Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit

One of the reasons for mapping abandoned rail lines is for my own reference: and after doing this for over 8 years now, it's extremely interesting to go back towards some of my earlier work that I've completely forgotten about and try to figure out how I was able to find some of these lines.  Such is the case of the Fountain County Branch of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railway, in which the last 15 miles of track were abandoned all the way in 1879. It was referred to as both the Fountain County Branch as well as the Indiana Division, or the Coal Branch in the  preliminary history of the C&E , which can get confusing. However the Coal Branch name comes from the predecessor road of the C&EI, the Chicago Danville & Vincennes , who opened the line in 1873. The C&EI itself would not exist until 1877. The portion of the Fountain County Branch in its eponymous county. (1876 Map, Indiana Historical Society) The Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railway (C&EI) ...

The Toledo & Chicago Interurban Railroad ran from Auburn, IN to Avilla, IN, with branches serving Fort Wayne, Waterloo and Kendallville, all within the state of Indiana. ( Right of way in Yellow ) Garrett, IN interurban station. Image:  Garrett Historical Society The line began service in 1903, at a time when many interurbans were being planned and constructed all across the United States, and particularly in the developed Northeast and Midwest. Connections were envisioned to its namesake cities via other lines, as well as Indianapolis, but for much of the route never materialized. By 1937, the interurban ended passenger service, but kept running industrial freight operations in the Fort Wayne area until 1945. Like many interurbans, the gas powered bus and automobile were the main culprits for its demise. Sadly, no rolling stock of this line appears to have been preserved. Further reading:  " The Toledo & Chicago Interurban Railway Company, Its Predecessor and Success...

The Town of Pines, Indiana , is sandwiched between two very long US Highways; US-12 to the north and US-20 to the south. While most roads in the Town connect the two routes in some way, the widest of which, Maple St, is signed as IN-520 . Image and history: Bill Burmaster It is only about 1,300 feet in length (officially listed at 0.248 miles per INDOT), making it the shortest signed route in the State of Indiana, and one of the shortest in the entire United States. Even stranger, it is four lanes throughout its length, making it possibly the shortest four lane highway in the world. The IN-520 designation for the connector has been in place since at least 1964, and is still signed today. Interestingly, while Maple St is the widest road in the Town of Pines, it is not the longest, yet is the only one maintained by the state.

The Madison and Indianapolis Railroad was the first chartered railroad in the state of Indiana, incorporated by the State in 1836 and operational in 1841 between Madison and Queensville. The next year, it was put into private hands, and by 1847, the full extent of the line was complete, connecting its namesake cities. Most of the line remains in existence, despite transferring hands many times. In 1866, it was reorganized as the Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad , before later becoming part of the Pittsburgh Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis , and then being passed down as companies would merge into to the Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, Conrail, CSX, and finally the short-line Madison Railroad . Somewhat ironically, given how much of the State of Indiana is quite flat, the most interesting part of the line was known as the Madison Incline , and it is now out-of-service. ( Right of way ) It covered a distance of 7,012 feet rising 412 feet in elevation to achieve a...

The Bloomfield Branch of the Monon Railroad featured the only railroad tunnel along the Monon's right of way, near Owensburg, IN. The tunnel was aptly named the Owensburg Tunnel . ( Right of way ) Image: Owensburg Tunnel under construction. Indiana Historical Society, c.1895. The line started at Bedford, IN and headed west to Linton, IN, running just over 45 miles in length. Bloomfield is both a town on the former route, as well as a predecessor railroad for the route, as it was originally the Bloomfield Railroad . Originally a narrow-gauge operation, the Monon converted it into standard gauge, and as such, had to expand the tunnel to handle wider loads of freight. By 1935, the branch was abandoned, and the tunnel has since been rendered inaccessible on either end. Thanks as always for reading!

One of the more recent railroad abandonments in the United States is the Bedford-New Albany, Indiana line that CSX abandoned in January 2018. Eight years earlier, revenue service was discontinued along the route . The abandoned right of way is of course on our abandoned and out-of-service railroad lines map. Image: New Albany City Hall . (WHAS) Just before abandonment in 2018, this is how the right of way looked. The tracks have since been salvaged. The Monon Railroad , also known as the New Albany & Salem Railroad , constructed the line from Bedford, IN to New Albany, IN, in 1854.  As part of abandonment or discontinuance requests, environmental reviews, including historical information on the line, are usually required, and the following information comes from the STB's abandonment document environmental review, albeit abridged. Reflecting its reaches, this name was changed to the Louisville New Albany & Chicago railroad in 1859, and reorganized as the Chicago, Indianap...