Streamliner Equipment

All passenger trains on the Monon had even train numbers Northbound, and odd numbers Southbound. For example, train 5 was the Chicago to Louisville Day Express, and train 6 was the Louisville to Chicago Day Express. The Monon had a single-track mainline, so when trains met, one of them had to pull into a siding to let the other pass.

Ref: Stephen Dolzall, Christopher Stone, Tim Swan and MRH-TS.

Equipment

Hoosier 14/15 (Evening) / Tippecanoe 11/12 (Morning) Chicago-Indianapolis

9/47 Streamlined Baggage 11/12, RPO-Combine, 2 Coaches, 2 Deluxe Coaches (one
with vending machines 30 or 33), Dining-Bar-Lounge, Parlor-Observation

11/47 2nd set enters service

9/49 Grill-Parlor (Dinette Coach) replaces DBL, PO on Tippecanoe

9/51 Grill coach

11/51 DLO from Thoroughbred moved to Tippecanoe

9/55 S Tippecanoe & N Hoosier- coaches, DPO

N Tippecanoe & S Hoosier- coaches, DBL & PO

9/57 EPO/DBL svc ends

4/9/59 All Service ends

Thoroughbred 5/6 (former Day Express) Chicago-Louisville

2/48 Heavyweight baggage, Heavyweight RPO-Baggage, 2 Coaches, 1 Deluxe Coach,
Dining-Lounge-Observation (carried heavyweight diner until 7/48)

9/51 DLO replaced with Grill-Parlor

11/51 Grill-Coach

10/56 Refreshment-Coach (23 & 25 have vending machines)

10/57 A lone vendor between Bloomington and Crawfordsville

and from Crawfordsville to Bloomington

10/64 Timetable change to use single consist

1/66 End of Post Office service

2/67 REA service ends

9/30/67 All Service ends (coach 25 & HD coach 42, Business car 3 made the last run)

Bluegrass 3/4 (former Night Express) Chicago-Louisville

3/49 2 baggage cars, 2 Pullman Sleepers, 60 series coaches, and grill coach.
Leave one at Bloomington with baggage, baggage-coach, and coaches for train 23/24
Coaches for French Lick in front of through-baggage, so no access to grill coach.

9/24/49 Service ends

Varsity 1/2 (Fri/Sun Chicago-Bloomington)

1/6/50 Service starts.
60 series non-streamlined coaches in early 2 tone Grey/Red livery and grill-coach

6/18/50 Service ends

1/1/53 Service starts

5/29/53 Service ends

Budd RDC-1 Bedford – Bloomington – Lafayette - Monon

Then returned to Lafayette, Bloomington, and Bedford.
Twice daily it ran and met trains 11 &15

4/1/50 - 4/15/50 Service Period

Post WW2 Coach Rebuild & Paint History

1947 coaches 21-26 converted from hospital cars.
23 & 25 have vending machines
Parlor Observation 71-72

7/47 light grey roof and down to top of windows,
1” white pinstripe with gold edge,
red band across windows,
3”white pinstripe with gold edging,
early Loewy logo/herald (white circle, red Arrowhead)
“ The Hoosier Line” in large white script on locomotives
71/72 different paint schemes on ends (Dolzall p143)

1948 Deluxe Coaches 27-34
30 & 33 with vending machines
Dining-Bar-Lounge 51-53
Grill Coaches 65-69
Dining-Parlor-Observation 58 & 59 (built in mars signals on end)

2/48 New Thoroughbred sets debut, have black roof

1949 68-69 rebuild as Dinette Coaches 81-82

5/49 Black roofs added on original Indy trains.

49-50 Retirement of all remaining heavy weight equipment (except head end)

2/50 Locomotives: Original logo replaced with Wheel-and-Track logo,
Large THL script removed, replaced with text under logo
all locomotives have black roof

1954 60 series, heavyweight non streamlined, coaches retired

1/54 simplified single darker grey color scheme introduced
55-56 Troop Kitchen Cars converted to Express Service
all dark grey / red livery
56 Six PS Box cars from 601-851 series fitted with steam pipes for Express Service

5/56 Grill Coach 65 converted to High Density Coach 41,
dark gray/red livery.
Blind wall of galley changed to 3 large windows
windows across the isle were enlarged.

9/59 Deluxe Coach converted to HDC 42, used dark gray/red livery.
Removed one small window and added one large window

12/59 all food service, parlor cars, and deluxe coaches removed from roster.
(Except Deluxe Coach 34)

12/59 Box Cars removed from Express Service

2/60 HDC 43 converted from 20 series coach
2 small windows at rear converted to 3 large

12/60 44 (identical to 43) converted from 20 series coach
Probably first in black/gold livery

1960 all HDC cars repainted to black and gold

1961 Black/Gold paint becomes standard,
still uses older white on red wheel and track logo like grey/red scheme
gold stripe wraps around to end door

1962 Wheel-and-Track logo changed to simplified gold logo with red background
From late 61 to early 63 it is very common to see mixed
red/grey and black/gold cars on the same train

1963 mechanical Air conditioning installed in all but 25, 43, 44.
Gold/red simplified logo and black gold livery now standard on all cars

8/64 HDC 45 converted from 20 series coach. Removal of small window above 3rd axle

9/65 HDC 46 converted from Deluxe Coach 34
only coach 25 remains in original configuration

1968 All passenger equipment retired

1970 Baggage 108 remained on property but never repainted to Black/Gold.