Any info will be welcomed as to what happened at logansport, ind.A sledgehammer was lowerd on that poor city. Thay had two manned towers years ago race tower and van tower. This will continue what was started at peoria,ill I bet deregulation had a lot to do with it.
For all of the rails that converged on that town and business-friendly Indiana law, local business was never all that heavy in Logansport. I found that surprising. Maybe it is the absence of an interstate.
I still like to railfan there.
Gabe
The NS ex-Wabash has what, three sidings: the interchange track at the fomer B yard, IBP on the hill and Essrock/Andersons past the hill west of town. IIRC, the track across IN 25 to the Anderson’s is actually closer to Clymers than it is to Logansport.
I was kind of wondering also how many trains a day went in and out of that city a day back in the 1960’s and 1970’s penn central was there they were the main players and you had the TP&W. And wabash before 1964 and norfolk and western after them. pennsylvania railroad before 1968 and penn central after that i know that penn central interchanged a lot of traffic with the TP&W until 1976 and the TP&W was forced to bye the line segment from effner,ind to logensport,ind because conrail did not want it. And logansport was given a death blow in 1981 when conrail closed logansport to threw rates and routes. i sure thank you folks for all the information that you can give me many thanks.
I believe what happened was due to the Penn Central merger. The NYC had modern hump yards at Indianapolis and Elkhart and Penn Central elected to use them over the Pennsy’s ancient facilities. The Pennsy main across northern Indiana became a secondary line along with the entire St. Louis line from Terre Haute to Richmond. Penn Central and Conrail also had little interest in any north-south routes so both the Pennsy and NYC lines from Chicago to Cincinnati disappeared. In Indiana most of the Pennsy lines were abandoned, sold or made secondary.
Soo6049
Did the Pennsy route Chicago-Cincy traffic thru Logansport, or did it go via the northern main to Fort Wayne and down the GR&I (Grand Rapids & Indiana) thru Richmond to Cincy?
At least Logansport still has the busy ex-Wabash, now Norfolk Southern, mainline passing through it. And the TP&W is still around, though it doesn’t seem to have any regular schedule. I guess the CERA is run with some regularity and the Bringhurst branch sees as-needed service.
Correct me if I’m wrong but local rail users are:
Transco Railway Products (NS)
Cole Hardwood (TPW)
Hanson Cold Storage (NS)
Essrock (CERA)
ADM Grain (CERA)
The Andersons/Clymers Ethanol, LLC (NS)
– IIRC the “James Whitcomb Riley” ran from Cincy to Chicago thru Indianapolis, and between Indy and Chgo it went thru Logansport on the PRR. I don’t know whether any of that survived into the Amtrak era. I can tell you that Amtrak had to have a lot of patience before they could keep what is now called “The Cardinal” running in between Indy and Chi. The solution then as now was thru Lafayette, a great college town, IIRC. - al
Not only did they have to have a lot of patience, they had to be very creative. For a time in the 70’s it seemed that the JWR was on a different routing every day.
Al,
Wasn’t the Riley a NYC train? The ex Big Four Route went from Cincy thru Indy to Chicago.
Quite possibly; though it seems to me the Riley’s routing did not connect with either an NYC or a PRR train on the eastern side. It was a convenient transfer in Indy from Nofolk & Western’s “Pocohontas” and IIRC the then C&O (or C&O/B&O)'s “George Washington.” In their day, being ten or fifteen years before I was old enuf to get on board (pardon), they were the each railroad’s main-line finest. Also note that they left from the Norfolk metro area (better known as “Tidewater” Virginia) at about the same time–the Pocohontas originating in Norfolk [:I]; the GW originating IIRC in Newport News on the northern side of Chesapeake Bay. Believe that Newport News - D.C. route is still CSX, and thanks to Amtrak, some trains carry thru equipment from Newport News on into the southernmost leg of the electrified NEC. I think one Amtrak runs all the way from N.N. VA to Boston today.
