Left: Another view of the front of the Bloomington depot, with REA truck standing by. Unknown date. Right: Another look at the street side of the Bloomington Depot, circa 1960's. -Joe Land Collection-

NEW 07-10-2011 Left: Christmas Break 1963. Indiana University student wait at the depot to be taken home. Right: Northbound Train #6 arriving at Bloomington. Soon all these college students will be on the way home. -Schoon Family Photographs-

Left: Bloomington Freight House, date unknown. This building sat west of the limestone depot downtown. Right: Monon Freight House Bloomington, Indiana. 1964

Southbound passenger arriving in Bloomington. Date of the photograph, unknown. Train number unknown also.

Left: Southbound arriving in Bloomington. Date unknown. Right: Passenger arriving in Bloomington, date unknown.

Left: Southbound Thoroughbred arriving at Bloomington. Right: Thoroughbred stopped at the depot. -John Pickett photos-

The southbound football special, as evidenced by the white flags on the locomotive, arrives at Bloomington, Indiana. -John Pickett photos-

Left: Purdue - IU football special arrives at Bloomington, 1949. An RS-2 arrives to move the train to McDoel to be turned for the return trip. Right: Football special is separated in two halfs near the depot.. -John Pickett photos-

Bloomington Elevator

Bloomington Elevator and Illinois Central Freight House downtown Bloomington.

Northbound "Thoroughbred" passenger train making a stop at Bloomington, 1959.

Bloomington Depot, circa 1960.

Left: Cold 1963 December morning as IU students wait for Train #6 to arrive and carry them home for the holidays. This same scene would be repeated at all the colleges and universities up and down the Monon. Right: Train #6 with black and gold units on the point arrive at Bloomington. -David Schoon Photographs-

Bloomington Indiana, March 1, 1964. The "Thoroughbred" comes to a stop at the depot. Bloomington was the largest community between Lafayette and New Albany, as well as the home of Indiana University. In the final years of the Monon's passenger service, deficits had become a growing burden. There was a proposal to drop passenger service south of Bloomington. The resulting train could still service all the college towns on the Monon.

April 16, 1966. Monon C628 leads a 70 series freight into Bloomington. Through trial and error the Monon found that three C628's were too much power for a typical freight. However, lashing two up with a recently rebuilt RS2 was just the right amount of power.

McDoel Yard

MP 221.5 5th Subdivision - Bn

McDoel Yard Office, circa 1917. This photo is of the office at McDoel Yard in Bloomington. Photo is courtesy of John Stigall.

Group of Monon employees at McDoel Yard, exact date unknown.

Bloomington, McDoel Yard coaling tower. Unknown date.

Right: Steam 554 arrives at McDoel with a stone train. -John Pickett Photo.-

Left: The Varsity gets ready for its Friday - Sunday run. The Varsity served the college students up and down the Monon for a short time. Here they get ready at McDoel Yard. -John Pickett Photo-

Left: The transition between steam and diesel at McDoel. Steam 554, an RS-2 and NW-2. Right: RS-2 on the McDole turntable and Steam locomotive at McDoel. -John Pickett Photos-

Two view of the turntable at McDoel. Left: Circa 1976. Right. Three years later, 1979.

The sand house and tower at McDoel. Left: Circa 1979. Picture taken from turntable. Note former troop kitchen cars. Right: 1976. Note camp cars to the right and turntable in background.

McDoel Yard Office. Left: Date Unknown. F3 64B pictured. Right: Another view, circa 1960's.

Two shots of the McDoel Yard office. The mustang on the left dates the picture on the left to between 1965 and about 1970.  The warehouse is still there today with the loading doors blocked up.   The station has had the roof overhangs cut off so boxcar could clear the building.  I would say this station building was torn down after the new building at Grimes lane was completed.  Right: This station and the addition shown is circa 1961.  Obviously the other two buildings behind the yard office had to be torn down for the warehouse and railroad siding to fit to the west of the yard office.

Southbound passenger at Bloomington, McDoel Yard. No date listed on photo. -Courtesy Steve Dolzall-

Looking south at McDoel Yard. This photo is circa mid to late 1960's.

