Abandoned buildings along the South Shore line -

still used in some fashion?

          I have grown very fond of the tour of urban decay you can get on the South Shore Line.  Yes, you can get a very similar view from 94 and the Indiana Toll Road but from the train it is much more up close and personal.  With the flat landscape, low skies and peeks of instant horizon from Lake Michigan. Dirty broken concrete, burnt out buildings,  abandoned buildings and wasteland everywhere. You get this in Michigan City too, just complete decay. boarded up windows, burn out roofs,  the detritus from the suburbs of Chicago and small citys of the past.

              This is starkly contrasted with the space between Beverly Shores and Ogden Dunes. This area is a bubble of relatively undeveloped land. Considerably more wealthy residents, and a history that is unknown to me has spared this area of the Southern shore of  Lake Michigan from the worst of the steal mill, oil refinery industrialism that is characteristic of this area.

         Some of the abandoned buildings are spectacular structures. The Small railroad "cottage" pictured above has always seemed like a great building to me. Even in disrepair it has some allure. The Complex of brick buildings pictured below is just awesome. I have no idea what it was, but what it is now is just begging for something. I expect that this will be torn down at some time, great architecture destroyed for lack of use and love.

a whole complex of buildings