Gary Vicinity, Indiana - Fake Train Station

That power box, repainted (from silver) by the Garden Club to resemble a tiny RR station, is on the east side of Hillcrest Road (at the stoplight), north of but visible from US 12, in the town of Ogden Dunes, between the South Shore electric commuter line and the N.S.R.R.

The actual old shelter (now replaced by several modern shelters), from the Ogden Dunes stop, was moved a mile to the shore of a little pond in the northwest corner of town. To see THAT now, drive north to Shore Drive and west to the end of that (Lake Michigan) beachfront street. It's on the south side by Polliwog Pond but don't leave your car there for long in the Summer or you'll get a ticket.

There was a failed attempt to build a nuclear plant in Burns Harbor but nothing special to see from US 12. The cooling tower, sometimes wrongly taken for a nuclear power plant's, is on the west side of Michigan City, north of US 12, west of US 421. It's built on the site of Hoosier Slide, which was the largest sand dune in Indiana, but that was completely removed (to Chicago, I think) eighty (?) years ago. I agree that it's ominous, even if not radioactive. [Peter Youngman, 04/16/2008]

Even though I saw this on a recent trip, it may be more of a vague recollection, as we were in kind of a hurry, and did not get to stop and investigate much of anything. In fact, you may already be aware of this, but here goes:

I believe it was along, or near US 12, in the vicinity of Gary, IN, where the light-rail line, coming out of Chicago parallels the road. They have small commuter train stations spaced in intervals along the tracks, but one so-called station, which was probably the farthest one out, was really a small electrical substation, or something to that effect. It was painted to look like a train station, with the name of that town on it.

Also, several miles farther east, along this same route, was an odd site. We passed within a few hundred feet of a giant cooling tower for a nuclear power plant. There was a neighborhood of homes near the base of this ominous roadside "attraction". [Don Fraysier, 04/12/2006]