Griffith Junction

Location

The junction is located in the heart of Griffith, Indiana, a town of about 17,000 southwest of Gary and about 6 miles east of the Illinois state line. To get to the junction, exit I-80/I-94 at Cline Avenue (Rte. 912) and proceed south to 45th Avenue. Turn left and then turn right at the next stoplight (Broad St.). The junction is about a mile. You can park on a street leading off to the left just before the junction. The area along the tracks is now a railroad preservation site, with old rail cars, a former station and the now-closed Griffith Tower encircling the parking area.

The Railroads

Griffith Junction Now

Canadian National's ex-GTW main line crosses the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern (known simply as "The J"), one of Chicago's terminal lines. Its largest customer is the huge USX steel plant along the lake shore at Gary. Both lines are double track here, but traffic is moderate compared to some of the other area junctions. The CN line sees 30 or so trains a day, and about a dozen more pass through on the J. A few CN and Union Pacific run-through trains with trackage rights on the J use a connector track that has recently been constructed at the south end of the junction. CN enters the junction from the southeast and heads northwest toward Chicago. The J enters from the southwest, crosses CN, and makes a 45 degree turn just past the junction. It then heads due north toward the lakefront and Kirk Yard, which serves the mills. The curve offers some nice photo possibilities in late afternoon.

A small passenger station remains at the junction and has been converted into a museum which unfortunately is closed most of the time. In addition, an EJ&E caboose, tool car and transfer caboose are parked near the station. The tower, a nice looking brick structure, was closed in December, 1999, its functions taken over by CN dispatchers. Fortunately, it has been preserved and in July 2000 was moved across the tracks to the museum area. For more on the junction site and tower, see the Griffith Historical Society website.

Griffith Junction in Better Times

Griffith is a location of major historical interest. Until the early 1980's, Conrail's double track ex-Erie Lackawanna route and Chessie System's ex-Chesapeake & Ohio line from Cincinnati entered from the south-southeast. They joined together, crossed both the J and GTW, and then headed in a northwesterly direction toward Hammond, Indiana, using Chicago and Western Indiana tracks from there into Chicago. Some of the diamonds were actually in Broad Street, making maintenance a difficult chore. In addition, a Conrail branch line to Joliet (ex-NYC, ex-MC) entered the junction from the northeast and paralleled the J to the southwest. It crossed the J about a quarter- mile northeast of the junction, and then crossed CN, Erie and C&O at the junction. If all that weren't enough, the J had a line heading east from Griffith to Porter Junction, about 20 miles. All of these lines are gone now. Two shortline operators tried to revive the Erie, but both failed and the tracks were removed in 1984. A brief segment of the Erie remains north of the junction, and a short stretch of the C&O is still intact to the south. Both are merely spurs used by the J to service local industries. Griffith must have been a sight to see back in the Golden Age.

Accessibility

The junction is in downtown Griffith right at Broad Street so access is not a problem. However, Broad Street is a very busy thoroughfare, so caution is needed if you plan to spend any time on the sidewalks. There aren't any trespass signs, but the J's police can be tough on blatant trespassers, so it's a good idea to stand well back from the tracks.

For other CN (ex-GTW) junctions, see Blue Island Crossing, Hayford Junction and Wayne / Spriggsboro Junction. See also Thornton and Harvey at Other South Suburban Junctions

For other EJ&E junctions, see Chicago Heights, Turner (West Chicago), Rondout and Pine Junction. See also Van Loon at Other Northwest Indiana Junctions, Eola at Other West / Southwest Suburban Junctions and Rondout, Leithton et al. at Other North / Northwest Suburban Junctions.

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