Rusting old fuel tank, circa 1976. Monon name still visible, but just barely.

Monon Water Tower, McDoel Yard. October 1962.

McDoel Yard, April 2002. This group of pictures are of the McDoel Yard, 2002. The days of this facility are numbered. Just recently CSX ran the last train out of the yard. Soon it will become a park. Yet another piece of Monon heritage and history slipping away. Photos courtesy of Tim Wootton, used with his permission.

The roundhouse at McDoel. Unknown date.

Steam engine #606 and crew pose at McDoel Yard, 1937.

Left: Northbound Train 74, with a A-B-A F3 lash up, passing through downtown Bloomington, May 1947. Landmarks of Bloomington in the late 1940's include the Hotel Graham and the Monroe County Court House. Right: July 1971. RS2 #56 takes a spin on the McDoel roundhouse turntable. The condition of the roundhouse notwithstanding, the Monon was maintained in excellent condition to the end.

McDoel Turntable, circa 1970. Two looks at the turntable.

Left: Black and gold F3 sits on the turntable at McDoel. Right: Oaken Bucket Special waits at McDoel Yard. This was the last Monon football passenger special.

McDoel Yard, 1970. Yard office building. In 1966 this building was built and housed the passenger terminal until the discontinuance of passenger service in 1967.

Left and Right: Interior of the last Monon passenger station in Bloomington at Grimes Lane. -MRHTS Photo Archives Collection-

McDoel Yards, November 1968. Monon C-420 517 and 505 await assignment.

McDoel Yard. C-420 #516 in consist. Turntable can be seen in the background.

Left: RS2 #53 and C-420 #156 near turntable, May 1986. Right: RS2 #51, date unknown.

Great shot looking over the top of C-420 #503 in consist, date unknown.

Left and Right: Old Monon wood caboose at Woorley Quarry, circa 1985. A unique club house.

Left: Monon BL2 #30 crossing 2nd Street in Bloomington, Indiana. July 7, 1961. Bloomington High School is in the background. Right: Shower Brothers Furniture Factory, unknown date.

Left: Northbound "Thoroughbred" near the depot, year is 1962. Right: Another shot of the northbound "Thoroughbred" north of McDoel Yard.

Bloomington 2004

North side of Bloomington. Monon mainline curves off to the left side of the image. Tracks have been removed. This was the area where the IC and Monon interchanged in Bloomington.

Bloomington, Indiana. Circa 2004. Left: Shot of the former Monon mainline about a half a mile north of McDoel Yard. Mile post pictured is from the L&N era. Right: CSX office McDoel, boarded up and deserted. (Images obtained via the Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society's Picture List Serve. I somehow neglected to note the original photographers. If anyone knows, please e-mail me so proper credit can be listed.

Former Bloomington depot location 2004. Left: Former depot location, looking to the northeast. Right: Looking south along the mainline. Depot once stood to the left of the image.

Left: Mainline north of downtown. Looking north along the mainline from Kirkwood Avenue. Right: Another look north along the mainline from 6th Street.

Left: Looking north along the mainline. Right: Looking to the south. Both images taken from the Bloomington Convention Center area.

One of the highlights, or low lights, of the 2004 Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society's Convention Bus Tour was a "get out and look" visit to the former McDoel Yards. To most, this was their first visit to McDoel. To many former Monon employees on the tour, seeing the tearing up of the yard was indeed a sad experience.

Left: Looking at the mainline and yard lead at the north end of McDoel. Right: Stacks of ties ready to be removed from the once busy yard. You are looking toward the south. As one former Monon trainman said, "Seeing this place today, makes me sad. Really sad."

Left: Looking to the south at what was once a busy railroad yard. Right: Standing in the middle of the yard, looking south where, towards the left side of the image, the roundhouse once was. Evidence of the turntable pit is still visible if one has a desire to walk that way.

McDoel 2006

These photos were sent to me a while back. BMIA Operative Joe Land wandered by McDoel and took these pictures. Left: Looking south from Grimes at the vacant yard. Right: Yard Office stands desolate and silent. There is talk of the Bloomington Park Department using it. Shame to let it just decay away.