Hi Dave -
It's interesting to read "Electric Railway Journals" of the era as well. With the Insull interests controlling both Public Service Company of IN (Interstate's parent) and the Indiana Railroad System lines, there was some early speculation that the section sleepers might be going further than just their normal Louisville-Indy run.
As far as through passenger services, many of those trips that might appear to be through trains in the timetable frequently required a change of car en route. Of course, from the perspective of your hypothetical 1928 trip, using the "name" trains on a particular leg of the journey was probably the best way to avoid that inconvenience.
In the Summer 1999 issue of "First & Fastest" Shore Line published an August 22, 1926 letter Oliver Wynn had written to his dad about his electric railway trip from Milwaukee to Indianapolis (steam on the IC at that time hauling CLS&SB trailers to Kensington). He comments on having missed the South Bend-Goshen car by just seconds, but notes that the real pain was that by missing that connection he then missed the through Goshen-Indianapolis car (which was then runnning twice a day).
Art
Northern Indiana and Winona had agreements on through operations from 1907, however, despite those agreements I think there were still instances where one had to change trains in Goshen. By 1928, IPS was through trains from Indy to Louisville, several "Dixie Flyer" departures each way each day, many with the Parlor-Diners, and the two overnight trips with the section sleepers, which killed several hours on line in order to provide a reasonable arrival time at either terminal. That's not to say that there might not have been trips where one had to change cars in Seymour at this point. Just as you've noted for the UTC leg of the trip, "timing was everything" in terms of being able to enjoy a one-seat ride, etc.!
Take care,
Research from INDIANA RAILROAD, THE MAGIC INTERURBAN, a CERA Bulletin
South Bend - Elkhart - Goshen: Northern Indiana Railway, probably change in Elkhart
Goshen - Warsaw- Peru: Winona Railway, probably a through car without change.
Peru - Indianapolis: Union Traction of Indiana, probably boarding a two car train, possibly one a parlor car, that came from Fort Wayne on the Indiana Service Corporation and ran through with a change of crews in Peru.
Indianapolis - Seymore: Indianpolis, Columbus and Southern, leased by Interstate Public Service Co.
Seymore - Louisville Interstate Public Service Co., a through car or two-car train through from Indianapolis.
Everything south of Peru becane part of the Indiana Railroad in 1930.
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