Where are they now?

I heard that the Chessie, which owned the SS did not maintain the cars in expectation of the line's abandonement, but had they done so the cars could have been in great shape.

at that juncture new cars were a necessity out of their own designed neglect.

Some of the cars got scrapped at Michigan City in the early 80s too, I have a pic of a couple getting cut up, trucks just sitting in the mud.

I am sorry to hear that 108 was scrapped after being stored at North Judson. How can a museum possibly scrap a piece of rolling stock after attempting to preserve it in the first place? BTW, what are HVRM's plans for the other 2 cars?

I doubt HVRM has any plans for 4 and 31; the museum does not own them. Their owner, the RAIL Foundation led by Bob Harris, is storing them there and was responsible for scrapping 108. Although it is always a shame to see the old cars scrapped, many of them are in such disrepair that there really is not much hope of ever restoring them. Harris and his associates have scrapped a number of their worst cars in order to obtain parts for the ones in better condition. That group is responsible for the outstanding total restoration of car 33 to its original appearance.

The old Line car IS going to the National New York Central Museum in Elkhart Indiana, a very cool worthy addition i think! By the way, my name is Mike, im from the Detroit, Mi area and love the South Shore, I jsut recently was able to make a trip to Michigan City were I spent a few nice days and took about 200 photos. I think it is one of the most unique lines in the US today. I see that there are many great knowledgeable people who watch the South SHore here and look fwd to reading all the posts. I would also liek to sahre my pictrues here, Ill get some links up.

Mike

Hello and welcome,
Hope you had a nice trip. Did you make it over to the shops yard, if so When were you out there? Perhaps I saw you, I know I saw someone on the overpass last sunday taking pictures, about 4pm I think. Anywho, can't wait to see some of those pics..who knows, I might be in the background!

Wow ! It's great to see how many South Shore cars were preserved.I was able to ride the line from Chicago to Michigan City shops in 1978 AND 1979.In '78 I got to ride up front with the motorman for most of the trip.I saw car 1100 out on the line,and saw all three Little Joes,two of them in service.I have since ridden to both the South Bend terminal (Bendix) and the new line to the airport.Riding the old cars was a GREAT experience !

I'm curious about what happened to the 700 class engines.

As far as I know they were all scrapped in the 70's. South shore had a hard time finding new wheels and that combined with the age of them let to their retirement.

Yep, all the 700's went to Hyman-Michaels for scrap in April 1976. That's too bad, I think they were one of the coolest looking locos ever built. As a kid, I often got rides in the 700's while the crew was switching cars around South Bend. I got a chance to ride in all 7 of them! . I wonder if the crews realized they were giving a kid life long memories?

I was in gary years ago, 8mm camera in hand, a 700 was parked there , had a fire in one cab end, interior glass was smoked up. Its on film.

I will have to re-view my films on the SS.... 8-D

It's great to know most of the old cars are being kept in their original configuration wherever they are.

I was almost heartbroken to see that the Fox River Museum rebuilt the ones they got for their own purpose, and just as much so to see the private owner in Chesterton took the four there, used them for a restaurant by the NS Mainline, and then painted them in two shades of a God-awful green color!

JLJ061 wrote:I was almost heartbroken to see that the Fox River Museum rebuilt the ones they got for their own purpose

For the record, that was East Troy, not Fox River. And only two of their cars (24 and 25) were rebuilt for their dinner train. Still, it is something of an abomination.

Agreed, that East Troy scheme is like a bastardized monon scheme.

Where are the cars in Chesterton? Still there?

Tadman wrote:Where are the cars in Chesterton? Still there?

Yes, they're next to the old railroad station in downtown Chesterton.