Mike Snow posted
Monon No.222 E-1b at Michigan City Indiana September 21, 1941 Swartz-McCarter Collection Photo by: L Kelley
Monon No. 222, Class E-1-B, was built by Brooks in June 1898, #2694, as 202, Class E-1. It was rebuilt as 222, Class E-1-B, in 1925 and retired in 1947.
The Hoosier Line
The Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railway, better known as the "Monon Route," was a local Indiana system serving its home state. According to Mike Schafer's book, "Classic American Railroads, Volume III" it reached a peak size of 573 miles during the early 20th century. What began as the New Albany & Salem was initially conceived only to complement waterborne transportation between the Ohio River and Lake Michigan. This concept ultimately failed as the iron horse proved superior to all other modes of interstate transportation. After operating a linear, north-south route for nearly 30 years a merger during the early 1880's opened new markets to Indianapolis and Chicago. A decade later promoters attempted to access eastern Kentucky's rich coalfields but alas a coup foiled the plan. Had this been accomplished the railroad would likely have carried a far different, and much more profitable, future than the one in which it played the role of inconsequential regional dependent upon interchange traffic. Much of this came from its Louisville & Nashville connection at Louisville, the powerful southern Class I which went on to acquire the Monon in 1971. Today, large sections of the railroad have either been abandoned or sold to short lines. However, some corridors remain in use under successor CSX Transportation.
Branches & Black Diamonds
The Monon was largely a linear network of two main lines; Louisville/New Albany - Michigan City and Indianapolis - Chicago. However, it did operate three notable branches: the first was acquired on March 1, 1886 when the LNA&C picked up the small 17.7-mile Orleans, Paoli & Jasper Railway connecting Orleans with the resorts at French Lick Springs (the OP&J had failed intentions of reaching Evansville, Indiana); the second was a 3-foot narrow-gauge acquired on April 1, 1886 to reach Indiana's coalfields. In another excellent book by Dr. Hilton entitled, "American Narrow Gauge Railroads," it was known as the Bedford & Bloomfield (B&B) with a history dating back to the Bedford, Springville, Owensburg & Bloomfield Railroad organized on November 9, 1874. It was projected to serve limestone quarries and coal mines but its poor physical plant precluded it from being successful at either (the line's one tunnel near Owensburg, a 1,368-foot bore, even contained a waterfall from an underground spring!). The line opened on March 1, 1877 running from Switz City to Bedford. After the LNA&C took control it soon standard-gauged the property and spent a great deal of money attempting to improve operations.
A further issue was B&B's location, based just east of the coalfields which required trackage rights over the Indiana & Illinois to reach mines near Little Giant and Andromeda. Such a setup was not a long-term solution. To correct the problem the LNA&C formed the Indianapolis & Louisville Railroad on March 20, 1899. While it never reached Evansville, as intended, it did complete a 47-mile segment from Wallace Junction to Victoria in October of 1907. This corridor offered a right-of-way capable of handling heavy coal tonnage and enjoyed many years of strong business (about 1 million tons annually) although carried just a fraction of the Appalachian seams. The railroad went on to establish short branches to Gilmore, Cass, and Rainbow along with the previous mines served. With the opening of this line the old B&B was abandoned from Avoca to Switz City in 1935; a further retrenchment occurred in 1943 when the stretch from Avoca to Dark Hollow was also removed. The entire branch was finally pulled up entirely in 1981.
But with new ownership in the form of John Jacob Astor III, financing would not a problem leaving L&N with few options to block the endeavor aside from refusing interchange at Louisville. It all began in 1888 when the Louisville Southern (LS) was leased, which extended away from its home city to Lawrenceburg. From there an LS subsidiary, the Lexington Extension Railroad, provided through service to Lexington. Finally, the Richmond, Nicholasville, Irvine & Beattyville Railroad ("The Riney-B") would complete the corridor east to Beattyville and then south to Cumberland Gap along the borders of Virginia and Tennessee. A great deal of the Riney-B was completed by 1890 having reached Irvine (about 60 miles). Alas, just when it all seemed assured, fate had other plans. Astor passed away unexpectedly on February 22, 1890 and with his death the venture collapsed. Taking contorl was a relatively obscure figure who had no interest in continuing the coalfield project. Dr. William Breyfogle, who owned the largest block of shares at that point, immediately stopped the expansion. He ordered the sale of the everything east of Louisville, replaced top management, and essentially returned the LNA&C to a relatively local carrier dependent upon the L&N for interchange traffic. Astor's death and the Breyfogle incident relegated the modern Monon to a rather insignificant Midwestern regional. In time, the coalfields around Cumberland Gap proved incredibly rich, capable of supporting four railroads (L&N, Norfolk & Western, Southern, and the small [but wealthy] Interstate Railroad) for many, many years. Tonnage was heavy for the L&N it would eventually double-track its main line into the region.
