FW&J 1925

[cjberndt]

The back of this photo says 4-4-2 #868 was decorated to celebrate 50 years of passenger service on the Ft. Wayne & Jackson at Ft. Wayne. I'm not sure how 1875 fits into FW&J history.

#868 was scrapped in 1928, three years after the photo. Nice looking little locomotive.

Craig

[Notch 8]

Any idea when passenger service ended on this line ?

[cjberndt]

Passenger service out of Ft. Wayne on FW&J ended in July 1941 with one of the M-200 series gasoline doodlebugs, possibly M-202. I think it also the end of passenger service on the entire line, but I'm not certain about that.

Craig

[D.L.]

When Victor gets that book done, we'll all know the facts on the Ft. W. J.&S. line.

[Hotbox]

According to this book. http://www.amazon.com/Limiteds-Expresse ... +expresses

Passenger service commenced on the Ft.Wayne, Jackson, & Saginaw in 1870 with 3 round trips between Ft. Wayne and Jackson. One of those was a mixed train.

It also states "One round trip was curtailed to Fort Wayne-Hillsdale, Mich. on April 27, 1930, and discontinued Nov. 16,1930. Another pairing ended Sept 25, 1932. The trains began terminating at Hillsdale Mich on Sept 25,1938, and made their final runs in July 1943."

[cjberndt]

Then I found this one in the archive: NYC 907 at Ft. Wayne. It looks like 1876-1926 on the cab, but with a magnifying glass it could be 1875-1925.

The words Ft. Wayne are barely visible the billboard or building at right.

Craig

[Steve Bryan]

I think I've seen this photo before,or at least one like it. The one I saw was a retirement photo. Judging by the apparent age of the engineer, my guess it is him that is retiring. Also I don't think the Star of David was used on regular locomotives but rather on special occasions.

[Wayne Gest]

I think it says 1876-1926. That's fifty years and so many of those old guys worked fifty years and even longer. 1926 was still before the Railroad Retirement Board was established and I don't know but suspect that the company pensions, whatever they were, weren't all that good. It was a different mindset then, too, I think it's safe to say.

We used to walk the Potbelly trail between Dupont Road and Wallen Road and I always wondered what all had actually run up through there, there's such a scarcity of pictures. It sure is fun to see one once in awhile, thanks for posting, and yes, I'm looking forward to purchasing Victor's book.

[cjberndt]

Yes, retirement photos.

The attached photo is looking across the former Academie stop (Wallen Rd.) on the FW&J in June 1955. Pretty exciting. Wasn't the little village of Wallen, west of Lima Rd., originally named Academie?

Craig

[Steve Bryan]

In my 1876 atlas, it shows the town of Wallen and what also looks like a platted town of Acadamie Sta. East of there, about halfway between Auburn Road and Leo Road shows a school that is named Academy.

[D.L.]

Hard to believe that area up there once looked like that! I try to avoid that upper N. side as much as I can.

[Wayne Gest]

Yes, it looks so open, I would have thought something would have already been built there by then. Since I lived on the "upper north side" for many years, I crossed the old roadbed all the time, Dupont Road and Carroll Road primarily, before they both got all built up but well after the railroad was gone. I suspect the railroad at Dupont and Carroll Roads also looked open like this now.