Unusual found
Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 1:48 pm
There was an actual trains and bog location in Indiana for much of the first half of the 20th century. The Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railroad (which was commonly called the Monon Route after the Indiana town where its lines intersected) operated a floating bridge called the Paisley Trestle over a seemingly bottomless bog just south of Crystal Lake in northwestern Indiana. This was no branch or secondary line. It was part of the Monon's mainline in and out of Chicago.
The line had been built in 1898 to give the railroad closer access to Crystal Lake, which many at the time thought was going to develop into a major national resort. The line hugged the shores of the lake before heading south over the bog. The railroad expected to reap a bonanza serving this resort, selling train tickets to vacationers as the only railroad serving the lake.
Things didn't quite work out that way. Crystal Lake became a popular regional resort, but that was about it. By the 1930s, most visitors drove their own cars to get there. With the railroad line running between the beaches and the motels and campgrounds, the Monon was more concerned about liability issues involving their trains hitting people as they crossed the tracks than they were about selling them tickets from Chicago or Indianapolis (as I understand it, fortunately, no one was hit by one of the trains).
When John W. Barriger became the Monon's President in 1946, he took these concerns to heart. His instincts as a railroad man (not to mention his insurance company) told him to also get rid of the Paisley Trestle. It actually had a near perfect safety record. No locomotives or revenue cars had gone off the trestle into the bog, but some maintenance-of-way equipment had. Barriger wasn't about to take any chances with the new streamlined passenger trains he had ordered, and he also wanted to develop the Monon into a high-speed line.
In 1948, the line was relocated, eliminating the risks around Crystal Lake and abandoning the Paisley Trestle.
As I said, no revenue cars ever went into the bog. However, I suspect there may be some model railroaders out there who are also quicksand fans and who have a sick sense of humor. I believe I don't need to explain the possibilities.
Big Bad John
