This 1919 advertisement was the last "Fort Wayne Suburban Days All Roads Lead to Fort Wayne" found in historic newspapers starting in 1914, although an 1869 newspaper article mentioned the phrase "seems all roads lead to Fort Wayne". See the All Roads Lead to Fort Wayne page.
Some of the passenger stations: elevated Nickel Plate passenger station replaced the passenger station previously on Superior Street. Depot off Wells Street at Cass was Michigan Central, later New York Central, Baker Street Pennsylvania station, Wabash Station on Grand Avenue. The brick building that sells monuments on Main Street across from Lindenwood Cemetery was the Grand Rapids and Indiana station. Discussed April 7, 2024 on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook.
FRIDAY FACT: Indiana passed a law in February 1899 prohibiting railroads from being built on any land that was being used as a cemetery. The penalty for violating this law was a fine of between $50 and $500. Source: Acts of 1899, Chapter 14, as appears in "Laws of the State of Indiana, passed at the sixty-first regular session of the General Assembly" (Indianapolis: William B. Burford, 1899)."
Photos of dirt roads at a 1918 railroad crossing accident east of Spencer, Medina County, Ohio.
On August 18th, 1918, Isaac Zelezneck was driving a truck East of Spencer, Ohio, and went to cross the railroad tracks of the Northern Ohio (also referred to as the Lake Erie & Western) Railroad Company and was hit by a train. His truck was demolished and he was severely injured. He soon brought suit against John Barton Payne, the 27th United States Secretary of the Interior, as the representative of the government for the “systems of transportation”. These images, (including resident cows and horses), show the spot where the accident took place. Isaac suffered hearing and vision issues, along with broken ribs and a skull fracture. Regardless of these injuries, he lived until 1972.
Track your favorite railways through time with Historic Aerials, the most comprehensive collection of past and present US aerial imagery. PLUS, use the “Topographical Map” feature to determine where old defunct railways once existed! View now for FREE!
Today, the great arched profile of the former Penn Central Railroad Station on Baker Street, between Harrison and Webster streets, only sadly reflects the pride and excitement the building stirred when it was opened in 1914 - a time when nearly 100 trains from seven railroads arrived or departed Fort Wayne each day.
Many of these trains came from the old Pennsylvania Railroad and the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad. The new "Pennsy Station," as it was called, became the principal gateway to the booming industrial city.
Scarcely 30 years after the station was opened, however, many were concerned about the blighted appearance around the building. By 1946, there was a movement to rebuild the Pennsy station as a "Union Station" for all the major railroads serving Fort Wayne. It was to have a public plaza across the street to fill the block between Baker and Brackenridge streets.
Promoters of this plan preferred to see the Nickel Plate (today's Norfolk & Western) rerouted to the already-elevated Pennsylvania tracks. They opposed another railroad improvement idea that called for the elevation of the Nickel Plate tracks that ran through the middle of the city parallel to Main Street. In the end, the decision was made to elevate the Nickel Plate tracks, and that work was completed in 1955. This was hailed as the greatest improvement to the city in half a century, and it opened the entire north side of Fort Wayne to widespread suburban and industrial growth.
To the south, the old Pennsy Station was left unimproved, and development in the southern suburbs slowed dramatically. Today, no passenger trains stop at the station.
Our first train station
The very first railroad depot in Fort Wayne was built in 1851 at the northwest corner of Lafayette and Columbia streets, at the edge of the Wabash- Erie Canal and at the end of a set of tracks that ran down the middle of Lafayette Street.
There, at the canal landing in 1854, the first locomotive to come to Fort Wayne was unloaded from a canal barge that had brought the engine - in pieces - from the port of Toledo.
Assembled in Francis Comparet's nearby warehouse, this locomotive appeared to the thrill of everyone and loudly chugged and smoked its way down Lafayette to the newly formed Ohio & Indiana Railway line south of town. The engine was put to work as the railroad was completed to Chicago (by 1856), and Fort Wayne was ushered into a new age of transportation.
The original Pennsy
In 1856, the Ohio & Indiana became a part of the larger Pittsburgh, Chicago & Fort Wayne Railroad, the predecessor of the great Pennsylvania Railroad. Two years later, local railroad promoters Samuel Hanna and Allen Hamilton built a train station on a section of Hamilton's land along the tracks. (Hanna donated the adjacent five acres for railroad repair shops, later known as the Pennsy Shops.) This station, located between Calhoun and Clinton streets north of the railroad, was the first passenger station built in Fort Wayne - a very pleasant neo-classical building of red brick with white trim. [ Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia ]
On the lower level of that first station was a restaurant, and on the second floor was a hotel called the McKennie House between 1863 and 1903.
