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| pre-1967 plus paint |
Roger Kujawa shared two images with the comment: "Peoria Decatur and Evansville then the Illinois Central and now What is left, the Canadian National."
Bill Edrington The optimistically-named "Chicago Division" was the former narrow-gauge Danville, Olney & Ohio River Railroad. It was briefly under PD&E ownership; then became part of the Indiana, Decatur & Western, a forerunner of what eventually became the B&O's line between Indianapolis, Decatur and Springfield. Eventually it was broken up into three shortlines: the Kansas & Sidell; the Westfield Railroad; and the Yale Short Line. All were subsequently abandoned. It was surely one of Illinois' most obscure little hard-luck railroads.
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| 1 Roger Kujawa posted This is interesting as it shows the future Yale Shortline, the Westfield, and the Kansas and Sidell railroads. I did not know it was originally part of the PD&E. [A work by Thomas French.] |
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| 2 [The map is a work by Thomas French.] |
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| Provided by Thomas French |
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| Provided by Thomas French |
The PD&E branch connected with the branch in Kentucky by using a ferry and then the L&N bridge.
From a PD&E history, we learn the disposition of the route:
In 1976, the New Harmony branch was taken up. Six years later, another part just a few miles southeast of Mattoon was scrapped. The remaining portion of the line from Mattoon to Evansville would be sold off in chunks by 1990, with most of it being abandoned by 1999.In 2000, Indiana Southwestern Railway company assumed control of the segment from Poseyville, IN, to Evansville. On December 27, 2011, they abandoned all but 3.8 miles in Evansville, IN.
The Mattoon to Peoria segment would remain with the Illinois Central, until the Illinois Central itself was merged into the Canadian National Railway in 1999. In 2004, Canadian National sold its interest in the Peoria and Pekin Union. However, the rest of the old PD&E line is still operated by them. Occasionally still being referred to by crews as "the old PD&E".
In 2005, Ed Bailey planned to build an ethanol plant in Grayville, IL, and rebuild the route as the Browns, Grayville, and Poseyville RR including rebuilding the Wabash river span. The railroad would give his ethanol plant access to the Norfolk Southern in Browns, IL, and the CSX in Evansville, IN. But he evidently under estimated the cost of fixing the bridge because this plan never came to fruition.
Update: two other interesting references are: IC oriented, Evansville oriented.
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| Roger Kujawa posted PD&E - IC - CN Notice steel rail note verses iron rail or wood rail with iron straps on top. |
And the PD&E must have bought the Decatur, Sullivan & Mattoon.
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| Kent Frantz posted It’s the former IC and now CN but I’ve not heard it called Decatur, Sullivan & Mattoon railroad before ? Located in Bethany .IL. circa 1875 Don Wagoner I knew the whole thing as Peoria district. Don't know if it was built in pieces like many were. Kevin A Erb https://www.newspapers.com/.../decatur_weekly_republican/ Bob Bundren may have been during a short lived reincorporation that occured at the same time the map was made. |
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| Jim pearson posted Talk about a lot of history.December 26, 2017 - Pioneer Lines PREX 912 (GP9) and 806 (GP8) sit idle in the yard at the Indiana Southwestern Railway at their Harwood Yard in Evansville, Indiana the day after Christmas. I hadn't been to this location before fellow railfan William Crupper took me by there today. I'm sure someone's mentioned it before though, perhaps Ryan Scott? I'd love to catch them out working in the Evansville area sometime. Can anyone tell me when they run their trains and any sort of a schedule when I might catch them leaving? Also, any info on industries they pick-up at would be nice to know as well! According to Wikipeda: Indiana Southwestern Railway (reporting mark ISW) is a subsidiary of Pioneer Railcorp, operator of several short-line railroad companies. The ISW is a Class III railroad, and operated on 17 miles of track from Evansville, Indiana, northward to Cynthiana, Indiana. That track is currently out of service but switching still occurs in ISW's yard and surrounding industries. The line was originally operated as part of an Illinois Central Railroad line that ran all the way to Newton, Illinois. Illinois Central sold off the line south of Browns, Illinois, to Indiana Hi-Rail Corporation; the line went through a succession of operators, all of which had to contend with the line's ancient bridge over the Wabash River near Grayville, Illinois. The bridge suffered damage from floods on more than one occasion, and one span finally collapsed completely around 1999. Pioneer bought the line and its Evansville shops in 2000 from the Evansville Terminal Railway. However, when Pioneer stopped shipping grain, the track had to be dismantled and salvaged at the close of 2011. Only the small stretch from the interchange northwest of Evansville to just north of their yard is still used, a distance of about 4 miles. The dates back to 1881 as part of the Evansville and Peoria Railroad, which then became part of the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Railway through a series of purchases. The PD&E became part of Illinois Central in 1900. The ISW is currently the only remaining in-service segment of the PD&E south of Mattoon, Illinois. Jim Pearson shared |
Its bridge across the Wabash River has not only lost some spans, there is now a sandbar under the swing span. In fact, I learned about this railroad when I researched that bridge.
