It's early Friday morning in Montpelier, Ohio. Climb aboard the combine on the rear of Mixed #51 for the slow journey across Northern Indiana to Westville. Hurry up! It's almost 8:00 A. M.
Our first stop is Edon, Ohio but to get to the station, you have to walk a ways. The station has been moved to a business where, in 1980, it appeared to be undergoing restoration as an office. And, yes, the restored station is still there! James Holzmeier of the Wabash Railroad Historical Society found a web site for Edon, Ohio (really) and sent this LINK.
The next stop is Hamilton, Indiana but there is no station building here. There is a small yard that was home to a number of stored cars in 1980.
West of Hamilton is Steubenville, Indiana, which in 1980 wasn't much.
West of Steubenville is Ashley-Hudson, Indiana (shown before being destroyed by fire).
<== After the fire
West of Ashley-Hudson is Helmer, Indiana, which was once the southern terminus of the short branch to Stroh. No station at Helmer but a number of old Wabash freight cars were stored there. I could find no remnants of a railroad in Stroh but I did find a great fish restaurant.
This is allegedly a Wabash loco and caboose arriving at the Stroh, Indiana station. That appears to be a drovers caboose and I am not familiar with that caboose style on the Wabash.
Next stop is South Milford but I don't have any photos from there so we'll move on to Wolcottville.
West of Wolcottville is the small town of Topeka, Indiana.
Leaving Topeka behind, Mixed 51 then stops at Benton, New Paris and Foraker. I did visit those towns but found nothing to photograph. I wish I had at least photographed the trackage that existed at the time. Oh, well, on to Wakarusa.
West of Wakarusa is Wyatt, Indiana, no station but a small yard.
After departing Wyatt, the next stop is Lakeville. Here the Wabash crossed and interchanged with the Pennsylvania's South Bend - Logansport branch but not in 1980.
Pine, Indiana, or Pine Jct., is the next stop. Curiously, Pine is not listed in the published time table but that might be because there is nothing here but a private home. There is a small yard and a wye interchange with the New Jersey, Indiana & Illinois; a line that suggests by their name that some day they might extend beyond the confines of Pine or South Bend but that was not to be.
After leaving Pine, it's a short trip to the town of North Liberty which in the late 1970's had a complete, uncut station and a crossing and small interchange yard with Penn Central (ex-NYC).
Kingsbury is next but I don't think I was ever there. If I did stop there, I found nothing to shoot even though there is a bridge over (under?) the Grand Trunk Western. So, on to the end of our journey at Westville.
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Last updated 03/10/2007