Mission Statement and Disclaimer:

Many people have asked me the reason that have I spent so much time and energy wandering the State of Indiana, basically photographing what is not there anymore. On more than one occasion I haved replied..."just because it’s not there."

The Monon Railroad played an important and large part of the Indiana history. The railroad was also a large part of the local communities which it serviced. When the railroad merged into the L & N, and later became part of the Chessie, or CSX, much of the railroad has been abandoned and taken up. Small hamlets like Haskells and Armour were once thriving communities. Today they are lost, or just a point on a map. Bigger cities, like Michigan City or Hammond, once key centers of business and commerce, no longer are serviced by the railroad. Their tracks are either gone, or rusting and silent. Not much remains of the friendly railroad which generations of Hoosiers grew up with.

Take Lowell for example. That is my hometown. As a kid, growing up in and around the railroad, I took for granted that it would always be there. Sure the CSX tracks still cut through the town, but it is not the same. All the locations along the Monon where, as kids, we spent countless hours and days are now gone, nothing more than memories. Trains still run over the former Monon, they just don’t stop in Lowell anymore. The green baggage carts and boxcars spotted along the sidings are long gone. The depot is silent and deserted. Industry and business once served by the Monon are now memories too. Tracks have been abandoned and torn out.

I grew up in Lowell and lived in Lake County, Indiana from 1955 to 1990, and yet I never knew that the Monon Railroad once established a recreation park on the west shore of Cedar Lake. I suppose it could be considered the original "theme" park.. Because of this web site, I have visited places throughout Indiana that were only names on a map. Even though the tracks are gone and no buildings remain, there is an indescribable feeling one gets while walking the old right of way north of Otis, Indiana, or standing along a strip-mall in Paoli, Indiana looking at bridge abutments that once were joined by a steel railroad trestle. Two of my favorite projects was the search for the Pailsey Trestle and tracing the former Chicago And Wabash Valley Railroad's right of way.

What originally began as just a look at the northern parts of the railroad, today has been expanded to include all seven subdivisions and several former branch lines. I hope that you enjoy my work. It is a project that may never be complete. Now a disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER: Unless otherwise noted, photographs are the property of Thomas Kepshire. Please feel free to use them. Other contributors have allowed me to use their photographs, or written historical accounts. Where known I have given full credit for their contribution. If the original photographer is known, I have given proper photo credit. Where unknown, or no original photographer is known, I have indicated that it was courtesy of the Monon Railroad Historical Technical Society. If anyone wants their photographs removed, please contact me and I will honor your request and remove the photographs. Anyone wishing to contribute additional photographs, or stories, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you for visiting. Tell everyone you know and please sign our Guestbook.