Why did the PD&E and IC have a swing span over the Wabash River? As early as 1835 flatboats were navigating the Wabash to bring commerce down to the Ohio River to New Orleans. Indiana & Illinois commissioned a company to have exclusive navigation rights on the Wabash and they built a wooden crib dam at Grand Rapids (Mt Carmel) in 1849 with a rudimentary wooden lock. President Jackson had vetoed a proposal to build a formal lock and dam as he considered the cost "extravagant". When the dam was built this allowed steamers to reach as far as Terre Haute. When the railroads came in the 1850's they were required to either provide clearance or build swing spans over the Wabash from Terre Haute south to the Ohio River. The Army Corp of Engineers finally built a proper concrete lock at Grand Rapids by 1897. The Wabash navigation law was on the books until 1962 even though the last known steamer to come up river was in 1926. The lock was formally abandoned in 1931. In 1946, the Tennessee Valley Authority was given all rights to the Wabash River and they declined. So it is thought that none of a rail swingspans have opened since the lock was closed. Since 1961 many (but not all) of the rail bridges have removed the swing spans and put permanent fixtures in place, The Illinois Central removed the swing system and locked it in place on this bridge in 1931 and the bridge tender was relocated.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Mt Carmel. I have been to Grayville many times. When the water was low, we would walk across the river where the old dam was blown up. I remember the swing bridge when it was still extant.
ReplyDeleteChecking the current property tax records of the PD&E ROW from the Wabash River all the way to Evansville, hard to believe, but the CN is still paying property taxes on several small parcels of land where the ROW and an adjacent property line didn't square up perfectly. One parcel appears to be what used to be a maintenance siding. The tax bills are so small, I would surmise that CN keeps paying the tax bill not knowing exactly where they are, as they are very small. Something that never got sorted out in the transfer of the ROW to so many owners.
ReplyDelete"The optimistically-named "Chicago Division" was the former narrow-gauge Danville, Olney & Ohio River Railroad." It was believed that the DOOR would link up with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois which had completed their push to Sidell with their Rossville to Sidell line to bypass the difficult Danville "Grape Creek" line. But the C&EI had other thoughts as they wanted to push on to St Louis, not upgrade a weak narrow guage. They ended up duplicating the DOOR route to reach the coal fields of southern Illinois by turning south at St Elmo. The DOOR had originally wanted to push south to the coal fields as well and link up with the mineral rich area of SE Missouri but ran out of money by the time they reached Olney. Even after spending the money to convert to standard gauge, it went through a cycle of receivership and owners until it died in 1936.
ReplyDeleteI spoke to a farmer whose field the PD&E "Chicago Division" crossed. He said he knows exactly where the ROW is because when he tills the field, he can hear the cinders from the ballast pinging off his blades. He called it the old CH&D, which is one of the fomer owners. The PD&E sold this division off and it eventually ended up with the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad. The CH&D spun this line off just as they were being bought out by the Baltimore & Ohio. The line died not long after (about 15-20 years) because it had no parent to keep it afloat and it became an independent shortline serving small grain elevators and online industry.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention that the same farmer said that the PD&E used to have a "fruit dock" in West Liberty. Seems that farmers in that area used to grow large quantities of melons. At harvest time they would bring their melon crop to the loading dock in horse wagons to town and load them up on box cars parked on the dock siding.
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