About the Author J. D. Santucci (a.k.a. "Tuch") began his railroading career in 1978 as a trainman on the Missouri Pacific. After a round of lay-offs in 1985, Tuch embarked on a railroad odyssey, working in many different situations for different roads. This column tries to explain some of the nuts and bolts of the job and also demonstrates what we have to deal with on a regular basis within and without the industry. Tuch currently works through freights out of Chicago for Canadian National/Illinois Central. ©1999, 2003-2007 JD Santucci. Logo ©2002 The Railroad Network. By J.D. Santucci

July 23, 2003
From time to time I have made some references on various occasions to my days at the South Shore. As a result, I have received quite a few requests over the past few years to discuss more of the South Shore and their operations. After all this time I have finally decided to get around to and just that. Being that this will be a very long and detailed piece, I am going to do this topic in three parts. The first part will give a background and fifty cent tour of the South Shore. Part two will discuss some of the changes made by Venango River and some of the operations. Part three will cover events that occurred to and with me while employed there. So away we go.

The South Shore’s full name is actually the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend Railroad. They are often referred to as “America’s last interurban.” They still handled less than car load packages into the early 1970’s. And they were still as much of an intercity hauler of passengers between South Bend and Chicago as a true commuter railroad, although that would gradually change.

I frequently refer to the South Shore as just “the Shore” or “the Jolly Trolley.” In the days when I worked there, it was often said “If you really want to get to Chicago in the worst way possible, it was no worse than the South Shore.” That was likely because of their poor on time performance. We’ll discuss that aspect in a bit. The modernization of the South Shore into what it was in the early 80’s prior to full dieselization and the acquisition of the stainless steel Sumitomo built cars goes back to the days of Samuel Insull who also owned the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee and the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin. Insull gained his interest in the bankrupt Lake Shore company in 1914. The name of the reorganized road became what has become commonly known as the South Shore. After the financial collapse of the nation’s economy in 1929, Insull developed his own problems both financial and legal. He lost the South Shore in 1932. In 1937 Insull passed away.

The CA&E ceased passenger operations in 1955 and freight service in 1959 and was legally abandoned in 1961. The North Shore ceased operations in 1963, but the South Shore continued to soldier on. In the days before the government initiated subsidies to passenger railroads, these two carriers could not sustain their operations with rapidly dwindling ridership levels. The South Shore’s stronger freight base may have been a significant part of this as well as more stable passenger ridership levels. The other two roads did not have the large volumes of freight traffic the South Shore enjoyed. Also, the South Shore had a tremendous advantage in that they used the Illinois Central to reach downtown Chicago whereas the other two Insull roads were required to operate on the routes of the Chicago Transit Authority to reach the big city. The operation over the CTA prohibited the use longer and heavier cars by the CA&E and North Shore thus placing greater restrictions on them. The development of a better highway system in the corridors they both served also dealt them a death blow.

In late 1966 the Interstate Commerce Commission granted approval for the Chesapeake & Ohio to purchase the South Shore. This transaction was completed in 1967. The C&O kept the South Shore distanced from the rest of its system, sort of the red-headed step child as it were. When C&O created its Chessie System folding the C&O, Baltimore & Ohio and Western Maryland under a single corporate umbrella, the South Shore was left out in the cold. The big kitty cat emblem was not used on South Shore equipment or letterhead. They kept their own corporate identity, bow tie emblem and all.

The South Shore employs a 1500 volt DC overhead electrical system to power their passenger trains. Much of this overhead trolley system dates back to the days of Insull ownership as well and in recent years has become prone to failure. In the early days of Insull ownership, the line was converted from the 6600 volt AC of predecessor company Chicago, Lake Shore & South Bend to the current 1500 volt DC system. Today, efforts are being made to upgrade it all. Like everything else with commuter railroading, this required financial assistance from the state and federal governments. And like all the other passenger roads in this country, they are competing with each other for such funds.

