Today's Train of Thought- Shuffle Off to Buffalo the Hoosier State; March 14 2014

Today's Train of Thought takes us to Indiana and an impressive engineering feat for a part of the country many people assume is as flat as a pancake.

Back in the 1980s, the Illinois Central Gulf embarked on a divestment spree, getting rid of hundreds of miles of track in the Midwest and deep south to focus on their key Chicago-New Orleans route. One of these railroads got its start in 1986 is the Indiana railroad, which recently celebrated its 27th year of operation. The INRD took over operations of the 155 mile former Illinois Central line between Newton, IL to Indianapolis in 1986- which includes a number of trestles and even a tunnel southwest of Indianapolis. While other IC spinoffs from that same timeframe have folded or been absorbed by other Class I carriers, the INRD has been steadily expanding in recent years- purchasing brand new EMD SD90MACs and expanding their reach to Chicago and Louisville, KY via acquisitions and trackage rights.

Here railpictures.net contributor Pat Lynch caught Indiana Railroad SD40-2 #4001 leading symbol freight SAHW [Senate Avenue in Indianapolis to HiaWatha Yard in Jasonville, IN- NANESB!] trundling across the 970 foot Shuffle Creek Trestle along Lake Lemon in Unionville, IN on January 25th, 2011. Trailing the #4001 is another INRD SD40-2 and a Helm Leasing SD60 while nearby is the only tunnel on the Indiana Railroad- the 500 foot Unionville Tunnel.

As impressive as the Shuffle Creek Trestle is, it's not even the longest trestle on the INRD- that honor is reserved for the 2300 ft Richland Creek Trestle- known to some as the Tulip Testle. Both structures were completed in 1906.

Today's Train of Thought- Tiptoe Through Across the Tulips, August 18, 2012

Today's Train of Thought takes us to the Hoosier State and the Indiana Railroad, which had just turned 25 last year. The INRD started in 1986 when the Illinois Central Gulf was in the process of divesting themselves of several unwanted subdivisions- although some of them, such as the Chicago Central and Pacific were eventually brought back into the Illinois Central fold before the IC itself was acquired by Canadian National.

The Indiana Railroad started out with the original former Illinois Central line between Newton, IL and downtown Indianapolis before expanding considerably in the last decade- north via trackage rights to Chicago and south to Louisville, KY- at first by the former CSX line between New Bedford, IN and Lousville and then via haulage rights over the Louisville and Indiana. The INRD has also been working with Rail America's Indiana Southern to construct a 5-mile branchline from scratch to service Peabody Coal's Bear Run Mine in Sullivan County, IN.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Brian Wiggins catches a trio of freshly-painted GP38s trundling across the Richland Creek Viaduct, also known as the Tulip Viaduct in Tulip, IN on a sunny October 2007 day. With the corn in the foreground harvested, GP38-2 #3805 en route to Indianapolis after working the Indiana Southern interchange in Switz City.

Today's Train of Thought- Hoosiers; Oct. 27

With the NBA season tipping off tonight, I thought this image from railpictures.net contributor Don Kalkman would be fitting. On a sunny June 2009, we see Indiana Railroad SD40-2 #4003 and a trailing SD9043MAC pass by the water tower and an outdoor basketball court in Campellsburg, IN- just 30 miles as the crow flies from Larry Bird's hometown of French Lick, IN.

The Indiana Railroad operated on CSX trackage rights over the former Monon Hoosier Subdivision between Bedford, IN and Louisville, KY until this summer when CSX shut down the Hoosier subdivision to through traffic. For the time being, this leaves the INRD to re-route Louisville-bound traffic via Indianapolis and onto the Louisville & Indiana Railroad from there via a haulage rights agreement.

Iron Horse Roundup: Week of October 5-11

Note: Most of this information was already mentioned in the latest issue of Trains that's out on newsstands. I know about most of these developments before reading about them in the magazine, but this was also before I had a blog, as well. There's no mention of Iowa Interstate's new GEVOs, Florida East Coast testing the Progress Rail PR30C demonstrator or Great Walton's abandoning the Covington, Ga branch. Everything else mentioned was pretty much news to me or I already knew about, but the issue was already on newsstands.(railpictures.net/Kenneth Lehman)

Iowa Interstate announced the purchase of two additional General Electric ES44AC GEVOs in a press release dated September 9th, 2009. This comes after purchasing a dozen ES44ACs in 2008, such as this pair photographed hauling this Cedar Rapids-bound mixed freight past a windmill at Wilton, IA last year. This would bring their total number of GEVO's to 14.

