Detail, Yard Office, Bloomington, Indiana
A photograph of mine was awarded second prize in the black-and-white category of the 2023 John E. Gruber Creative Photography Awards hosted by the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. More information on the award program and Center can be found here.
The picture was made in the Illinois Central Gulf yard office in Bloomington, Indiana. Ron Potsch was third-trick Operator/Clerk at the time. This was Illinois Central's line between Effingham, Illinois, and Indianapolis, known as the “Hi-Dry” for its high bridges and fills.
The telephone one sees here has separate mouthpiece and headset; the radio is a typical Motorola of the time, and the train orders are hand-written on flimsy paper with carbons inserted between pages for the creation of multiple copies. These train orders would be hand-delivered to the crew of a moving train via a wooden, Y-shaped stick.
Image by Richard Koenig; taken in 1976; scanned from medium-format film negative.