Prior to complete dieselization in 1981, much of the freight operations were powered by electricity. However during the days of electrified freight operations, the South Shore did operate a few diesels. A switcher acquired from a short line in New York in 1955 and six switchers were acquired from parent C&O in 1969. These switchers would yield to a group of five C&O GP7’s. We’ll get more into the dieselization of the South Shore later.

Today though, only passenger trains run on “the juice.” In my days there, most of the freight yards were still wired and energized for electric operation. Even though electric freight operations were discontinued some four years previous, all of the required equipment was still in place and in service. I never understood this fact being that it was highly unlikely there would be electric locomotives plying the route again. I figured they would yank down as much of the unused catenary system as possible for salvage. There’s a lot of money to be made in recycling copper and steel. When I asked one official about this, he replied “In case we ever have an emergency of some sort and need to operate passenger trains through the yard, we can do so.

The passenger cars in service today are of a modern design built of stainless steel. The first forty-four of them were built in 1982 by Sumitomo Heavy Industries of Japan. Like the MU Highliners used on the ICG and Metra Electric District, these cars produce 600 horsepower of traction. Unlike their Metra cousins though, they have the field shunt portion of their throttle controllers operational and these cars can achieve 90 MPH, although they vibrate considerably at that speed. The initial forty-four car fleet replaced the old well known and probably far more well-worn Insull era steel coaches built between 1926 and 1929. Some of you may recall these old cars and their bright orange and maroon paint and the cartoon decals calling them “The little train that could.”

These cars received extensive modifications in rebuilding after World War Two with some of them being stretched by over seventeen feet to accommodate more passengers. Their life expectancy was extended in the process. The philosophy was that this would be more prudent than purchasing new equipment at that time.

The Insull era cars were becoming prone to failure as they were aging rapidly. The mechanical forces at the South Shore’s mechanical and electrical forces did an incredible job to keep them running as long as they did. During the severe winter of 1978-79 the Chicago/Northwest Indiana region received three times the normal snowfall as well as an extended period of sub zero weather. The old cars showed their age and demonstrated the fact that time cannot be stopped, but only temporarily delayed. Many of these cars (as well as some of the catenary system) suffered failures and passenger service was very briefly suspended. The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), forerunner to today’s Metra came to the rescue loaning the South Shore several sets of gallery cars and diesels to resume some sort of passenger service. Eventually the weather warmed and the snow melted. The catenary was repaired and the old cars were placed back into service.

Couple this massive equipment failure to the difficulty in getting parts for these old war birds and the fact that structurally these cars were now rated at about 50% of their built strength and you have the equation that demonstrated the dire need for new equipment. The stage was set to obtain the stainless steel cars.

As we begin the tour, for reference sake I will make all notations of the South Shore route in the past tense. There have been numerous changes and improvements to the line since I left their employ. It is not my intent to discuss them here though as this will be mostly a retrospective look.

The South Shore route extends from Randolph Street Station in Chicago to South Bend, a distance of about ninety miles (89.7 to be exact). The 14.2 miles between Randolph Street Station and Kensington are via trackage rights on the what used to be the Illinois Central (and later Illinois Central Gulf) and today Metra’s Electric District. Several years after I departed from there, passenger service was extended to the South Bend Airport. This plan was on the table and being discussed back in the mid 80’s. Prior to the South Shore obtaining the trackage rights on the IC, their trains used to stop at Kensington and passengers transferred to IC trains there. Some trains continued through on the IC, pulled by IC steam locomotives into Chicago.

That portion of the route between Kensington and State Line was actually owned by a subsidiary of the ICG and leased to the South Shore. It was known as 1the Kensington & Eastern. The South Shore had a subsidiary company that leased the line called the Indiana & Kensington. This was a paper shuffle thing and no equipment or stations ever bore either of these names. South Shore rules and timetables applied and the line was operated, dispatched and maintained by the South Shore. When the ICG sold off their Electric District to Metra in 1987, this portion was sold to Metra as well. Today, the RTA, Metra’s parent authority, funds service on this portion of the route. And they actually own a group of the passenger coaches. In my days there the RTA owned eight of these coaches. They are easily spotted carrying RTA logos instead of NICTD (Northern Indiana Commuter Transit District) logos.

