Tom Johnson’s L&IN - 4
camp, and I belong to the covered hopper camp. We go back
and forth about it but all in good fun.
I also choose this time frame because it was before graffiti
become a dominant feature of many freight cars. I don’t like
the graffiti on the cars, so that was also a determining factor
of the era. During this time many short lines (some with very
short lives) were created as the class 1 railroads spun off many
lines that were not profitable or marginally profitable. Here in
Indiana there are many old secondary lines that were spun off
5. It’s harvest season and three farmers are talking
about the weather, crop yields, and politics, oblivious to
the L&IN crew picking up carloads of grain behind them.
5
MRH-May 2014