'Ole Abe' rides the rails
Fort Wayne's first passenger station had the singular distinction of being the only building in Fort Wayne directly connected to Abraham Lincoln.
On Feb. 23, 1860, while he was making his way to New York to deliver his famous Cooper Union Address - the speech that assured his nomination as the Republican candidate - Lincoln stopped in Fort Wayne in the dead of night to change trains.
There is no evidence that he ever left the station - it was 1 a.m. - and only a brief notice in Dawson's Daily News of Fort Wayne noted his passing: "The Hon. Abe Lincoln and wife came from the west this morning at 1 o'clock, on the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railroad, and changing cars at this city, went east."
"Ole Abe" passed through again, on his way back to Springfield, Ill., on March 13, 1860, but again he did not leave the station. In later years, many stories were told around Fort Wayne about how one person or another had seen Lincoln and even spoke to him at the original Pennsy Station. But by then, the martyred president was the stuff of legend.
Thieves and fair-goers
Not all was fine foods and comfortable hotel accommodations in the area around the first Pennsy Station: After the Civil War, pickpockets and other ne'er-do-wells plagued travelers.
One band of "gamblers, confidence men and pickpockets" in particular descended on Fort Wayne in the 1860s. And it was quite a well-organized gang. One incident especially raised the ire of area residents. In 1865, the Indiana State Fair was held in Fort Wayne (for the first and only time), and 20,000 visitors came to the city, mostly by rail. When a train arrived, the thieves would climb into the cars and begin to pick pockets. As soon as they had picked the pocket clean, they marked the back of the victim's coat with chalk so fellow thieves would not waste their time.
All this criminal behavior, it was believed, centered around Carey's Saloon, one block north of the McKennie House and the rail station. "Captain" Carey was a Canadian who set up his saloon after leaving the Union army in 1865.
Things began to get bad around the train station soon after his arrival, but Ed Ryan, a "notorious confidence man and a suspected murderer," was the leader, according to the railroad authorities.
The situation came to a head when Ryan, to his horror, learned that the pocket he was picking belonged to the sheriff of Whitley County, who was trying to board a train.
Ryan was shot while trying to escape and never fully recovered from his gunshot wounds.
The railroad workers had had enough, also. Four hundred railroad men stormed Carey's Saloon and ordered the bartender and his family out. No one could say how a fire got started that night, and the saloon burned to the ground amid the cheers of the crowd.
A "committee" remained behind to make sure all the gang from Carey's understood the new state of affairs and moved on.
--April 18, 1994
The Granite Ridge Builders video At the University of Saint Francis discussing John Bass and the railroads said at the time one of every four people in Fort Wayne worked at the Bass Foundry and there was a saying: Trains keep America rolling, and Fort Wayne keeps the trains rolling.
Listen for the Whistle from Lynchpin Creative on Vimeo. Did you know George Washington Whistler born in 1800 Fort Wayne invented the whistle and his son James McNeill Whistler is world famous for his painting know as Whistler's Mother? See our Forts of Fort Wayne page.
The FFtW&W started life as the New York, Mahoning & Western. The construction of the road began in 1887. It was, at first, designed to take advantage of the natural gas boom of the late 19th century. That boom saw manufacturing ramp up to very high levels due to the availability of cheap fuel in the form of natural gas. By 1895, the railroad had finally reached Fort Wayne. But it also had legal problems at the same time. As reported in the Fort Wayne News of 10 April 1895, a suit was filed in United States Court in Toledo by several small bond holders. They were seeking the court to foreclosure of first mortgage bonds and to have a receiver appointed for the road. The incidents that led to this suit started back in 1890. Copied from longer article Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western Richard M. Simpson, III Uncategorized 22 May 2020 at Indiana Transportation History.
Relics of the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western Railroad in Allen County, Indiana May 29, 2023 Mike Fromholt on YouTube
A pictorial video of an abandoned railroad, the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western, where it crossed Allen County, Indiana near New Haven. I give a brief history of the abandoned line as I point out the few remains left behind after it was abandoned in 1919. Of the four sites I visit in this video, three are visible from the road and all are on private property. The fourth location is not accessable to the public, so location is not given....don't even ask for it, you ain't going to get it. The aerial photos came from Google Earth The photos are from my own personel collection, dating from 2014 to 2023 More about the railroad can be found here: Fort Wayne, IN to Findlay, OH.
From a May 29, 2023 post on Abandoned and Forgotten Indiana on Facebook referencing son Facebook.