Both the ICG and Conrail had trackage rights over the K&E between Kensington and the Calumet River Bridge. The ICG used them to affect interchange with the South Shore and reach the Port of Chicago. I never heard or witnessed any Conrail movements on the line. At one time Conrail predecessor Michigan Central used to connect to the IC and South Shore at Kensington.

A scrap and iron operation just southeast of Kensington used Conrail for rail service. In my MoPac days I recall seeing a Conrail engine down there from time to time switching them. It is quite possible that Conrail may have used the South Shore to affect interchange of some of this business with the ICG and perhaps the South Shore. Today, the IHB switches this operation and the physical connection between the South Shore and Conrail at Kensington is long removed. In fact, the connection was no longer there in my days at the Shore, but evidence of it still clearly existed.

The South Shore was double track from Kensington to just east of the Gary station and single track from this point east to South Bend. At one time up to the early 80’s, the crossing and connection to the IC/ICG was double track. The plant was rebuilt by the ICG and this connection and crossing was converted into a single track affair. (Hmm, looks like the beginning of a pattern here.) The end of double track in Gary used to be called just that, “End Double Track” on the station pages in the timetable. Today though, it is known as Emerson. A spring switch was employed at this location. Westbound trains were lined to the westbound track and eastbound trains could just “spring the points” as they trailed through the switch, which then lined itself back after the train cleared. The use of a hydraulic cylinder accomplished the automatic lining back of the switch to the normal route.

Several sidings known as high speed sidings (but often referred to as open passing sidings) were located at Wagner (between Miller and Ogden Dunes, Wilson (at Portage) and Tamarack which is east of Beverly Shores. These sidings also employed spring switches at either end. They are normally lined to take you to the right no matter what direction you were traveling. This means a stop was not required to line switches when using these sidings. The speed through the turnouts was 35 to 40 MPH.

There is another siding at Sheridan on the northwest side of Michigan City. This siding was shorter in length and had slower speed turnouts, 15 MPH. Like the three high speed siding, trains always stayed to the right in either direction. All other sidings were of standard railroad fare using the hand operated switches to enter. Most of these switches were also spring switches so that trains departing off these sidings did not have to normally hand operate them, they just ran through the switch and the points would “spring” and automatically line for the movement.

The route was basically an east-west configuration, although like most other railroads, turned to the north and south a bit here and there. The line followed the profile around the southern tip of Lake Michigan. To eliminate as many railroad crossings at grade as possible, the South Shore was built over or under many of the railroads they encountered along the way. This gave the line a man made roller coaster profile. Some of these man-made grades ranged from 1.98% to over 3%.

We’ll begin the tour heading east from Kensington. As I have already mentioned the connection to the former Michigan Central removed at Kensington. While there was a connection to the N&W near the Ice House crossovers and also a connection towards the Port of Chicago and also the LaSalle & Bureau County (predecessor to the Chicago Rail Link which took over this portion of the now defunct Rock Island), there was no actual track to pass over or under. In this territory, switch keys of the Illinois Central Gulf were used instead of South Shore keys.

The first rail lines encountered were the Norfolk & Western and Chicago & Western Indiana. These two roads were crossed overhead at what is known as “Ford City Curve” located near the Ford Assembly Plant in Chicago’s Hegewisch neighborhood. The Shore dropped back down to ground level and then paralleled these two routes up towards State Line.

Conrail’s South Chicago & Southern Line (SC&S) was crossed at grade at Burnham, a little east of the Hegewisch station and just west of Burnham Avenue. This plant was controlled by the Operator at Burnham. The Operator, a Conrail employee, was located in a modular unit that replaced the tower that burned here in 1977. This modular was located in the southwest quadrant south of the N&W tracks and west of the SC&S. No connection for interchange purposes existed between the South Shore and Conrail at Burnham.

