Railroad Society convention coming soon

CRAWFORDSVILLE -- The Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society will hold its annual meeting and convention September 25 through 27 at the Crawfordsville Quality Inn at 2500 N. Lafayette Rd., Crawfordsville.

This convention includes a railroad model show on Friday night at the Monon Society headquarters in Linden; a bus tour of the former Monon (now CSX) from Crawfordsville to Lafayette; a banquet with a speaker Saturday night displays; and a swap meet and workshops on Sunday.

The annual banquet is on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. with a $45 per person reservation.

The featured speaker at the banquet will be Ronald McMurray, who worked for the Monon and later was in charge of a railroad engineers training center in Cumberland, Md.

Following the banquet, there will be a "show and tell" session featuring the Monon.

The Swap meet and sale is on Sunday starting a 9 a.m. at the Quality Inn. Railroad models, memorabilia, pictures and other items will be for sale or exchange. A silent auction will also take place. This is open to the public at a cost of $5 with children under 12 are free.

The annual meeting of Monon Society membership is slated for Sunday at 2 p.m. and will close out the convention.

The Monon was a Class 1 railroad that served much of Indiana, including Crawfordsville and Greencastle. The Monon had two main lines from Chicago to Indianapolis and from Michigan City to Louisville, crossing at the town of Monon.

The Monon railroad had major yards at South Hammond, Lafayette and Bloomington, with branches to French Lick, Switz City, Midland and the Chicago & Wabash Valley "onion line" to Kersey.

The Monon began in 1847 as the New Albany & Salem, and then became the Louisville New Albany & Chicago, and then the Chicago Indianapolis & Louisville Railway. In the late 1950s, the railroad formally became the Monon and merged with Louisville & Nashville Railroad in mid-1971.

Pats of the Monon are still operated by CSX. Amtrak uses a portion of the former Monon from Dyer to Crawfordsville for the "Cardinal" passenger train.

For information about the Monon convention, contact Tom Ramkin, convention chairman on the Internet at monontom@yahoo.com or by phone at 847-740-2745. For more information on the Monon go to www.monon.org