Yeah, Eric. It IS a great photo. Could be the thirties though.
I, too love that shot inside the Fayette St. tower! I spent some time in my youth up in the 173rd St. crossing tower at South Hammond watching in fascination as the operator there raised and lower the gates there while an NW2 shunted cars across the street, clanging his bell and fiddling with all those valves and other gadgets. His skill and especially his ability to anticipate amazed me!
Here's a view showing that Fayette St. tower's exterior, c1954. The larger shed on the other side of the MONON main is the old downtown MONON frieight station, the car parked next to it belonging to Bob Schultz, who at that time was commuting from there to and from his job at the Dearborn freighthouse. In the distance, partly masked by the smaller shed, you can see the limestone station, no long before it's razing, no doubt.
Mention of the bell, above, brings back my most memorable recollection of all this downtown rail traffic. Each watchman's tower plus many of the ground shanties, I believe, was equipped with a big brass bell, probably salvaged from a scrapped steam locomotive. The watchman would ring it, usually just once, to provide early warning to motorists and pedestrians that the gates were coming down (or, in the case of a ground shanty, that he was about to step out into the street with his stop sign or lantern). His bell also signalled the watchmen further down the line that a train was coming. Each bell had a distinctly different tone and pitch so wherever you might be in downtown Hammond an approaching train would be announced with a "Bing! Bong! Clang! Clong! with all those beels being rung successively. The street-level watchmen also carried whistles, so we would often hear those as well, and then the loud crashing of steel wheels hitting all those diamonds in Hohman Ave. It was a great time and place for a young railfan to send some time!
The second photo is a c1950 shot taken from the top of the Indiana Hotel, looking southeast. The MONON main is the right-most track. Next left are the Erie/C&O tracks and in the upper left can be seen the Nickel Plate tracks turning eastward. The location of the stone depot on Sibley St. is masked by the dark brick building on the other side of State St. Hohman Ave. is the street with the bus on it. For those unfamiliar with Hammond, State St. was the main downtown east-west drag, while Hohman was its north-south counterpart.
I found this photo last night via the old-Hammond Facebook link forwarded by Eric. I've found a few others of MONON interest as well. So, more to follow.