Burnham Yard is located in between Burnham Avenue and State Line. At the east end of the yard there was a connection between the CWI whose main tracks were just south of the yard. At one time the Belt Railway of Chicago brought loaded coal trains to the South Shore for MoPac. Before that, the MoPac and their C&EI predecessor delivered these trains to Burnham themselves. The Belt also delivered ore trains as well. Burnham Yard was used daily be several South Shore freight runs. No crews were based out of Burnham, they all came in with trains from Michigan City, performed their work there and then headed back home with their outbound trains when finished. A siding located on the north side of the main tracks between State Line and the west end of Burnham was used for storage. It was called State Line siding. There was also an industry that received rail service located at the west end of the yard.

A few years after I left the Shore, the west end of State Line Siding was the scene of a fatal wreck when some cars rolled out and a westbound passenger train struck them killing the Engineer of that train.

The IHB’s Burnham Industrial Track, once known as the Roby Branch, crossed at grade at State Line. This plant was controlled by the Operator at State Line Tower. The tower was a little to the south of here closer to the N&W, positioned on the north side of their line. At this point in time, the Operator was still a CWI employee.

The Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal was crossed overhead in East Chicago. A connection to the B&OCT was just west of the overhead and this connection crossed this line at grade. It was protected by an automatic interlocking. From approximately just east of Calumet Avenue to the far west side of Gary was all ground level at one time with street running in East Chicago. One of my uncles that grew up in East Chicago used to talk of “catching the trolley” when it still operated on the streets to go downtown in his younger days. He recalled a 15 cent fare, ten cents for the Shore and five cents for the transfer to the IC at Kensington. As part of the project to build the Indiana Toll Road (I-90 in 1956, the line was relocated to the south a bit and elevated. The route now parallels the south side of I-90 all the way to Cline Avenue where the two separate for a stretch through Gary before coming up side by side again for a stretch.

The IHB Kankakee Line is also crossed overhead as is the parallel Kennedy Avenue. A siding used for storage and known as Parrish is located east of here and just west of Cline Avenue. Today coal trains are often held here. At one time a steel transloading operation was based here. Steel was loaded from trucks onto rail cars for shipment. A lead branched out from the east end of the siding making a turn to the north, passed over the main tracks and then turned back west to reach a couple of industries in East Chicago. One of them was Harbison-Walker, a refractory. We switched them on an as needed basis, although I never actually got to make this move, although I did observe it a couple of times.

Conrail’s Fort Wayne Line and the remnants of the Wabash, now a just a branch line of the N&W used to reach a sugar plant in Gary were crossed from above just east of Clark Road on the infamous Gary Gauntlet Bridge. This bridge gained national fame after a tragic collision between two passenger trains that resulted in several passenger deaths in the early 1990’s. At one time there was an interchange yard located just west of here at Clark Road but it was long removed, a victim of the mergers and consolidations of the 70’s and 80’s. It was and remains a passenger stop.

In downtown Gary, the route was elevated with a project in the early 80’s. This elevation lifted the railroad up from street level and eliminated several road crossings. A new station was built here as well that connected to the Gary Transportation Center, later renamed the Adam Benjamin Transportation in honor of the late Indiana politician who was a staunch supported of the South Shore and passenger rail. This was also the location of a serious head on collision in early 1985. A small yard was located here. There were two tracks, one east and one west of the station platform. The west track was the storage track and the east track was the add track. Some trains either dropped off or picked up cars here. Some trains originated and terminated here as well to compliment the rush hour fleet. No equipment was kept here overnight or on weekends. A Carman was on duty during the day and evening to assist in adding or reducing cars from trains and also to assist with air tests.

