Lafayette, Indiana – Part 5
Trains in the Street

All images © 2005 by Robert E. Pence

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I traveled to Lafayette, Indiana to photograph Amtrak street running before the railroad relocation project was completed. Before the relocation, Lafayette's Fifth Street was one of two places in the U.S. where this practice remained. The other was Thurmond, West Virginia.

The first set of photographs was taken in March, 1988. Two daily trains operated each way down Fifth Street; the Chicago – Washington, D.C. Cardinal, and the Chicago – Indianapolis Hoosier State. A primary reason for the Hoosier State's existence was to ferry equipment between Amtrak's Chicago hub and the heavy repair facility at Beech Grove, near Indianapolis. The Hoosier State's consist varied on an almost-daily basis.

The former Big Four depot was moved in 1994 from this location to a place nearer the river and relocated railroad lines. Now it's part of a park and pedestrian walkway and serves Amtrak, Greyhound and city buses.

Tippecanoe County's courthouse, built 1881 – 1884, was designed by local architect Elias Max and incorporates features from several architectural styles. It cost $500,000, and when Samuel Clemens saw it in 1885 he commented that it "must have struck the taxpayers a very hard blow."
The 1988 pre-renovation photos show obstructed windows and window air-conditioning units. It was starting to look pretty dowdy, and the $15 million restoration brought back its magnificence.

The passenger depot was the Lahr Hotel. The hotel was no longer in business, and I think the Amtrak ticket office was the only part of the building that was open.

The limestone building ahead on the left is the former Monon passenger depot. It is now the Civic Theatre.

On a Saturday morning in May, 1988 I arrived downtown early and picked a parking spot with a good view of the railroad crossing. I had a 1982 Chevy pickup with a cap on the bed, and I set up my camera on a tripod atop the truck and waited.

I ducked into a nearby restaurant for breakfast while waiting for the second train. I heard a diesel horn, so I dashed outside to grab a couple of shots of a CSX freight rumbling through.

The Kankakee Beaverville & Southern RR (former Wabash RR) bridge had its remaining track realigned over the existing piers to accommodate the new highway bridge.

The train in these July, 1992 photos is probably the Hoosier State. The two superliner cars behind the locomotive were vacant, and superliners didn't normally run on the Cardinal.

A Blast from the Past