South Bend IN Railfan Guide

RAILFAN GUIDES of the U.S.

Railfan Guide To
SOUTH BEND IN

Area Map
Union Station
the Amtrak Station
Amtrak Schedules
NICTD Schedules

In General, Speaking of Trains....

South Bend's main action is the Norfolk Southern mainline coming through, and splitting to go to either Michigan City or Chicago via Valparaiso.

The majority of crossings with the R-O-W are separated, with the roads going under the tracks - this doesn't offer the railfan many good opportunities for pictures, since the tracks appear to be behind tree lines most of the time :-(

Along W. South St in the downtown area are some of the few places you have a clear sight line, but the sun will never be behind you since you're on the north side of the tracks.

NICTD trains have their eastern most stop here at the airport, the schedules are below.

As always, if you have any pictures to contribute, or anything else to add or correct, it's toddgp30@yahoo.com.

Other Attractions

The biggest tourist draw in Town is the 150 year old University of Notre Dame, with their 800,000 seat stadium. There are numerous other things to come by the campus to see besides a Fighting Irish game.... Numerous works of art, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, and the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.

South Bend is also home to the College Football Hall of Fame, and the Studebaker National Museum, which are pretty close to each other.

There is also the South Bend Regional Museum of Art, the Northern Indiana Center for History, a complex of four museums, and the South Bend Chocolate Company. South Bend also hosts the Silver Hawks, a Class A minor league baseball team.

Some of the above info comes from Amtrak's website.

Other snippets of useless info :-)

In 1925, the South Shore Interurban company started service between here and Chicago.

The Studebaker plant was located in town until it closed in 1963... it was the world's largest wagon manufacturer, and the only one to succeed in the automobile business.

Those into machining are familiar with the South Bend name because they were located here.

On June 30, 1934 The Merchants National Bank in South Bend was the last bank to be robbed by the notorious "Dillinger gang".

The Singer Sewing Machine Company and the Oliver Chilled Plow Company were driving forces in the development of South Bend in the early 1900's.

Other businesses that had a presence here were Bendix, Honeywell, Allied Signal, and the O'Brien Paint Company.

Area Map

Union Station

Opened in 1929, the depot served the New York Central and the Grand Trunk Western. It saw it's last passenger train in 1971, before Amtrak took over passenger service. The depot is located at 326 West South Street. It had 3 platforms, and 5 tracks.

Photo by Derek Jensen in 2005.... from Wikipedia

the Amtrak Station

Located on the west side of town, the station area and platforms offers a fairly good vantage point to take pictures from - it's much like Depew NY where you have good sight lines in both directions, and no obstructions in the way, like fences. On the aerial shots, notice the fancy trackwork, maybe something to put on your model pike! The TLA (three letter acronym) for South Bend is SOB.

The next Amtrak stop west is Chicago, and to the east, Elkhart.

Indiana has 11 Amtrak stations, and supposedly, South Bend has the 4th highest number of train boardings.

The South Shore used this station until November of 1992, when they built the current station at the airport.

Trains stopping here are the Lake Shore Limited and the Capitol Limited, and will take you to Chicago's Union Station (CHI) going WB.

Amtrak Schedules

Lakeshore Limited Service

Capitol Limited Service

Mainline Split
The split seems fairly accessible off of Chapin St to the east of the split, and S. Arnold St on the west side of the split. Before the split, the 5 tracks coming in from the east go down to 2, with 2 tracks heading off to Michigan City, and 3 to Valparaiso.

NS South Bend Yard
Doesn't look like it is used a whole lot except to stage freight for local service. The yard is located south of Ford St, not too far from the split. The yard office is easy to get to.

Bridge Adjacent to E Sample St
Looks like the better of the two sides is the western shore, where you can climb the embankment to catch WB freights coming through.