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1901–1964 · AT THE STRENGTH REACHED
North Liberty's place in the working railroad survives most concretely in the station lists. A compiled list of Indiana railroad stations (branchline.uk, "Indiana Railroads — SL 281," its stated basis the Official Guide of 1875/1893 and company public and working timetables) prints the New York Central's "South Bend – Illinois" line (ex-CI&S, ex-Three I) from its 1901 timetable reference: South Bend 0.0, Olivers 1.1, Rupel 5.3, North Liberty 13.6, the LE&W crossing 19.0, Walkerton 19.6, Hamlet 27.4, Knox 33.8, North Judson 43.2, San Pierre 49.4, Tefft 53.5, Wheatfield 57.9 — miles from South Bend, as printed. The same list prints the Wabash "Chicago – Montpelier" line with North Liberty at 79.2, between Dillon (71.8) and Pine (84.8), with Lakeville at 87.3 and Wakarusa at 100.9 — miles as printed from the Chicago end. The gazetteer's "16 miles from South Bend" for the town (Polk 1916–17) measures the road journey to the county seat, a different thing from the 13.6 rail miles; both figures print as their carriers give them, and no conflict is manufactured out of two instruments measuring two journeys.
The 1916–17 gazetteer catches the junction in its working years (Polk, transcription): North Liberty, population 700, "On the C. I. & S. and Wabash R. Rs. in Liberty township, St. Joseph county, 16 miles from South Bend, the county seat," with "a bank and a newspaper, the News," telegraph and express service — against its own 1884–85 entry, in which the town's shipping station was Walkerton, six miles away, reached by stage. The Kankakee Belt's own pattern stays at secondary strength in the record reached: locals and doodlebugs, passenger traffic always secondary to the grain, merchandise and run-through pool freight the line carried with the Rock Island at South Bend. The line's formal extent late in its life is fixed by the 1964 Official Guide entry as reproduced: South Bend to Zearing, 200.2 miles, with 26 direct rail connections — the list naming "North Liberty, Indiana — Wabash Railroad," the diamond carried as a connection in the national guide two years after the last mixed train ran.
Principal sources: Branch Line / railwaystationlists, "Indiana Railroads — SL 281" (read first-hand); Polk 1916–17 and 1884–85 (transcription); American-Rails.com; Monon.org NYC page (the South Bend doodlebug photograph, read first-hand); the 1964 Official Guide entry as reproduced (snippet/secondary).