The plan was to build the road from Fort Wayne, through Bluffton, Hartford City, Muncie, New Castle, Rushville, Greensburg, Vernon and Charleston to finally end at Jeffersonville. The plan sounded rather extravagant, but it made sense in the grand scheme of things. ... The Fort Wayne & Southern, like many railroads in Indiana, fell into receivership. The company found itself in a situation where they were still spending money on a route that wasn’t completed, in any section, enough to allow traffic to offset the losses. The entire route was sold at foreclosure on 19 January, 1866. But that sale was set aside, and the company continued to flounder until the route was conveyed to new owners on 7 November 1868. Copied from Fort Wayne And Southern Railroad Richard M. Simpson, III Cities/Towns, Companies, Government, Maps, People, Railroads 21 January 2021 on Indiana Transportation History.
With roots in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad—nicknamed “The Fishing Line” for its connections to attractive Michigan tourist areas—was organized in the mid–nineteenth century to take advantage of the lucrative logging business of the vast forests of the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan and other potential freight traffic. Once built into northern Michigan, it had an important role in developing the region’s tourist industry. Financed and built by officials of the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad system, the GR&I eventually was merged into that company. Using a plethora of newspapers, public documents, and other primary source materials, Meints has crafted an engaging narrative that is easily accessible to the lay reader as well as specialists in railroad and local history. Tracing a thorough corporate history of a fascinating but little-known regional line from its beginning through the early twentieth century, The Fishing Line: A History of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad is a must-read.
Street View photo on Google maps shows the current view and location as part of the Pufferbelly Trail. The current bridge was built in 2019. Google has photos showing no bridge back to 2007.
On the surface, the State Boulevard Realignment Project is a story about a failing bridge built more than 90 years ago, a bridge on a significant City street that often flooded because it was built too low, and the realignment of a road with a sharp curve that resulted in numerous accidents near the bridge. ... A ribbon cutting ceremony was held on October 29, 2020. Copied from State Boulevard Realignment Project: Preserving And Protecting A Neighborhood at City of Fort Wayne
This week the Allen County Board of Commissioners attended the groundbreaking for the next section of Pufferbelly Trail.
“This project is many years in the making and we’re glad that several people are here today who made this community resource possible,” shared Allen County Commissioner Therese Brown. “We’re excited to announce that construction has begun on this long-awaited section of trail and thank the Allen County Highway Department for their work on this project.”
Many trail partners were in attendance:
Indiana Department of Natural Resources
Fort Wayne Trails
VS Engineering, Inc.
City of Fort Wayne Government Greenways Representatives
Town of Huntertown officials
Allen County Sheriff's Department EV bike unit representative
Neighborhood Association members
trail enthusiasts
and more
February 25, 2023 post by the Indiana State Parks on Facebook: The Pufferbelly Trail had a groundbreaking ceremony this past Tuesday (2/21/23) to celebrate an upcoming 4.3-mile extension. The project was a round one awardee from the Next Level Trails (NLT) grant program. Together with a round three NLT, a 1.78-mile extension project, the Pufferbelly Trail will soon extend from the Northern edge of Allen County and tie into the Rivergreenway in downtown Fort Wayne. https://www.in.gov/.../recreation/grants/next-level-trails/ Read the full story at https://www.21alivenews.com/.../groundbreaking-held.../.
Fort Wayne's Worst Train Wreck was when a speeding Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train crashed into a freight train in Swinney Park within the city limits on August 13, 1911 by Nancy McCammon-Hansen published April 16, 2014 in the History Center Notes & Queries blog.
October 7, 1947Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad passenger train hit an earth mover at crossing on California Road, north of city, at 12:17 p.m. 3 died and 14 hurt.
Exactly 50 years ago today, on July 20, 1973 the calm afternoon was interrupted at 3:40 pm by a train derailment on the Penn Central Line near Thomas Road. 13 of the 110 cars were derailed and a chemical fire ensued. Upon learning that water would be of no use against the chemicals, local firefighters kept watch as the fire was allowed to resolve itself. At 7:20 pm, a red ball of fire brightened the skyline as one of the tankers carrying vinyl chloride exploded. Since vinyl chloride is a toxic substance, nearly 3,000 people were evacuated in a two-mile radius from the site. The following morning most of the residents were allowed to return to their homes. The few that were not allowed lived in the still cordoned off area around the vinyl chloride tanker that was still burning. While most of the damage was confined to broken windows, there was a place of major destruction. The home of Hamer Mann on Lagro Drive was destroyed when a portion of the exploded vinyl chloride tanker hit the dwelling. Today we remember the worst train derailment and explosion to happen in Allen County. #sociallyhistory
June 20, 1919 The Fort Wayne News and Sentinel had an infographic showing all railroads come together at Fort Wayne stating from far and near everyone comes to Fort Wayne on Wednesday Suburban Shopping Day from Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
1955 Nickel Plate railroad Twitter photo shows overpass under construction along Superior Street that opened up the entire north side of Fort Wayne for development from Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society.
