Page 20 - Demo

18Forgotten Electric Railwaysassive steam locomotives belching black smoke. That%u2019s what comes to mind for most Hoosiers when they think about Indiana%u2019s railroad history. However, there was once an extensive railway network along which small cars, powered by electricity, darted. Because they connected cities and towns, %u201cinter-city%u201d was one of the first terms used to describe them. But, soon, they were universally known as interurbans.The interurban railways were primarily passenger lines, although they sometimes carried freight as well. The very first companies were established in the late 1800s, with others getting into the business during the following several decades. The self-propelled cars ran on tracks and used electric motors powered by overhead wires.Nearly all Indiana%u2019s early interurban companies enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity, with millions of passengers riding annually for both business and pleasure. Then%u2014around the time of World War I, as automobiles became more popular%u2014there began a slow decline. By the 1940s and early %u201850s, there were few interurbans left. Today, only one remains in operation%u2014the popular South Shore Line, which runs across northwest Indiana, connecting South Bend with Chicago. The South Shore%u2019s tracks, as with most interurban companies, were built parallel to preexisting steam-railway rights-of-way. That%u2019s because land was cheaper alongside existing tracks, and the established steam lines had already been constructed on the most direct routes between towns. Throughout Indiana, a great deal of infrastructure was built by the various interurban companies: large carbarns where trolleys were stored and serviced, coal-fired electric-generating plants, electrical substations, waiting shelters, and depots%u2014as well as bridges, culverts, a system of poles and wires, and tracks. Today, only a few remnants remain, the most common are simple rectangular, brick, flat-roofed M stations and substations, now used for other purposes. A few once-essential buildings and miscellaneous structures sit forlornly along rail-less rights-of-way%u2014their proud heritage all but forgotten. And the hundreds of trolley cars? Only a handful have escaped the scrap pile, to be seen at a few railroad museums. John and I found two, disintegrating anonymously, in out-of-the-way woodlots. Many pluses were associated with Indiana%u2019s interurbans. They were relatively inexpensive to operate, quiet, and non-polluting (except for the power plants themselves). The electrified cars accelerated much faster than their hulking steam counterparts, so they could zip quickly%u2014like jackrabbits%u2014between stations. But, because they couldn%u2019t offer the same degree of freedom as automobiles, they all but disappeared%u2014from the landscape and from our memories.Hoffman Substation (Indianapolis & Cincinnati Traction Co.)%u2014rural Marion Co. (516.13)