Makes perfect sense, now that I’ve been lucky enoughy to have it spelled out for[#wstupid] me.
But yanno, only living a good walk away from Hugo, I’d a never guessed. Sure, “Huntington” ison the east-west line, But Chicago just isn’t a point of destination for these tracks, especially if you realize the name originates from back in the Wabash era…
Sure, NOW the NewCastle district connects with NS’s Chacago District via the Hadley cutoff, and used to connect via Junction, Park, and Runnion, but back in the day, NS’s “Chicago District” was a foreign road, the Nickel Plate.
I guess the “go” must be from the link up with the old Pennsey, at “Junction”
Learn something new every day
Made for some good reading though, really took me back.
I remember as a kid, being able to sneek up into the abandoned Hugo tower, and train watch, talk about being on top of the action!!
TAG MC
If you go back to the era of the Nickle Plate the N-S line (originally Lake Erie & Western) was a NKP branch from the Chicago line and also crossed and connected with the Pennsy’s main Pittsburg-Chicago line as well, so it was a good bet any train going N through HUGO was eventually headed to Chicago.
By the way, can I assume from your moniker that you don’t care for MicroSavant software?
Yanno, you are RIGHT…Though an easbound turn at the Nickel plate used to be possible by the old knitting mill
Additional comments:
I always thought that GR&I track was New York Central, the logical extension of the line that crosses Wells Street, etc…I guess because that bridge over Main street looks so similar to the one (torn down now) over Sherman Street, I guess now, based upon what I read, there was a change in ownership at Runnion.
You don’t y anychnce have an old “route map” of the New York central through Allen County and Ft Wayne, do you? I’ve walked most of it, so I know full well how to find it, just curious to see birdseye view…
One omission from that guys site is in the “former customers” served for the NYC, That line across Spy Run Blvd (near wagner) used to serve the Ft Wayne waterworks,…part of the track is still there, and I can just BARELY remember cars sitting on that siding…LONNNNG ago
TAG
The GR&I was Pennsy. It ran all the way from the Mackinaw area to Cincy by way of Grand Rapids, Fort Wayne, and Richmond Indiana. US27 plays tag with it for most of the way. The NYC line was the old Fort Wayne and Jackson. I think it at one time ran down to HUGO from Jucntion as well as you can “see” what looks like a second roadbed west of the existing track. Take a look at this map: http://atlas.ulib.iupui.edu/librarycongress_sid/rr004180.html
Where the GR&I veers slightly west north of Fort Wayne, the NYC (FW&J) veered slighlty to the east.