection with the Wabash. It is very hard to read the initials, but I think it is the New Jersey, Indiana, and Illinois, which I've never heard of. I don't see any Monon rails near there.

The NJ, I and I was a shortline operated by the Singer sewing machine company; they had plants in New Jersey, Indiana and Illinois and that's why it has the rather odd reporting marks. The line served the Singer plant as well as the Studebaker plant and connected to the Wabash Railroad.

Monon never made it to South Bend - it terminated in Michigan City.  Grand Trunk, NYC, and South Shore were there when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s.  South Shore still did street running until around 1970.  Grand Trunk and NYC passed through the Union Station.  A few blocks south of the station, there was a former PRR passenger station, but no activity in the 60s and beyond.  There was also a short line for the Singer sewing machine company.

There are many GTW cars in the older tuscan paint scheme (and the blue with noodle GT logo) - MTH premier and Atlas.  Diesels are available too.

South Bend was also served by the Pennsylvania Railroad - the line ran from Logansport to South Bend. When the Studebaker plant stopped production the traffic on the line dropped quickly. I grew up in Logansport in the late 60s and never saw any freight trains run on that branch - my oldest brother remembers seeing trains on that line in the early to mid 60s. Logansport had a company that made springs for the auto industry (I assume Studebaker was one of their customers) - I believe springs are still manufactured there. The line to South Bend went right by the plant, and there was a small yard not far from the factory. The track was pulled in sections and was gone by the mid 70s.

@MTN posted:

South Bend was also served by the Pennsylvania Railroad - the line ran from Logansport to South Bend. When the Studebaker plant stopped production the traffic on the line dropped quickly. I grew up in Logansport in the late 60s and never saw any freight trains run on that branch - my oldest brother remembers seeing trains on that line in the early to mid 60s. Logansport had a company that made springs for the auto industry (I assume Studebaker was one of their customers) - I believe springs are still manufactured there. The line to South Bend went right by the plant, and there was a small yard not far from the factory. The track was pulled in sections and was gone by the mid 70s.

Thanks for the info.  Makes a lot of sense, as the PRR station was just south of the Studebaker factory.  Union Station was just north of the factory complex.  Timeline for pulling the track corresponds to when I would have been poking around looking for old RR tracks. 

I also recall seeing the remnants of a roundhouse on the SW side near the intersection of Olive and Sample streets in the early/mid 70s - don't know which RR it was for. 

There's also this industry...

@Mill City posted:

There's also this industry...

And ND had a railroad that provided coal for it's power plant - Notre Dame and Western.   

Considering the national fan base for ND football, I'm a little surprised that nobody has manufactured a switcher in that livery.

https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/echoes-the-old-ndw/  The story mentions passenger trains for football games, too.

Pics of the loco, hopper cars, and other stuff:  https://monon.org/mws/tws/ndwrr.html