A History Center Artifact a Window on the Past video by WISE Web News
June 18, 2010 no longer online stated: What you see being rolled out is a map..a blueprint…37 feet long, drawn up in 1925 by the New York, Chicago and St. Louis railroad, showing the railroad right of way along the north side of downtown Fort Wayne…the tracks that were built over the old Wabash and Erie canal bed. This is a planning map, similar to maps used by citys and utilities, showing adjacent properties and businesses, local topography and landmarks…used by the railroad to plan expansion, construction and maintenance work. the detail is remarkable. it shows all the homes and businesses that existed along the old canal nearly 90 years ago…like the rub no more soap factory..the old national handle company factory at Berry and Hanover Steets..and lots of surprises.
Wabash steam locomotive no. 534/Lake Erie & Fort Wayne no. 1
October, 1956 finds LE&FW no. 1 switching the city steel plants at Taylor street. The One Spot was retired to Sweeney Park a year later and donated to the Society in 1984 for preservation.
Our Throwback Thursday post is courtesy of our friends over at the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. Check out the Wabash Steam Locomotive No. 534/ Lake Erie & Fort Wayne No. 1 making her way up Washington St. during the 1950's where she was placed on display in Swinney Park, until being donated and lovingly restored by the local railroad historical society.
Gift Locomotive in the
Allen County Public Library Digital Collections at the
Allen County Public Library. Description: Gift locomotive arrives in Fort Wayne. The one time Wabash Engine was built by American Loco Company at Schenectady, NY in 1906 and used by Wabash Railroad till 1952, then it was transferred here for use by the Lake Erie & Ft. Wayne, a local switch line. Engine and tender on display in Swinney Park. Date: 5/8/1957. Over a dozen more Wabash Engine photos are in the library collection.
Following three years of meticulous restoration work by our volunteers, our century-old Wabash Railroad caboose has been completed! 90% of the caboose was replaced and the results are stunning. In Project Manager David DePanicis' own words, "rebuilding a caboose is a lot like building a house with your best friends" and we couldn't help but agree. Thanks to our dedicated members and supporters for bringing this historic piece of Fort Wayne railroading back to life.
Wabash Railroad. The Lake Erie, Wabash and St. Louis Railroad built this line from Toledo through Fort Wayne in the 1850's and it ran parallel to the Wabash & Erie Canal, passing through Woodburn and New Haven. For awhile, the Wabash used the Eel River Railroad between Logansport and Butler to get to Detroit. When the Wabash was no longer allowed to use the Eel River Railroad they built their own line between New Haven and Butler, completed in 1902. The Wabash depot in Fort Wayne was between Calhoun and Harrison St. on the south side of the tracks. It was torn down many years ago but one of the old stairways up to the platform still stands. The Wabash line today is Norfolk Southern's Huntington District and uses the "new" section between Butler and New Haven. The original Wabash line east of New Haven is the Norfolk Southern Woodburn Branch up to Woodburn. East of Woodburn it is operated by the Maumee & Western Railroad. Copied from Fort Wayne Historical Aspects on The Fort Wayne Railfan.
a brief notice in Dawson's Daily News of Fort Wayne noted his passing: "The Hon. Abe Lincoln and wife came from the west this morning at 1 o'clock, on the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railroad, and changing cars at this city, went east." Copied from 'Ole Abe' rides the rails under the title: Old train stations sadly reflect Fort Wayne's past By MICHAEL HAWFIELD from the archives of The News-SentinelCityscapes - People & Places series of articles from the archives of
The News-Sentinel newspaper. See our February 23, 1860 Timeline for more information.
Wabash: The Lake Erie, Wabash and St. Louis Railroad built a line from Toledo through Fort Wayne in the 1850's and it ran parallel to the Wabash & Erie Canal, passing through Woodburn and New Haven. For awhile, the Wabash used the Eel River Railroad between Logansport and Butler to get to Detroit. When the Wabash was no longer allowed to use the Eel River Railroad they built their own line between New Haven and Butler, completed in 1902. The Wabash depot in Fort Wayne on Grand Street between Calhoun and Harrison Streets, located on the south side of the tracks was torn down in the 1980s. One of the old stairways up to the platform still stands. The Wabash line today is Norfolk Southern's Huntington District and uses the "new" section between Butler and New Haven. The original Wabash line east of New Haven is the Norfolk Southern Woodburn Branch up to Woodburn. East of Woodburn it is operated by the Maumee & Western Railroad, a short-line carrier. It included A photo of the Wabash yard being built in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the early 1900s. The Round House is on the left. Copied from The History of Heartland Lodge 6760
New Havenites, both young and old, took a step back in time Friday evening for a look into the city’s transportation history at the long awaited opening of the restored Wabash Railroad depot on State Street. ... Inside, the depot looks pretty much as it did when it was built in the 1880s. The freight area was left rough, while the waiting room and station master’s office have been painted a yellow similar to its original color. The main exception, of course, is that the depot now has insulation, ceiling fans, heating and air conditioning, a handicap-accessible ramp and guard rail. A unisex restroom has replaced the old “indoor outhouse.”
