Indiana Northeastern Railroad

IN System Map

I first learned of the Indiana Northeastern Railroad (IN) when I studied the Fort Wayne, Jackson, and Saginaw Railroad (FWJ&S). It started operations in 1992. The track it purchased was in poor condition because the previous owner did not maintain it. IN has not only repaired the track, it continues to grow the traffic volume. Its primary interchange point is with Norfolk Southern in Montpelier, OH. It's operations headquarters is in Hillsdale, MI and its administrative headquarters is in South Milford, IN.

I was lucky enough to catch my own photos and a video of a train when I entered South Milford, IN to look for its grain elevator.

A 2012 Indiana railroad map uses the reporting mark INE. But all other sources, including their 2013 Copyrighted home page, use IN.

In addition to operating the NYC/FWJ&S remnant from Stubenville, IN to Jonesville, MI, it operates other NYC remnants in Michigan and the eastern remnant of the Wabash route that used to run between Detroit and Chicago. This Wabash remnant runs between South Milford and Montpelier. The owners of the South Milford grain elevator bought this Wabash remnant when Norfolk Southern applied to abandon the entire route from Montpelier to Chicago. (The posting on Westville, IN has more information on the Wabash abandonment.) The branch to Litchfield serves the Michigan South Central Power Agency Plant. The Little River Railroad moved its steam locomotives to Coldwater and operates them to Quency. (FWARAILFAN)

Because it uses older locomotives, it is a favorite of railfans: video1, video2. There is a locomotive roster and quite a few pictures in FWARAILFAN.

1 of 8 photos posted by Marty Bernard of the Hillsdale County Railway, a corporate ancestor of the IN.

Tony Davis posted
Angola, IN
Greg Nevels GP30s!
Eric Augatis Yes, leader is nee-PRR, and the 2nd is nee-Reading.

Jason Hall -> Off The Beaten Track Branchline Railroading

Unfortunately, there were no comments as to where this was taken. But it does show that IN does run some pretty long trains and keeps their engines looking nice.

Matt Ditton posted
A four unit Indiana Northeastern grain train just east of South Milford Indiana today [May 22, 2016].

Mike Snow posted
Indiana Northeastern power awaits its next assignment in Coldwater Michigan sitting at the Jay Street crossing. DOTX 2000 has been on assignment for the last 7-8 years on the Indiana Northeastern and is a test bed for appliances and upgrades. and Indiana Northeastern 1602 a GP9, of former Great Northern Heritage. Coldwater is the western most part of the remaining trackage of the LS&MS's Old Road that is operated by the Indiana Northeastern. picture taken 3/23/18

History of DOTX 2000 was originally blt as D&RGW 3055 was sold to OmniTRAX in 1995; sold to Helm Financial (HATX) 3055; sold to MK Rail in mid 1997; rebuilt (during late 1999?) to GP40-3 by Illinois Central, renumbered to ELCON 2000; in service on Illinois Central during January 2000; to EMD at La Grange, Illinois, for emissions testing; stored at EMD and at Conrail's Juniata Shops, Altoona, Pennsylvania for at least two years; sold to National Railway Equipment at Dixmoor, Illinois, in April 2004 for some mechanical work. Frame verified as 7842-05. (Contrary to information previous published, this unit was not sold to Argentina, as part of a sale that included D&RGW 3057, 3070, 3073, and 3074.) (ELCON 2000 information, and status in 2004 courtesy Ken Lanovich and Norm Metcalf.) (Elcon Inc. [ELectrical CONtrols] was located in Minooka, Illinois. Started 1953 by former EMD employees, building high-voltage cabinets for EMD's non-locomotive applications; later built Dash-2 and Super Series OEM modules for EMD; changed ownership twice over the years, but is still owned by former EMD personnel, and is closely associated with EMD. ELCON 2000 was still owned by Elcon as late as 2004.)