Erie Western Railway
The Erie Western Railway (reporting mark ERES) was a Class III railroad operating in Illinois and Indiana from 1977 until 1979.
History [edit]
The Erie Western was incorporated in August 1977 and began operations under an Interstate Commerce Commission car service order on September 25, 1977 to operate freight service for 158 miles on the former Erie Lackawanna Railway main line from the Indiana/Ohio state line near Wren, Ohio west to Hammond, Indiana.[1] The railroad also operated a 27-mile branch line extending from Decatur, Indiana to Portland, Indiana.[1] The Erie Western also possessed ICC-granted rights to operate from Hammond to Chicago on trackage rights over the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad.[1]
The Erie Western was created because the former main line of the Erie Lackawanna Railway, which went bankrupt in 1972, was not included in the federal government's creation of Conrail, prompting the Erie Western to be formed by shippers and others who wanted to retain and preserve rail service.[1] The railroad was operated by Craig Burroughs' Joliet, Illinois-based Trans-Action Associates.
The Erie Western's headquarters office was at 10 W. Franklin Street in Huntington, Indiana.[1]
The railroad began operations with seven locomotives: three Alco C-420s (which previously had belonged to the Long Island Rail Road) and four Alco RS-3s.[1][2]
Commodities hauled include grain, lumber, fertilizer, steel, food products, manufactured goods and plastic.[1]
The railroad failed and discontinued operations on June 24, 1979. Operations were replaced by a short-lived operator, the Chicago & Indiana Railroad.[3] The Chicago & Indiana discontinued operations on December 31, 1979.[4]
North Judson-Monterey segment [edit]
After December 31, 1979, the Tippecanoe Railroad Co. took over operations of a 16-mile stretch of the railroad from North Judson, Indiana to Monterey, Indiana that was known as the JK Line.[5] In the spring of 1990, the Tippecanoe Railroad was sold to another operator, Daniel R. Frick, and renamed JK Lines.[6] In 2003, the operator of JK Lines, the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway, applied for and later received permission from the federal government to abandon the 16-mile line.
The line Has been removed and has been named the Monterey Bike Trail.
References [edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Edward A.. American Short Line Railway Guide. The Baggage Car. p. 41.
- ^ Trains magazine, December 1977, p. 8.
- ^ Lewis, Edward A.. American Short Line Railway Guide. Kalmbach Books. p. 230.
- ^ Schwieterman, Joseph P.. When the Railroad Leaves Town: American Communities in the Age of Rail Line Abandonment: Eastern United States, Vol. 1. Truman State University Press. p. 76.
- ^ Lewis, Edward A.. American Short Line Railway Guide. Kalmbach Books. p. 208.
- ^ Lewis, Edward A.. American Short Line Railway Guide. Kalmbach Books. p. 131.