(railpictures.net/Robert T. Nordstrom II)

Norfolk Southern and Florida East Coast have begun testing Progress Rail's line of higher horsepower rebuilt genset locomotives. Norfolk Southern's Progress Rail testbeds are designated PR43C's (Progress Rail; 4300 HP, C for 6 axles) and were built from the frame and shells of a pair of retired SD50s. The two of them are currently painted for the Norfolk Southern and numbered 4001 and 4002. For the time being, Norfolk Southern [NYSE: NSC] is restricting the duo's service to eastern Illinois, not far from Progress Rail's parent company Caterpillar [NYSE: CAT]. Progress Rail's demonstrator on the Florida East Coast is designated a PR30C (3000 HP this time around) and is shown above sandwiched between FEC SD70M-2 #106 and FEC GP40-2#426 on southbound train 109 crossing the lengthy bridge at Roseland, FL in August 2009. The PR30C Demonstrator is trailing because the FEC requires Automatic Train Control (ATC) equipment in the cab to operate on its mainline between Jacksonville and Miami.

(railpictures.net/Rob Ball)

CSX has discontinued through service on it's ex-Monon Louisville, KY-Bedford, IN Hoosier line this summer. This forces the Indiana Railroad- who operated on trackage rights over the Hoosier subdivision to re-route traffic to and from Louisville, KY via Indianapolis courtesy of a haulage-rights agreement with Anacostia Pacific Company's Louisville & Indiana railroad. Here, Indiana Railroad SD9043MAC #9007 is seen heading west past a pair of vintage upper-quadrant semaphore signals in Orleans, IN in May 2009.

(railpictures.net/Kevin Andrusia)

The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway announced that it plans on abandoning the northern 241 miles of it's system between Millinocket and Madawaska, ME. In lieu of abandonment, they have proposed that the state of Maine purchase the line and take care of the maintenance while covering the costs by leasing the line back to the MM&A. The idea is not without precedent- Maine DOT presently owns the ex Maine Central Brunswick to Rockport line presently operated by Maine Eastern. There is also support for this idea among state representatives in the counties that will be affected by the MM&A's abandonment. Railpictures.net contributor Kevin Andrusia snapped this picture of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic B39-8E #8569 with a northbound frieght approaching yard limits at Oakfield, Maine last month on the stretch of track that's up for abandonment.

(railpictures.net Dave Young)

North of the border, there's somewhat better news for Genesee & Wyoming's [NYSE: GWR] troubled Huron Central railroad. Shippers and the province of Ontario reached a deal that will keep the Huron Central operating for at least another year. Here, GP40-3 #3803 leads a rebuilt road slug, a GP38 from sister railroad Quebec-Gatineau and a GP40-2LW west out of Sudbury, ON with a 131-car train bound for Sault Sainte Marie, ON in August 2009.

(railpictures.net/David Stewart)

According to railpictures.net contributors David Stewart and Nikos Kavoori, Georgia's Great Walton Railroad's lease on the Covington, GA branch has expired. The last day of operations was September 30, 2009. Here, Mr. Stewart documents Great Walton GP9 #6580 and ex-MidSouth GP10 #8395 en route to the CSX interchange after retrieving about 30 cars being stored at Newton, GA on the last day of operations for the Covington branch. The locomotives will be transferred to Great Walton's Social Circle, GA branch or sister Hartwell Railroad. Great Walton's trains would occasionally appear prominently in the background on the In The Heat of The Night TV series, several seasons of which were filmed in Covington, GA.

Miscellany: Montana Rail Link suffered a partial collapse of its tunnel in Mullan Pass on July 20th. The railway was shut down and traffic re-routed over BNSF's [NYSE: BNI] ex-Great Northern Line across Northern Montana until mid-August.

 

*Elsewhere in Big Sky country- a retired F45 was converted into one-of-a-kind accomodation at the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, MT. F45 #441 is fitted with antique oak hardwood flooring, king-size bed and a fully-equipped kitchen among other amenities.

*Indian mining company Sterlite [NYSE: SLT] has applied for permission to purchase Arizona's 61-Mile Copper Basin Railway

*For those of you 'across the pond' of headed that way, former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne has turned a former London & Birmingham Railway roundhouse built in 1846 into a giant musical instrument. The musical structure in London is open to the public.

Today's Train of Thought: Taking it to the Street- Oct 3rd

Well, between the Florida State/BC game, Tribe/Sox game and 'Canes/B's game as well as some of the requisite weekend errands and chores I have before me, I'll be a little busy later on today. So I thought I'd post today's Train of Thought early.

Today's Train of Thought is a little bit Norman Rockwell, a little bit railway tycoon (note the sports memorbilia shop immediately to the left of the locomotive and black pickup). This image comes courtesey of railpictures.net contributor Joe Vittitoe and depicts freshly repainted Indiana Railroad SD40-2 #4001 leading a Louisville, KY bound mixed freight down the middle of J Street in Bedford Indiana on a sunny spring day.