Monon Line - Fogg Paintings

The Monon was a small regional railroad running the full length of western and central Indiana The trackage was in the form of an elongated X with one line connecting Hammond, Indiana and Chicago with Indianapolis while the second and longer leg connected Michigan City with New Albany, Indiana and Louisville. The two lines crossed at Monon, Indiana from which the railroad derived its name. Two small branches also split off the longer leg which offered connections to Midland and French Lick. The entire railroad was single tracked until formally abandoned in 1956. Trackage was not torn up, however, and operation continued as part of the Louisville & Nashville which ultimately merged with CSX who continues to operate most of the trackage to this day.

Somewhat nostalgic in its use of color schemes of the state’s colleges and universities and harkening back to a simpler time in our history the Monon remains a sentimental favorite of Hoosiers and railfans alike.

Sometime after the end of World War II the Monon commissioned noted rail artist Howard Fogg to produce a series of paintings of Monon trains and operations. Beginning in 1948 these paintings were reproduced on linen postcards manufactured by the Curt Teich Corporation in Chicago. Each card is a framed border view with subject text at the bottom. Reverse sides show the Monon logo at the top of the message half of the card. Three seen to date show Howard Fogg’s signed name as the artist; the others do not. The series is not numbered but each postcard contains the production number of the manufacturer that establishes an identity and year of production.