The Indiana Toll Road parallels the line again here on the north side. EJ&E’s Kirk Yard, Conrail’s Chicago Line, the B&O main line and US Steel’s sprawling Gary Works are all directly across the toll road from the Gary Station and elevation.

Heading on east, the route crossed an EJ&E industrial lead at grade. This crossing was known as the Bolt Works. A gate was used to protect this crossing. It was normally lined against “The J.” E J&E crews normally only worked this line in the evening with a job out of Kirk Yard called the “City Job.” I actually worked it a couple of times in my days at the J. The interchange with the J at Goff Jct. was located just east of here. When a J crew needed to cross, the ascertained of there were any approaching South Shore trains, if there were none, they could operate the gate and proceed across. They were required to restore the gate to normal as soon as they cleared the crossing.

Miller is next where the B&O is crossed overhead. There will be more about Miller in part two. East of Miller Conrail’s Chicago Line comes up and parallels the South Shore on the north side all the way to Burns Harbor. The Chicago Line is then crossed overhead between the west end of Conrail’s Burns Harbor Yard and the main entrance to Bethlehem Steel.

No other rail lines are encountered until reaching Michigan City. Amtrak’s route (known as the Amtrak Line) between Porter, IN and Kalamazoo, MI was crossed at grade at 10th Street. This crossing was controlled by the Amtrak Operator at the Drawbridge located on the north side of Michigan City. This line was once the Michigan Central’s Detroit to Chicago Line. The N&W’s Michigan City Branch was crossed at grade at the west end of Shops Yard. This crossing was protected by stop signs. Trains stopped, if no cross traffic was on or closely approaching the crossing, you whistled off and proceeded. Also at Michigan City was the crossing of the C&O. This crossing was east of Shops Yard. If memory serves me correctly, the C&O crossed overhead.

Shops Yard was the hub and base of all South Shore operations. A storage yard for passenger cars a small freight yard, freight and passenger repair facilities, a wash rack, fueling and sanding facilities and the South Shore’s general offices were located here. A passenger station was located on the south side of the tracks a little west of the offices.

Being that I only made a few trips east of the yard limits at Michigan City out to South Bend, I really don’t recall a great deal of this portion of the line. I do remember the C&O branch line from New Buffalo, MI to Wellsboro, IN that was east of Michigan City proper and passed above. There was a siding at Olive and I recall effecting a meet there once when I was a student. It used the standard hand operated switched equipped with springs so that we didn’t have to restore them to normal when departing. At New Carlisle Conrail’s Chicago Line again paralleled the route, this time on the south side and all the way to South Bend. I do recall was the station, which was shared with Amtrak. Amtrak trains operating on the Chicago Line made regular stops here. I also recall there being a connection to Conrail somewhat west of the station as well.

At one time the line extended a couple of miles further using some street running in South Bend to a storefront-style passenger station. This use of the section of the railroad was discontinued several years before I joined the employ.

I never had the opportunity to work a freight job east to South Bend, so I have no recollection of who was where industry wise and how or when they were serviced. I didn’t know how or exactly where we connected to the Grand Trunk Western either. I do recall though that there was not daily freight service to South Bend, generally the freight run only went as far east as the Carborundum plant near Olive daily.

I do recollect a long grade that existed east of Lalumiere. Several grain trains that were operated across this section of the railroad required the use of four GP38-2 locomotives to make the grade.

The entire route was under automatic block signal rules with the double track portion being signaled only in the direction specified by the timetable. The north track was the westbound and the south track was the eastbound and they were signaled in their respective directions only. The single track portion was signalled in both directions. Timetable schedules and train orders were used to operate trains along with the block signal indications.

An unusual feature to the South Shore’s train orders was both a complete time and OK time. You got both when an order was repeated correctly. The times were one minute apart except when they occurred at noon or midnight. Then, the one time was 1159 and the other was 1201 am or pm depending upon the time of day.

