RailPictures.Net Photo: NICTD 20 Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) Nippon Sharyo EMU at Michigan City, Indiana by Dennis A. Livesey
As a guy who was raised in New York and who has ridden the New Haven, the New York Central, the Pennsy, and the New York City Subway, I have seen a lot of electric action.
But not this way! Here in the Hoosier State, they've got big metal cars powered by juice in the middle of the street. Crazy!
The grown up streetcars called interurbans rose to their fullest flower here in the midwest before WWI. The amazing fact is you are looking at the South Shore, the last railroad with interurban roots still running. It is astonishing to know this scene has not really changed in Michigan City for nearly 106 years. That's right, since 1908 electric passenger trains have stopped in the middle of the street in the finest of electric traction tradition. In fact, the aged white building on the right is the old South Shore city station that sadly is no longer in service. However, as you can see, the trains still attract a clutch of anxious westbound-to-Chicago passengers.