Designed to handle passengers and freight, the west end served passengers, the east was for freight with a station master’s office separating the two areas. The depot last served New Haven rail travelers going east to Toledo and west through Fort Wayne to St. Louis in 1964. It was shuttered and left to endure weather extremes, natural deterioration and vandalism until 1988 when NHAHA acquired the deed from Norfolk & Western Railroad, thus saving it from demolition.
Copied from Ribbon cut on refurbished 1880s Wabash Railroad depot in New Haven by Rod King of The News-Sentinel Saturday, December 8, 2012.
Discussed in Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, “Wabash Railroad Depot,” Discover Indiana, accessed December 17, 2022, https://publichistory.iupui.edu/items/show/268.
History of the New York Central | Vintage Promotional Film Series posted April 9, 2020 by Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society on YouTube The New York Central Railroad once operated an expansive 26,000-mile railroad system that connected the Great Lakes region to the Eastern United States. The New York Central System reached Fort Wayne via the Fort Wayne and Jackson line and for many years the railroad's famous 20th Century Limited passenger train traversed through Butler, Kendallville, and Waterloo, Indiana. Very little evidence of the New York Central is left in Fort Wayne, but the railroad's Cass Street depot survives to this day as a bike and kayak rental shop. Service on Fort Wayne line ended in 2000 and the connection between Fort Wayne and Waterloo was torn up in the 1970s. The New York Central merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad on February 1st, 1968 and became PennCentral until it went bankrupt and became Conrail in April 1976.
Former freight depot for the New York Central Railroad located at Fourth and Clinton Streets in Fort Wayne. Built around 1913, the depot lay mostly vacant for the past 30 years under Omnisource, a recycling company.
In 2010, the depot became the focus of a grassroots effort to save it from demolition. The owners, Calhoun Investments, argued that the depot was structurally compromised and they were being mandated by the city to remove it. Preservationists countered it was a historically significant building and not as bad off as the owners made it seem.
In the early morning hours, after months of delay, the depot was razed or as one supporter called it, "Rikin-ized," after the responsible party's family name.
John Urbahns, Fort Wayne Director of Community Development was surprised the depot was demolished, especially since the city never had it inspected. Calhoun Investments later admitted that there was never an order mandated by the city to have it torn down: It just didn't make good business sense to hang on to the old building.
Preservationists are crying foul, and a top city official admits he's surprised. But the owner of a historic downtown landmark is defending Monday's sudden demolition of a 97-year-old train depot, saying its poor condition had rendered it dangerous and of little economic value. Was in an October 12, 2010 story Owners tearing down historic 4th Street depot; City official ‘surprised and unaware' of building's demolition by Kevin Leininger.
The Central Freight Association was located at the corner of 4th and North Clinton in the 1919 Fort Wayne City Directory.
ARCH issues statement regarding demolition of Freight Depot:
First comment:
New York Central Freight Station Is Being Demolished Today in Fort Wayne Fort Wayne, October 11, 2010: ARCH has learned that demolition has begun for the former New York Central Freight Station, at the northwest corner of Fourth Street and Clinton Street. This was an irreplaceable community landmark, and its loss is a blow to downtown revitalization. This building, which had been on ARCH’s Endangered List since 1999, represents a rare type of railroad building, and one that was ideally suited for redevelopment. Freight stations such as the New York Central have been redeveloped as farmers markets, as the center for a themed shopping area, as festival marketplaces and as the center for a system of urban greenways. The New York Central Freight Station could have served such a purpose in Fort Wayne. The Freight Station had been determined to be historically significant and eligible for the National Register by several local, regional and national agencies and organizations. As a building already identified as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, tax credits were available for commercial rehabilitation. When the owner applied for a demolition permit in April, 2010, ARCH issued a press statement asking the owners of the building to reconsider the demolition of this irreplaceable landmark, and offered to provide an independent engineering assessment of the structure to determine its condition. The owner refused ARCH’s offer for the independent assessment, but was willing to discuss possible options for the building with several developers, business owners and local government. Several meetings were held during the summer of 2010, and ARCH was told to be “optimistic” regarding the future of the building. The loss of this building subtracts one more piece of Fort Wayne’s historic legacy, and makes all of us poorer for its loss.