There were no Operators copying and delivering orders to crews in my days there although at one time station agents did handle the copying and delivery of them. The Conductor or Engineer copied them all be it on the train via radio or at one of the stations using the Dispatcher phone. All trains were required to obtain either a clearance stating there were no orders or an actual order for their train at Randolph Street in Chicago, Michigan City Shops Yard or South Bend. There were order boards at both Michigan City and Gary. At Gary a clearance or train order was not required if the order board displayed a green (clear) indication. If this signal was red, the Conductor or Engineer was required to call for order either on the radio or through the use of a Dispatcher phone which was located in the train register room on the station platform. Ironically, the train order signals were the only signals the Train Dispatcher actually controlled.

All regular passenger trains had timetable schedules and all freight jobs operated as extras. Extra passenger trains were operated as required, but they normally operated on train orders. They could be given an order to operate as a second section of a regular scheduled train. There were provisions in the rule book that allowed this but I don’t recall that happening while I was there.

A difference between the South Shore and other railroads was the amount of time a schedule was in effect. With most railroads the timetable schedule was good for twelve hours. With the South Shore, it was three hours. Once a train became three hours late at a station, its schedule was annulled and a train order would have to be issued for the train to proceed.

Even though there were timetable scheduled meets between passenger trains on the timetable schedule page, meets could be and often were changed with train orders. Instead of getting a clearance at one of the required stations, you might get a call order. It might read something like “Call for orders at Tremont”. This meant that train could not pass this location without either getting a train order or clearance. This method was used to “tie down” a train regardless of timetable schedule. It gave the Dispatcher flexibility to be creative if there were freight jobs running around or perhaps a very tardy passenger train. If the situation didn’t require a meet, the Dispatcher would then issue a clearance to the train being tied down. It would read something like “Clearance number 205 to train 20 no orders.” It would be repeated and the times given and you went on your merry way. Now should something like a meet be required, you would get a train order with the required instructions instead of the clearance.

In the event you were required to operate against the current of traffic in the double track territory, a train order would be issued to any and all trains affected. It might read “The westward track will be used as single track between End of Double Track to East Chicago from 1001am until 401pm.” This might occur if there was track or wire work going on that would require the track involved to have to be removed from service. This order would be issued to all trains involved and when in effect, single track rules applied to the portion of track that was being operated as single track. And train order meets would have to be established.

In yard limit territory, freight runs could operate as a yard engine upon permission of the Train Dispatcher, but were restricted to a maximum of 20 MPH regardless of signal indication. Yard Limits were located at South Bend from the passenger station to a little west of the Grandview power substation, in Michigan City between Meer Road (which was east of the yard) to just west of the west end of Power Siding, which was next to the NIPSCO plant on the northwest side of Michigan City, in Gary between Goff Jct. and just west of Clark Road, between East Chicago and Hegewisch and between Kensington and the Calumet River Bridge.

There was street running in town in Michigan City on 10th and 11th Streets. Three stoplights at intersections along the way governed both train and motor vehicle movements. There was a system that normally activated when the trains were on the approach that set the stoplights for green on the parallel 11th Street and the railroad holding the cross traffic at each intersection. White indicator lights mounted on top of a couple of telephone poles at either end of this section would flash to indicate this holding system was operating. The street running is what necessitated the installation of the yellow markers at the lower end of the front and red markers at the lower end of the rear cars of each passenger car. These markers lights created more visibility for motorists driving along side the trains. Trains operating on the city streets normally kept their headlights on a setting less than bright so as to not blind drivers of oncoming automobiles and trucks. Maximum speed on the street running was 25 MPH.

Maximum speed was 70 MPH for passenger trains between Shops Yard in Michigan City and the Calumet River Bridge and 50 MPH for freight. It was lower for passenger, 65 MPH between Shops Yard and South Bend. There were some lower speeds in effect at various locations that applied to both freight and passenger. Loaded unit coal trains were restricted to 40 MPH. Passenger operation on the ICG portion of the run was a maximum of 65 MPH. And like the South Shore proper, there were some restrictions that required lower operating speeds.

