South Bend, IN train watching spots?

[mg24_gotcha]

Hello,
I was wondering if there were any good train watching spots in South Bend, IN? The 2 main railroad lines run together through downtown, but is there a good spot to watch both? Are the railroad lines really busy? Thanks.

[CShaveRR]

I've never been train-watching at South Bend (why leave Paradise?), but yes, both CN and NS should provide plenty of action for you.

The following site should be useful to you:

http://www.dhke.com/CRJ/outlying.html#South_Bend,_Indiana

[MP173]

I live fairly close to South Bend, but cannot say I have done any railfanning there. The CN line from Chicago joins the NS line on the near Southwest side of the city and leaves the line about 1.75 miles east. If memory serves me correctly, the NS line is elevated thru town...so good locations might be hard to come by.

I would go check out the where the CN leaves the NS to the east, as it immediately crosses the St. Joseph River. That, I think would be the best location, particularly in the morning as the sun angle would be good.

Take a look at TerraServer and zoom in.

I would definately go to the Elkhart NYC museum.

ed

[Anonymous]

Are any of these tracks or junctions walkable from the South Shore interurban terminal??

[pat390]

The Amtrak station sees lots of NS action, but the neighborhood is unsafe, espically at night, if you go, stick to the platform, (I dont know if you can just go on there if your not actually getting on a train anyway), but good luck, and stay safe

[ndbprr]

The SOuth shore and Amtrak used to use the same station and the tracks were about twenty feet apart at the South Shore terminus. Now the SOuth shore takes the old Bendix plant switch and ends at the airport about 2 miles northwest from the station. i have never found the station area to be a rough neighborhood and you can see trains coming from both directions for at least 1/2 mile eastbound and longer westbound.