Fort Wayne Pennsylvania Railroad shop - By the turn of the 20th century, its repair shops and locomotive manufacturing facilities became known as the "Altoona of the West." From Pennsylvania Railroads on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia and page 74 in The Pennsylvania Railroad in Indiana by William J. Watt.
Rail Ways by Kevin Kilbane posted Friday, December 10th, 2021 on FortWayne.com Fort Wayne Newspapers
Some fear it's too late to save old train depot Despite its potential, it may soon follow other landmarks into oblivion was a column by Kevin Leininger published May 01, 2010 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
Restorer researches local building’s history
Building’s history unknown, but its future looks bright Rosa Salter Rodriguez published October 17, 2013 on the The Journal Gazette newspaper. Not sure what this article was about?
While you are in transit through Facebook, put on the air brakes and check out our recent National Archives Catalog Newsletter! In this issue, we get an overview of the Cartographic Branch’s railroad records. There are more than 69 record groups and 215 series that include maps, architectural and engineering drawings, and aerial photographs that all relate to railroads in the United States, with widespread coverage of regions all over the world. Alllllll Aboard! Come along for a fast track overview of the Cartographic Branch’s railroad records.
Map of the Washington and Alexandria Railroad and its Connections with the Baltimore and Ohio, Loudon and Hampshire Orange and Alexandria Railroads, 1865. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/102279492
The National Archives at Atlanta has received approximately 54,000 cubic feet of Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) Inactive Claims Folders from the National Archives Great Lakes Region.
The information found within these records will be of interest to genealogists and historical researchers. The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board administers a Federal retirement benefit program covering the nation's railroad workers. The Inactive Claim Folders deal primarily with the administration and payment of these benefits. We will provide information on deceased persons for the purpose of genealogical or historical research. However, we will not release information on a person who is still living without the written consent of that person.
The Railroad Retirement Board continues to retain ownership of claim files deemed to be active. Records transferred to NARA have been inactive for at least seven years. If you are looking for information in your own claim file, or are researching someone whose file may have been recently active (claims filed, payments made, etc), you should begin by contacting the Railroad Retirement Board (https://www.rrb.gov/index.php/Resources/Genealogy or (877) 772-5772).
The RRB Inactive Claims Folders are limited to individuals who worked in the rail industry after 1936. Please do not contact us with requests for records before that date. We do not have that information, nor do we generally have any pertinent records for an individual whose rail service was performed on a casual basis and/or was of short duration. Also, the claim folders are only on persons whose employers were covered under the Railroad Retirement Act. Employers such as streetcar, interurban, or suburban electric railways are not covered under this Act.
Interurbans were intercity electric railways popular 100 years ago - and, believe it or not, the Hoosier state had one of the most extensive systems in the entire country. The first interurban line in Indiana opened in 1898, from Anderson to Alexandria. The first interurban to Indy opened on New Year's Day in 1900 and brought passengers from Franklin and Greenwood to the Hoosier capital. Interurban lines connected small towns with most of Indiana's big cities and the cities with each other. Lines radiated from Indianapolis to Fort Wayne, Louisville, Lafayette, Peru, Terre Haute and Richmond (and six other routes). These interurbans then connected with others, reaching Chicago, Toledo, Columbus, and even farther. A separate hub centered on Evansville. Copied from Interurbans: Their rise and fall across Indiana posted September 28, 2013 on Archives of Hoosier History Live podcast on Saturdays, noon to 1 p.m. ET on WICR 88.7 FM. Includes Craig J. Berndt who has written 3 books on railroads and interurbans and was mentioned as the local expert on interurbans.
The real story behind the demise of America's once-mighty streetcars Joseph Stromberg May 7, 2015 in Vox.com.
The last day of service was February 19, 1952. Indiana & Michigan Co.'s interurban rail service had its last run. The locomotives had provided freight service between I & M and the city filtration plant, the Fort Wayne State School and Centlivre Brewery. The line had been in service since 1906 and was the last remaining interurban rail line in the state. Copied from THIS DAY IN HISTORY: February 19 in photos published February 19, 2018 by The News-Sentinel newspaper.
A comment December 23, 2022 about a Map Of Fort Wayne Street Car Lines. Someone on an earlier post asked if there were a map of the where the Fort Wayne street cars ran. Attached is a 1931 map of Fort Wayne with street car lines in red. Courtesy of train/interurban/street car historian and pal, C. Berndt. receiving many comments was posted on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook.