A little [#offtopic], but I find it ironic that the Cardinal’s route takes it only into the D.C. area (believe that stretch from Charlottesville on up north the modern routing is CSX as host road and the train goes thru Fredericksburg if not Richmond,) – not the premerger Southern Main Line for most of the way. So we’ve got a thrice-weekly train that doesn’t even get people from C’ville to Richmond, VA, much less onto the Tidewater area. [soapbox]
I do have vague memories of the Riley routing thru Logansport, which was probably not N&W’s Wabash route, which if I’m visuali
The Riley ran through Lafayette and Indy and connected in Cincy with the eastbound B&O “National Limited” At one time there was a through sleeper. I know, I made the trip several times.
Glad to have that nailed down. Thank you; it’s much better than my suppository remarks. To bounce a little OT back – was part of the B&O route that part that is as good as abandoned today?? - al
The Riley did in fact run on the NYC via Kankakee, Lafayette and Indy to Cincinnati.
Logansport, in 1953 was very well serviced with passenger train service with the following on the PRR:
109-110 The Ohioan to Columbus
107-108 The Union to Pittsburgh
115 - 116 The Fort Hayes to Pittsburgh
201 -202 The Southland to Cincy
215 - 216 The Red Bird to Cincy
305 - 306 Kentuckian to Louisville
307 -308 Blue Grass to Louisville
303 - 304 The South Wind to Louisville and beyond.
I really didnt check to see if there were thru cars/sleepers beyond these points. Kinda glanced at it quickly. Needless to say, with the above pairs of trains, plus a busy freight operation to and from those points, plus branch lines radiating to Effner, South Bend, Columbia city and Butler, and Terre Haute…Logansport was a 1950’s railroad town.
My guess is there were close to 50 PRR trains (freight and passenger) thru or terminating in Logansport each day. Hopefully someone can clarify.
ed
I probably overestimated the PRR train count thru Logansport. A website shows there were about 20 daily freights, plus the 16 passengers. Still, what would you give to have a one day pass to Logansport in the mid 50’s?
For those interested go to this website for a large reference on PRR’s operations.
prrfreight.trainstufflc.com/index.htm
You can get lost for hours there.
ed
Amtrak routed the Riley over the ex NYC for two years before switching to the ex PRR through Logansport. For awhile it also used the C&O across Indiana through Muncie.
Logansport must have been hurt in the early 1970s by the other mergers that happened. L&N reached Chicago by adding the C&EI line and the Monon, and the Milwaukee reached Louisville.
There is a PC tonnage map in the October 1973 Trains. It shows 10 to 20 GMT between Indianapolis and Gibson through Logansport, 5 to 10 GMT east of Logansport through Marion, and less than 1 GMT between Logansport and Kokomo (SE), South Bend (N) and Kentland (west).
The January 1981 Trains has a Conrail tonnage map. It shows 5 to 20 GMT Logansport-Marion-Union City, and 1 to 5 GMT Indianapolis-Logansport-Chicago.
Dale,
Are you sure about the Milw reaching Louisville? Their route down into Indiana was the old Chicago Terre Haute and Southeastern which I thought ended at Westport nearly 70 miles north of Louisville.
Up until Amtrak times the the JWR ran over the IC between Chi and Kankakee, then over the former Big Four (NYC/PC) between KKK thru Lafayette and Indianapolis and on to Cincy. I believe you’re right in stating it continued on that routing for several years into the Amtrak era. This Big Four line hosted a number of passenger trains at one time but relativley few freights. Under PC ownership it deteriorated badly forcing Amtrak to find another route for the Riley. When it was an NYC train the JWR was carded at 3-1/2 hrs from Chi to Indy. Today the Cardinal running over its patchwork route takes 6 hrs between the two cities. That equates to a “blazing” average speed of 32.7 mph!
Mark
Mark
Mark,
The Milwaukee was granted trackage rights to Louisville as a result of the L&N/Monon merger, and those rights took effect on March 1, 1973. The Indiana Rail Road acquired those rights last year from CP.
Thanks for all the information.
Another location for information on PRR freight schedules…and this is chocked full of schedules, please go to
broadway.pennsyrr.com/rail/prr/frtsched/
There is very detailed information PRR operations, circa 1960. Logansport was quite a busy spot.
ed