On a gorgeous sunny fall afternoon, Indiana Rail Road’s SAHW road freight, which goes from Senate Ave in Indianapolis to Palestine, IL, thunders over the Shuffle Creek viaduct on the Indianapolis subdivision with a duo of SD9043MAC’s. 9010 and 9009. The Indianapolis District of the Illinois Central was known as the “Hi-Dry Line” for many high fills and bridges/trestles. The Shuffle Creek Trestle is one of the bigger viaducts along the line, built in 1906 over Lake Lemon and Shuffle Creek in Unionville, Indiana, just northeast of Bloomington. Make sure to wear boots here as the walk to get back here for this photo is always a pain, as you have to walk through a creek, 6 foot tall weeds and fight through trees. Then once you reach where this photo was taken, you have to watch your step and can’t walk any further closer to the trestle, because you will get stuck in mud if there is no water in the swamp like here. I made that mistake looking where to stand for my picture, and I got stuck twice and had to be pulled out by a friend. But in the end, it was all worth it for this photo!
