Wabash 4th District Remnants

I got off work super early one day this December. The sun was barely up, shining a dull amber hue over everything. I pay attention to the details.

To get to my job, I must pass the remnants of the fabled Wabash Railway 4th District.

The Wabash 4th District started in 1889 as a completely different railroad, the Montpelier & Chicago Railroad of Indiana. It has a sister company in Ohio, and, according to Victor Baird, Wabash Railway combined and purchased both and their right-of-way surveys.

The road ran from Montpelier, OH, to Gary, IN. At the time of completion, in 1893, there was no Gary, and it would be another twelve years before its inception. The 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago was a big draw that Wabash wanted a piece of. In addition, the 4th was the shortest route by mile from Detroit to Chicago.

Skipping over much history, the line was depreciated after Norfolk & Western purchased Wabash in the 1960s. Most of the district was ripped up and abandoned by the early 80s—save for the Gary segment from Gary Screw & Bolt to Clarke Junction. Much of the Gary segment was abandoned again in 2014, with rails being ripped up or rearranged to meet the needs of local businesses per funding connected to the Gary/Chicago International Airport runway reconstruction plan.

I wanted to document what was left east of where the remaining Gary tracks end (which is behind Gary Screw & Bolt).

Old Hobart Road

Old Hobart Road, Gary, Indiana, looking east.

There was nothing left here that showed a railroad ever went through here. To the untrained eye, the rocks scattered everywhere are just that — rocks. However, the stones are railroad ballast. The ties are missing, of course. But the rocks tell the story. The right of way passed through the tree grove in the above photo.

Scattered ballast at Old Hobart Road.

Old Hobart Road, looking south. The railroad right of way passed right through here.

You can see the right of way better with the map below.

The yellow line represents the general location of the railroad bed. I’m standing right where the yellow line crosses Old Hobart Road.

As you can see, the old railroad bed has essentially been erased from the landscape. The grounds have been sand mined to death, graded down to flat plains, and built upon.

Ripley Street

The 4th District passed behind Kaplan’s at Ripley Street.

Once again, the old right of way is erased nearly completely at Ripley Street. This location has seen even more construction, surrounded by trucking facilities and the Indiana Toll Road.

Ripley Street, looking east. The old right of way passed between the parking lot to the left and the toll road to the right.

Lake Street

Railroad infrastructure survives at Lake Street.

By some fantastic feat of fate, some original infrastructure still survives at Lake Street. The pylons are what remains of an old bridge that crossed Lake Street. Behind the pylons are the remnants of the embankment that held up the bridge's western terminus.

I would like to know if the Miller Improvement Group Volunteers had anything to do with this preservation. The structure can be seen west of Lake Street. Up until 2017 or so, the pylons also existed on the east side of the street.

A view of the bridge pylons on the east side of Lake Street, as seen in 2007.

Further evidence of the Wabash Railroad is the presence of old telegraph poles, which still hide within the vegetation if one looks hard enough.

Clay Street

Another hidden crossing is here at Clay Street.

The Clay Street crossing, looking east.

Obscured by 40 years of vegetative growth, this crossing retains its character—albeit without any infrastructure left. The trees grow inside of the old right-of-way. Clearly defined property lines denote the separation of the crossing from features around it.

The garbage-strewn location hides some remaining features, such as old rail ties and telegraph poles in the trees.

This is Clay Street, looking west. Note all the old telegraph poles.

Clay Street has retained a memory of the right-of-way shape, with cracks in the asphalt running east/west as they would look if tracks were laid down. Additionally, there are still a few scattered patches of ballast on both sides of the street.

Clay Street, looking east. Note the rise in the street and the horizontal cracks.

Aetna Yard

West of Clay Street sits a GoLo gas station, 4321 E Dunes Hwy, Gary, IN 46403.

The 4th ran directly behind this business and continued west past the Aetna neighborhood. Immediately west of the fuel pumping center was the old Wabash Aetna railyard site that served Gary Powder Works.

Click HERE for a map image of a portion of this yard and the neighborhood around it. It is from spicerweb.org.

A look behind the GoLo station. Clay Street is behind the tree grove.

West of the GoLo. The 4th ran through the alley at the center.

Utah Street & Aetna Street

I couldn’t get great photos of the Utah Street crossing. This area is highly trafficked, and I didn’t feel like playing tango with impatient work-goers.

Clay Street, looking south.

Utah Streets puts me in the same mode as Clay Street, though neater-looking.

Looking east towards Aetna Street.

Just east of Utah Street is Aetna Street. Here, the right-of-way was cut in by Dunes Highway in the early 2000s. As a result, this crossing has been modified, and there is little left to denote where the 4th crossed without looking at maps.