I previously mentioned timetable schedules so let’s dwell upon this subject. Before train schedules were reworked the on time performance of the passenger trains was only 57%. At that time it was the worst of all commuter railroads in North America. The South Shore had become a victim of their own success. Their passenger ridership levels had been steadily increasing. As a result there was added dwell time at each station to load the passengers. To accommodate freight operations, there were no high level platforms, all loading and discharging of passengers was done at ground level, so it took a bit longer.

The previous schedules did not accommodate the added delays at nearly all of the stations, so trains quickly fell behind schedule. Then to exacerbate the situation, the tardy trains would then often miss their windows at Kensington to enter the ICG and then fall even further behind. The scheduling of all trains on the ICG required on time, or close to on time performance so as not to disrupt the entire operation.

To remedy this situation, a completely revamped schedule was worked out and a new timetable was issued. On December 1, 1985, timetable number 1 replaced timetable number 5 of October 31, 1982. This timetable added time to the schedules of all the trains; six minutes to the Gary-Chicago trains, ten minutes to the Michigan City-Chicago trains, and fifteen minutes to the South Bend-Chicago trains. South Bend-Chicago service was also increased. It also modified the originating times of many trains as well with some leaving their initial station a little earlier and others a little later.

The South Shore was known for many years for their “Little Joe” electric locomotives. These were part of a group of what was to have been twenty locomotives built for export to Russia in 1946 under the era of Josef Stalin under the Lend/Lease plan, hence the Little Joe nickname. These 5500 horsepower, 270+ ton locomotives were never shipped to the Soviet Union and instead, and sold in the United States. The Milwaukee Road bought a group of them, having to modify them to the standard US gauge of 56½ inches. The South Shore also obtained three of them in 1949. These three, which were the last three built by General Electric were built to US gauge with the hope of selling them in the United States. As originally built, the Little Joe’s were designed o operate on a 3300 volt DC current. South Shore mechanical forces modified them for the 1500 volt system on their line. While the Milwaukee Road sent theirs out to pasture in the 70’s the Shore retired theirs in 1981. One of them survives today at the Illinois Railway Museum and another at the B&O Museum. The unit used for a parts source was scrapped.

As I had mentioned earlier, a group of switchers were acquired from parent C&O. Several Geeps were acquired to replace the aging switchers. Bethlehem Steel would not allow electric locomotives into their facility so diesels were required. Several more Geeps came from C&O to replace aging electric locomotives. These Geeps wore the solid blue with yellow trim of C&O and were numbered 1501 to 1508, a reflection of their horsepower rating. They carried the South Shore logo on their car bodies, again no reference to parent C&O other than the colors.

Like the Insull era passenger cars, parts became difficult, if not impossible to obtain for the electric locomotives. One of the Little Joe’s was retired in the mid 70’s and used as a parts source to keep the others running. To replace more of the electric locomotives, three more GP7’s were acquired in 1978, this time from the Florida East Coast. These three units had been stored for quite some time before coming to the South Shore. They were in poor mechanical shape. Unlike the former C&O Geeps, these units were never repainted or renumbered. They carried their FEC 600 series numbers up to the end of their days on the South Shore. With the addition of the former FEC units, all remaining electric locomotives except the Little Joe’s were retired.

The Engineers at the Shore often spoke of their disdain for these Geeps. They complained of their poor mechanical and electrical condition and frequent problems encountered with their operation. They told of the former FEC units being infested with mice while stored in Florida. The mice apparently made the trip to Indiana. Wiring was badly damaged by these pesky critters.

All of the Engineers praised the Little Joe’s and other electric locomotives though. They frequently mentioned their ability to pull just about anything. However, the downfall of the Little Joe’s aside from age, was the fact the South Shore’s aging electrical delivery system was not able to supply enough voltage to allow the Joe’s to operate at full capacity. This restricted them to 3000 tons of freight. NIPSCO had acquired a large fleet of their own coal hoppers and high side gons as they wanted to operate 100+ car unit trains with the capacity to haul 10,000 or more tons of coal at a time. The tonnage restriction on the Joe’s made them impractical for unit train service. In their final years, the Joe’s usually only worked the Gary Switcher assignment.

