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WORDS TO REMEMBER AS WE DEAL WITH THIS ATTACK ON OUR GREAT NATION!!!

We need to remind all of we patriots about this! Please like and reblog!

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It's my 8 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

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Clattering Southward

This is a southbound train on the Louisville & Nashville, former Monon, in Mitchell, Indiana. The job is in the process of clattering over the Baltimore & Ohio, former Ohio and Mississippi.

The wonderful signal, known as CPL, for color position light, was developed by a B&O engineer; the locomotive is a General Electric U23B built for the road in 1975. L&N had stopped painting the noses of their locos yellow by this stage, alas.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken March 26th 1977.

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Snow or Stars

At first I thought this negative was covered with dust. Later I came to believe it was snowing (and I’m sticking with this story). One viewer suggested it could be a night sky with stars, which I like, but don’t believe.

In any case, this EMD GP9 is sitting at McDoel Yard in Bloomington, Indiana. This is along the former Monon of course, which the L&N acquired in 1971.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken mid- to late-1970s.

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Ellettsville, Indiana

We’re along side the former Monon in southern Indiana; a northbound L&N freight is blasting by the little wood-frame depot there, which is adjacent to Jacks Defeat Creek.

I find the blur somewhat objectionable here, but feel this defect is out-weighed by the sense of action as well as the content generally speaking (time will do this to old photographs).

One image by Richard Koenig; taken November 29th 1976.

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Approaching Ellettsville

Here’s a northbound train ripping along the former Monon just south of Ellettsville, Indiana.

By the time I was taking pictures, the line had been owned by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad for four or five years.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken November 6th 1976.

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Six-Axles on the Monon

This is a southbound train on the Louisville & Nashville, former Monon. We are a mile or less north of Harrodsburg, Indiana.

For the bulk of the time I photographed trains on this line, they were powered by four-axle units (other than Amtrak SDP40Fs on the Floridian). Here, the first two locomotives are General Electric U25Cs built in 1965; that pair is followed by a relatively new SD40-2 and then a newer four-axle GE (B23-7).

Two photographs by Richard Koenig; taken April 2nd 1978.

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Hunter Switch

A northbound train roars up the hill out of Bloomington, Indiana, on the Louisville & Nashville, former Monon. The lead unit is a General Electric U28B built for the L&N in 1966.

The Hoosier Line was known for their semaphore signals, but this location had searchlights as long as I was around.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken in December 1975.

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Southbound on the Monon

Here in a Louisville & Nashville freight train moving southward on the former Monon in Southern Indiana on a sunny spring day in 1976.

In the first image the train is leaning into the big sweeping curve just north of Harrodsburg. In the second image, the train is seen rolling under a Milwaukee Road quarry branch just north of Bedford. The third image has the train south of that town at Sandpit, and the final picture shows the two cabooses passing the brick depot at Orleans.

Four images by Richard Koenig; taken March 7th 1976.

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On the Former Monon

Here are four shots of a Louisville & Nashville train moving south on the former Monon in southern Indiana.

The first image has the train entering the sweeping curve just north of Harrodsburg; the second picture was taken off Peerless Road north of Bedford. The third image has the train street running in that small Indiana town, and the fourth was taken in Mitchell along with the iconic semaphore signals.

Four images by Richard Koenig; taken March 14th 1976.

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Charging the Hill

Here we see a northbound train on the Louisville & Nashville, former Monon, trying to climb up and out of Bloomington, Indiana. This is just south of Adams Street. The yard engine from McDoel would sometimes be seen pushing on the back of these trains to get them up to Hunter Switch, at the summit. The lead unit here is a General Electric U23B built for the L&N in 1974.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken March 27th 1976.

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Ex-Monon Leader

Here’s a southbound train on the Louisville & Nashville, former Monon—and the lead unit happens to be an ex-Monon unit as well. L&N number 2707, a GE U23B, was built as Monon number 608. The train has just rumbled over the Baltimore & Ohio in Mitchell, Indiana.

This may be my best shot of an ex-Monon unit, and it’s marred a bit with blur, alas.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken in September of 1975.

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Mystery Locale, Solved

It took me a long time, but I finally locked down a mystery locale that had thwarted me for the better part of a year.

This is a northbound Louisville & Nashville train on the former Monon. The location is just south of Clear Creek (which is south of Bloomington). I was unaware of this unnamed siding until I found it on a track chart. While there’s not much to go on here, what is left (the street to the left, along with the low-slung power line there) confirms my vague memory that it was down that way.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken September 5th 1977.

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Quarry Job

Here we see an L&N EMD GP38AC working the quarry northwest of Bloomington, Indiana. In previous times, these quarries would have been serviced by Alco locomotives of the Monon.

The Louisville and Nashville Railroad swallowed up the small but interesting Indiana railroad in 1971. This image was most likely taken around 1977 or 1978.

Two pictures by by Richard Koenig.

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Over the White River

This is a northbound Louisville & Nashville freight on the former Monon. The location is where The Hoosier Line crossed over the White River just south of Gosport, Indiana.

Side note: all three major locomotive manufacturers are represented here: GM Electro-Motive Division, Alco (the SCL unit in the middle), and General Electric, last in the consist.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken May 22nd 1976.

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Meet at Wallace Junction

A place that would be unrecognizable now: a small yard adjacent to Wallace Junction on the former Monon. The junction in question is for the so-called I&L branch (for Indianapolis and Louisville), which was constructed to give Monon access to the coal fields in southwestern Indiana.

When I was there this day, a northbound arrived to Wallace Junction first. It’s interesting to note that the last locomotive in the consist, number 2705, is former Monon, riding on its home rails. The southbound mainline freight then arrives and pulls into the siding. I assume the trains were too long for this passing track, however, so the southbound pulled down the branch to clear the main and let the northbound by. It then backs out onto the main once again to head south, as we see it sitting between the semaphores.

None of this, railroad-wise, exists currently. Not only the branch, but the main line too has been abandoned and removed. The final image has the southbound down near Bloomington, at Vernal Pike, where the rails are still in place, but only as a spur to reach a rock quarry northwest of town.

Nine images by Richard Koenig; taken May 29th 1976.