Interurban - Relic of the Interurban bridge on Spy Run Creek shown in a photo posted April 28, 2015 on Facebook by Daniel Baker. Caption says the route was out of service by 1938.
Relic of the Interurban 2015 by Daniel Baker on flickr. "Relic of the Interurban" Hidden away from view, this old interurban bridge has become part of the natural landscape crossing the Spy Run Creek north of downtown Fort Wayne. This particular route took the electric cars along Lima Road (Highway 3) to Garrett, Auburn, Kendallville and Waterloo. An aerial photograph shows it out of use by 1938, but the route is visible. 4.28.2015 posted with map location on Toledo & Chicago - Spy Run Bridge at BridgeHunter.com.
This was posted once before, but I thought it would be nice to see again this time of year.
This was the old Interurban Depot that was located at 303 West South Street near Washington Street Monroeville, Indiana. It seems as though it snowed like this every year in the 70s and 80s.
The tracks ran in front of the building. People would travel to Fort Wayne and various small towns in Ohio during the early 1900s to early 1930s.
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A Street View photo from Google maps shows a gravel parking lot at 303 West South Street with a different brick building.
Indiana had one of the country's most extensive interurban systems, connecting towns large and small in 68 of our 92 counties. The convenient electric railway mass transportation system operated in the Hoosier state from 1898 until the early 1940s. The South Shore, one of the few remaining interurban lines, still runs today between South Bend and Chicago.
Source - The Indiana Album: Patrick Walter Collection.
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To answer the question does it still stand, no: The stations erected along the line by the original company were nearly all constructed from the same plans. They were one-story brick buildings with red tile roofs. The walls at each end of the buildings were three sided. The stations at Monroeville and Convoy still stand. The one at New Haven was demolished about three years ago. from page 30 in the book Interurban railways of Allen County, Indiana by Bates, Roy M. published in 1958.
October 15, 2024 post on New Haven Area Heritage Association stated: Photo of the interurban station at the NW corner of Broadway and Lincoln Highway, c1910. After the interurban was abandoned in the 1930's, it served as a mechanic's garage, as well as a Chevrolet dealership, before being torn down c1954.
March 1, 2023 post with photos on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook asking: Does anyone know what occupied this corner at one time? Osage and Burgess. Comment include: Used to be a railroad roundhouse if this is the southeast corner and nickel plate west Wayne yard , ft Wayne Jackson, Lake Erie and western and Grand Rapids indiana railroad all crossed and interchanging and before all that was the wabash and Erie Canal passed through and the feeder canal that fed additional water to the canal where Rumsey st stops at the railroad tracks.
A March 10, 2023 post with several photos of the abutments from the interurban rail and bridge that once ran through Monroeville and over three sets of railroad tracks on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook. Monroeville, Indiana at FWARailfan.net shows this as the Fort Wayne, Van Wert, & Lima Traction Co. stating: Just west of town at the corner of Wyburn and Sampson Rd. there are two concrete bridge abutments on either side of the tracks. They are the remnants of an interurban line, the Ft. Wayne, Van Wert & Lima Traction Co., that once passed through here. It used to cross the Pennsylvania Railroad here on a very long trestle and girder bridge, which was completed in mid-1905. There was a station stop in Monroeville. The interurban line ended service sometime in the 1940's. The following are some old photos taken of the interurban overhead that were published in the Monroeville News. FtWVW&L/PRR Bridge at BridgeHunter.com states it was a Lost Pratt through truss bridge over Pennsylvania Railroad on Ft. Wayne, Van Wert & Lima Traction Co. Built 1905; Removed in the 1940s. An August 27, 2022 post by Hans Hofer on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook from August 27, 2013 had photos and discussion of surveying the land to split the farm at this location.
Fort Wayne, Van Wert & Lima Traction Co. in New Haven, Indiana Aug 13, 2022 Mike Fromholt on YouTube
Short video on the history and route of the Fort Wayne, Van Wert & Lima Traction Company railway, an inturban railroad that was built in 1905 and operated until 1932 when it was abandoned. I will be pointing out signs of the railway, with some relics of it as well. Special thanks to Craig Berndt for the photos of the depot from when it was still standing. This is the second of what I hope to be multiple videos on the histroy of New Haven, Indiana. I hope to produce about one per month, so please come back, or better yet, subscribe. I am a 40-year resident of New Haven, 31 years of that delivering mail for the USPS here in New Haven (retired).
Featuring over 90 illustrations and featuring contemporary accounts and newspaper articles from the period, Electric Indiana is a biographical study of the rise and fall of a onetime important transportation technology that achieved its most impressive development within the Hoosier state.
