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Thinking about taking a trip here in November on Thanksgiving break. Is places like Muncie, Indy, Terre Haute or Princeton worth visiting these days? Kinda looking at shortlines too and big mainline railroading. But I also do not wanna be on the NS Chicago line or CSX Garret sub since I have seen those trains so much in my lifetime. First post in so many years on this site. I remember the old 14 year old me that wanted times and etc. Now I have my license since 2018 and man I have been everywhere. I just was wondering how busy this locale is. I hear all the time from my father that Indianapolis is a huge railroad town. Is it worth visiting for a day or so?

Muncie is well worth a stop over. There is a shop on the southeast corner of Walnut Street and the railroad crossing, just south of the center of town, which is very tolerant of railfans, provided you do not block their access going through, and you stay close to Walnut Street. From that location, you will see all of the CSX Big Four Line traffic, plus anything NS Cincy/Fort Wayne and the NS local between the yard in Muncie and Frankfort. There also might be a grain train to or from Hobbs. You'll be able to see in the distance NS Cincy/Chicago traffic. Indy is tough to raifan because much of the CSX track through the city is elevated, though I do believe there is one parking garage near the train station downtown that you can get a view of the tracks.

Further south, the CSX runs its own rails from Hamilton, Ohio, across to Seymour, Indiana, then south on the Louisville and Indianapolis to Louisville. There is a park in Seymour for railfans, but it is near the diamonds, and not really near the connector track. CSX only goes west of town for car storage currently. Just east of Seymour, in North Vernon, the CSX interchanges with the Madison Railroad. Madison has been operating in the late morning, early afternoon on Tuesdays and Fridays. The local industries that Madison switches are easy to access, and the diamond in the middle of town features a manual directional signal.

I haven't been to Terre Haute in twenty years or more to look at trains, so I can't help you with that one.

The Amtrak Shops in Beech Grove is interesting to drive by, but keep driving. Beech Grove is one tiny step better than Gary when it comes to dangerous places to be in Indiana.

I apologize for the late response. I have been super busy with college and work so I have not had time to check the responses. But I just want to say thanks for those who responded. Muncie seems like the real deal. I have a few more questions about Indy though is there more than one CSX main besides the ex Conrail big four and is there any good access points to Avon Yard to view trains? I plan to go to Muncie on Sunday Morning November 21st then work southwest to Terre Haute stay there for Sunday and Monday night. Then head south towards Princeton IN. Is there any locations to see near Princeton IN/Evansville IN on the CSX ex L&N mainline? I am hoping rail traffic is busy because it is thanksgiving week and usually railroads like to run a ton of traffic on the holiday week.

If there is a good access point to Avon Yard, I never found it. There are places where you can view nearby, but not close to the yard. The Big Four line is intersected by the line from Hamilton, Ohio, on the east side of downtown. The Louisville line runs south, right before the station, on the east side. Everything east/west passes by the station.

Okay, thank you so much. I might just stop by Muncie early in the morning then work my way south towards Indy and then west to Terre Haute. Thank you guys for all of the information.

Nearly a month and sorry about the lack of responses. Muncie was incredibly busy when I visited on Friday November 19th 2021. I caught 11 trains from 8 am until just about noon. Terre Haute was also very successful to me and Princeton as well. It seems with PSR nowadays, the module with railroads seem to be very dead periods of the day followed by bursts of action in 2 or 3 hours.

trainjunkie47 wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 28, 2021 9:10 pm

The Amtrak Shops in Beech Grove is interesting to drive by, but keep driving. Beech Grove is one tiny step better than Gary when it comes to dangerous places to be in Indiana.

What? Beech Grove did not seem that bad to me at all. There are far worse places in Indiana...it's nowhere near Gary bad.

The only things you have to worry about in Beech Grove is finding a place to park to get photos of the Amtrak Shops and also avoid getting squashed by a truck while on the extremely narrow "sidewalk" along Emerson.

Streetview for reference (it is narrower in person):
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.722315, ... 384!8i8192