Page 118 - Demo

116Winona%u2019s Interurban Railwayynn and I were driving along the north shore of Winona Lake, just outside Warsaw. As we went under some raised railroad tracks, I knew we%u2019d found what we were after%u2014Powerhouse #2 of the Winona Interurban Railway. From here, electricity had been generated to power a passenger railway that once ran from Warsaw, up to Goshen, and down to Peru.We parked, and walked up to the still-impressive brick building. Although long abandoned, I%u2019d seen a floor plan in a book about Indiana%u2019s interurbans at our public library, so I could visualize what had once been. Four gigantic coal-fired boilers had dominated most of the large main room. To one side was a coal shed, to the other, a generator room. Water had been pumped into the boiler room through a 36%u201d-diameter wooden pipe, which had its intake 200%u2019 out in Winona Lake. L The steam generated here turned two 750-hp Allis Chalmers stationary steam engines, each of which was coupled to a 2,300-volt generator. Transformers stepped-up the electrical potential to 33,000 volts. Such high voltage was needed to force electrons through an expansive grid of high-tension wires out to a series of substations. Located at intervals along the railroad%u2019s right-of-way, each substation was equipped with step-down transformers to reduce the voltage to a lower, more appropriate level for the electrical wires suspended above the tracks. Using a single, roof-mounted, hinged arm, an interurban car could maintain a secure connection to its overhead power source, in order to run its motor.Founded in 1902, the Winona Interurban Railway was never very profitable. In 1907, it carried an average of over 1,000 people a day. By 1934, less than 300 a day were using the system. Still, it survived until 1952, when operations finally ceased. In 1971, the powerhouse%u2019s landmark 175%u2019-tall brick chimney was toppled. For a while, the old building was home to a business called Gatke Corp., but it eventually moved out. When Lynn and I explored the rundown site, we found no evidence of the deteriorating structures%u2019 original purpose%u2014except for (possibly) a pair of large knife switches (left). The steam engines, coal conveyors, generators, transformers, tracks%u2014all were gone. I was grateful for the information I%u2019d come across at the library. Without it, like most Hoosiers, I would never have known about this place, nor all that had occurred here not so long ago.Generator Room, Powerhouse #2 (Winona Interurban Railway)%u2014Warsaw, Kosciusko Co. (863.01)Powerhouse #2 (Winona Interurban Railway)%u2014Warsaw, Kosciusko Co. (862.07)