We had another brush with Kismet when we woke up on Dec. 6 in the town of Plainfield, Indiana. Because the Google trick worked so well in Ohio I did it again in Indiana and found that the hotel was just a few miles from CSX's Avon Yard in the town of the same name. We also had to get the Little Helper a quick haircut before we arrived at our friend's house in St. Louis.
U.S. 36 runs parallel to Avon yard and is crammed with strip malls. I dropped the Wife and my Little Helper off at Cookie Cutters -- a kid's hair cutting salon like Super Cuts -- and I went across the street to park in a mall lot with a good view of the East entrance to Avon yard. All of the material I read online about Avon yard said don't trespass, don't tempt CSX security and stay in public areas. I don't believe in trespassing myself, although I know some fans who think a camera gives them a license to tromp where ever they please. The last thing anyone working on a railroad needs is a moron tripping over his own feet while they are trying to do a job.
Anyway, when I pulled up into the parking spot a westbound intermodal pulled into the yard. I wasn't stopped, so I didn't get a picture. The fates were with me, though, because a few hours later I saw that same intermodal roar through a little town in southern Illinois and this time I was ready. I digress. I figured I would get a few shots in the parking lot but it wasn't mean to be. After about an hour, the Wife texted me to say the haircut was done and it was a great success. My Little Helper looked pretty snazzy when I picked them up a few minutes later.
It didn't look like I was going to get a shot at Avon, so we packed up, buckled up and hit the road for St. Louis. As we were leaving, I did stop in the parking lot of a VFW at the west end of the yard and I took a shot with a telephoto of a CSX diesel waiting for work. I figured it was a safety shot and got me Indiana for the blog. We would be returning home through Indiana, so I hoped for something better.
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| The west end of Avon Yard in Indiana. |
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We were on the I-70 heading west when I caught a flash of red out of the corner of my eye. I took a quick look and there was an Indiana Rail Road geep crossing a street in Terre Haute. "You got to get your shot,'' the Wife said. I thanked her and took the next exit. I managed to catch an Indiana GP-38-2AC switching cars at a grain elevator and there was a small area at the side of the road where I could pull off safely and get my shot. The only downside was a telephone pole was strategically placed in the center of the deisel.
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| Indiana Rail Road GP-38-2AC: It's a handsome paint scheme. |
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| The GP-38-2 and a couple of cars from a different angle. |
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I also came across an interesting memorial painted on the tail end of one of the freight cars. I don't know if it honors a graffiti artist or a hobo. But I snapped a shot because I haven't seen too many of these things.
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| An ad-hoc memorial. |
I was satisfied with the photos, so it was back on the highway. I would have liked to have gotten a cleaner shot of the locomotive, but we had a schedule to keep. Sometimes you take what you get. As it turned out the fates would reward me on the return trip through Indiana a few days later. But that post will have to wait for a little bit. I sent those photos to Railpace and Tom was kind enough to agree to print one. When the magazine comes out I will post the photos here with a link.
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