The Modern Monon Railroad
Despite its many mistakes, the Monon was doing relatively well by the late 19th century. One of its few setbacks occurred following the Breyfogle boondoggle (his erratic management eventually led to his ouster) where the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago entered receivership on August 24, 1896. It was then reorganized as the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railway (CI&L) on March 31, 1897. CI&L's first major step was to improve a severe, 2.27% grade just south of Bloomington. To eliminate this impediment a 9.4-mile bypass was built and completed on June 1, 1899 (the original line ended through service in early 1940 and was abandoned in 1945). Its second notable endeavor was to gain a better entry into Louisville; in 1900 it acquired a one-third control of the Kentucky & Indiana Bridge & Railroad Company (in 1910 its name was changed to the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Railroad) in partnership with the Southern and Baltimore & Ohio. The massive, double-tracked span not only offered a direct link into the "Gateway To The South" but also offered access to Louisville Union Station.
In 1902 the L&N and Southern acquired majority control of the CI&L, an ownership that would last throughout the company's corporate existence. Ironically, the new owners maintained a relatively hands-off approach since their subsidiary carried few incentives in which to route traffic that direction; its Chicago line, at 325 miles, was longer than any surrounding road's and, as previously discussed, its profile less than ideal. The modern Monon remained relatively unchanged throughout the 20th century relying on interchanging business and what coal traffic it could muster. (Interestingly, despite its Midwestern location, agriculture played only a very minor role. While it handled everything from manufactured goods to limestone, products such as grain and corn were inconsequential.) The Great Depression resulted in another bankruptcy when the CI&L entered receivership again on December 30, 1933. It spent more than a decade mired in reorganization until finally exiting on May 1, 1946 as the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railway. The new man in charge was John Barriger III who proved a stark contrast to anything the company had previously seen. He believed strongly in a railroad's public image, well-maintained physical plant, and the highest-quality customer service. While somewhat handicapped given the railroad's nature, Barriger's efforts proved successful in returning it to profitability.
He overhauled the company's rolling stock and was so fast in retiring the iron horse that steam-powered service was discontinued just three years after his arrival. The last unit dropped its fire on October 15, 1949. The CI&L was not strong enough to implement many of the grade and track improvements Barriger wanted but he did what he could. (An attempt to bypass all four street-running locations [Bedford, Lafayette, Monticello, and New Albany] was simply too expensive as did a plan to improve grades and curves south of Monon. However, he was able to upgrade the bridge over the Wabash River at Delphi and bypass a swamp-infested region around Cedar Lake.) In an attempt to prop up sagging passenger numbers he introduced new streamliners (utilizing rebuilt heavyweight cars) and unveiled liveries honoring the state's home universities; red, white, and grey (the passenger livery) highlighted Wabash College and Indiana University while black and gold (the freight scheme) featured Purdue University and DePauw University. The passenger angle was Barriger's least successful as business continued to slide, so much so that he cancelled remaining night trains #3 and #4 after September 25, 1949. Perhaps his most ambitious, and certainly most intriguing, plan was to have the Monon merge with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois; Toledo, Peoria & Western; and Minneapolis & St. Louis. As author Don Hofsommer's notes in his book "The Tootin' Louie: A History Of The Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway," the idea was to essentially create a gigantic Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway to bypass congested Chicago. Unfortunately, the scheme went nowhere due to stiff opposition (Ben Heineman tried a similar tactic during his stint at M&StL that also failed).
At the end of 1952, Barriger left to become vice president of the New York, New Haven & Hartford bringing an end to the railroad's most colorful and successful era. A few years after his departure, on January 10, 1956, it formally changed its name to the "Monon Railroad." Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s it remained a top-rate company, albeit always a David surrounded by Goliaths. As the merger movement gained momentum officials realized they had to find a partner or be left to wither among the giants. This was a difficult prospect due to the big carriers showing little interest. One last ditch effort to carve out a niche for itself involved running unit coal trains from the Ohio River to Michigan City; it seemed promising but the Interstate Commerce Commission denied the plan. With this defeat the railroad essentially gave up independence and sought inclusion with a large Class I. It managed to work out a deal with the Louisville & Nashville and was acquired by the Dixie Line on July 31, 1971. While the Monon remained relatively obscure for most of its life it is well-remembered and beloved within the communities it served as Indiana's railroad |