The FRA has a BLOCKED CROSSING website where you can report a train blocking a crossing for more than 10 minutes. Report a blocked crossing at https://www.fra.dot.gov/blockedcrossings/
The FRA has a BLOCKED CROSSING website where you can report a train blocking a crossing for more than 10 minutes. Report a blocked crossing at PUBLIC BLOCKED CROSSING INCIDENT REPORTER
Woman's Home Companion was an American monthly magazine, published from 1873 to 1957. It was highly successful, climbing to a circulation peak of more than four million during the 1930s and 1940s. The magazine, headquartered in Springfield, Ohio, was discontinued in 1957. From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Disguised as the 767, the 765 has been renumbered and a ceremony celebrating its installation in the park is being held on May 4th, 1963. That’s the North Side High school band playing at left.
As the 765-as-767 was installed in Lawton Park on May 4th, 1963 the original 767 was hauled to Chicago for scrapping, meeting its end sometime in 1964.
Fort Wayne Railroad Bridgelisted as the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge on the National Register of Historic Places, is a double-deck steel truss railroad bridge spanning the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Trains, and especially toy trains, have long captured the imaginations of generations of Allen County citizens. The earliest toy trains were made of lead and had no moving parts. Some had wheels that turned, but these had to be pushed or pulled. A few of the early 19th-century push toy trains were made of tinplate, like the large, durable, stylized locomotive toys in the U.S., which were painted red and gold and decorated with hearts and flowers. Around 1875, technological advancements in materials and manufacturing allowed tin to be stamped, cut, rolled, and lithographed faster than ever before. Electric trains followed with the first appearing in 1897, produced by the U.S. firm Carlisle & Finch. As residential use of electricity became more common in the early 20th century, electric trains gained popularity. As time went on, these electric trains grew in sophistication, gaining lighting, the ability to change direction, to emit a whistling sound, to smoke, to remotely couple and uncouple cars and even load and unload cargo. Toy trains from the first half of the 20th century were often made of lithographed tin; later trains were often made mostly of plastic. A toy train is a toy that represents a train. It can be as simple as a pull toy that does not even run on track, or it might be operated by clockwork or a battery. Many of today's model trains might be considered as toys also, providing they are not strictly scale models, in favor of a robustness appropriate for children. Today we share a few of the trains in our collection. If you enjoy these trains, make sure to come and see the model train display at the History Center through Saturday, July 15th. #sociallyhistory
Risk Assessment Of Hazardous Material By Train transport: The Allen County Board of Commissioners accepted a contract during Legislative Session, December 8, 2023, to complete a Commodity Flow Study, an in-depth account of the movement of hazardous material traveling through Allen County. . .
Risk Assessment Of Hazardous Material By Train transport Commissioner Rich Beck recalled that the train carrying hazardous material that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this year passed through the heart of downtown Fort Wayne. “My concern is what are we doing about prevention,” he shared.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, and Congress still hasn’t acted on legislation to avert a future disaster. Washington’s reluctance in forcing new rail safety measures could adversely affect communities such as Fort Wayne, where 2,000 rail cars wind through the city each day.
The Railway Safety Act of 2023, proposed in March by Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and Republican J.D. Vance, passed the Senate Commerce Committee in May. Eight months later, it hasn’t received a Senate floor vote.
The bill would require the federal Department of Transportation to issue safety regulations for trains carrying hazardous materials. It would provide state emergency officials with advance notice and information about materials en route; reduce blocked rail crossings; and force carrier compliance with requirements concerning train length, weight, track standards and speed.
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The train that derailed in East Palestine passed through Allen County the day before the derailment. It could have happened here. Fifty years ago, it did happen here.
On July 20, 1973, officials evacuated more than 3,000 residents within a 2-mile area near Thomas Road after two rail cars loaded with vinyl chloride — the same material involved in the East Palestine disaster — caught fire and exploded. No casualties were reported, but a nearby home caught fire and was destroyed after being struck with debris from the blast.
Since 2014, there have been 12 derailments in Allen County costing nearly $3 million in property damage, Beier said. Trains here stop daily at road crossings, causing driver — including first responder — delays of between 2 and 6 minutes.
Building rail infrastructure is not rocket science…or is it???
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?
Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used. So, why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And what about the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot.
Bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)
Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.
And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything.
Guests - Fred Lanahan and Geoff Paddock. This area’s only in-depth, live, weekly news, analysis and cultural update forum, PrimeTime airs Fridays at 7:30pm. This program is hosted by PBS Fort Wayne’s President/General Manager Bruce Haines.