In 1981 all of the old Geeps and the Little Joe’s were replaced with a fleet of ten, brand new GP38-2’s from Electro Motive Division of General Motors. The aging GP7’s had become more and more unreliable and seemed to be out of service as much as they were in service. The new power would eliminate this problem offering greater reliability and actually saving the South Shore money over the years.

With the arrival of the new power a few of the GP7’s were transferred back to parent C&O and continued to soldier on for several years. The South Shore logos were blanked out with a little blue paint and “C&O” was stenciled onto their sides. The others were sold off. The new GP38-2’s were not built to regular Chessie System standards though as they were not equipped with dynamic brakes. While they had the blue over yellow portion of the Chessie System color scheme, they lacked the vermillion red stripes that separated these colors and the vermillion side sills. They also lacked the Chessie System logo and name on their flanks. Instead, the “South Shore Line” name appeared on the car bodies and the noses were blank. A couple of them did eventually receive a South Shore logo on them over the years though. They did carry the distinction of being the first new diesels ever acquired by the Shore.

The GP38-2’s were given numbers in the 2000 series again not in the pattern of other Chessie System power. This number series reflected their two-thousand horsepower rating. The 2000-2003 were equipped with snow plows as well. Those of even numbers were pointed facing west and the odd numbered units were pointed facing east. The practice of facing the diesels in this manner was begun with the arrival of the C&O GP7’s. This method bodes with the numbering method of South Shore passenger trains. Unlike most American railroads that numbered eastward trains with even numbers and westward trains with odd numbers, the South Shore did the exact opposite. Now this was not because they were mavericks, it was to mesh with their trackage rights operation on the ICG.

The Electric District of the ICG was a north-south operation and their numbering system reflected that with southbound trains using odd numbers and northbound trains using even numbers. When South Shore trains hit the ICG property, their even numbered westbound trains become northbound even numbered trains on the ICG. See, there is a method to the madness. Also, while operating on ICG and today, Metra trackage, South Shore trains had the digit 9 added as a prefix to their symbol. For example, train number 10 became train 910 and train number 305 became 9305 while operating on ICG trackage.

The South Shore did experience growth in 1980. They acquired some additional trackage in Michigan City from the Louisville & Nashville. L&N retrenched from their Michigan City Branch of the former Monon north of Medaryville, IN. There were still several industries that required rail service in Michigan City and the segment of it that extended from the connection with the C&O down to just north of I-94 was acquired by the South Shore. Trackage rights over about six miles of the C&O were used to access this track. I did get to work this line a couple of times but really do not recall the industries that were serviced. I do seem to remember switching about three or four places though. I seem to recall operation on the line was on an as needed as opposed to daily basis.

There was also some industrial trackage in Michigan City that was reached from the east end of the yard at NIPSCO. There were several industries along this line, but the only one I can recall was Squibb & Sons.

Rail mergers and the economic situation in the United States during the early 1980’s caused the South Shore’s fortunes to begin to wane a bit. Several industries along the South Shore scaled back or ceased operations. A few others quit using rail service. While they had the two NIPSCO plants and Bethlehem Steel receiving coal trains the South Shore had lost what bridge traffic they did have. In the mid 1980’s, Chessie System, parent of the C&O decided the South Shore no longer fit in with their grand scheme, whatever that was. They sold off the entire property off to a group of former Santa Fe officials that formed a company called Venango River Corp. The name comes from a river in Pennsylvania. The Venango River boys, as they were often called, looked to make the South Shore a greater contributor to the Chicago area railroad scene.

With that we bring part one to a close. In part two we will look at the changes brought forth by Venango and some of the operations.

And so it goes.

Tuch