Abandoned/Unused Portions of the Nickel Plate Cloverleaf Division - Kokomo, Indiana UPDATED 04/15/20

Updates and remnants are listed below. The Cloverleaf Division ran between St. Louis, Missouri and Toledo, Ohio. The Nickel Plate Railroad purchased it in 1922 and utilized it until Norfolk and Western purchased it in 1964. Today, Norfolk Southern, the Winamac Southern Railway, and the CERA all own portions of this line through here. All NKP Cloverleaf trackage to the east of the Winamac Southern Railway is still used by the Central Railroad of Indianapolis to interchange with U.S. Rail. West of that, most of the track went unused for years and part of it was officially abandoned in 2017. The CERA owns all the track east of Webster Street. The WSRY owns Webster Street down to the Defenbaugh Street bridge remnants. NS owns the rest down to Frankfort. Some bridges have been removed and track has been cut, but about 19 crossings still remain intact and a few bridges as well. We will begin east where the interchange track with U.S. Rail and the unused Cloverleaf connect.
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - All the rail between Webster Street and Berkley Road has been removed. A trail took its place from McCann Street down to Carter Street.
**UPDATED 04/15/20 - All the rail has been removed between Berkley Road and Markland Avenue and there is now a trail.
0:05 -- Interchange track with U.S. Rail and Cloverleaf mainline
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This switch has been cut and removed
0:30 -- Lafountain Street crossing signals, and relay case
1:00 -- Railroad crossing warning post (former smashboard gate)
1:08 -- Diamond crossing with the former Pennsylvania Railroad
1:29 -- Union Street crossing
1:43 -- Main Street crossing, signals, and relay case
2:19 -- Diamond crossing the Nickel Plate IMC. Subdivision
2:24 -- Tilting target signal
2:41 -- Switch and tracks leading to the NKP IMC. Subdivision
3:06 -- Washington Street crossing, signals, and relay case
3:40 -- Remains at former area with multiple tracks and sidings
5:00 -- Side spur rail and switch remnants
5:13 -- Wheel stop devices
6:07 -- Webster Street crossing, signals, and relay case
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This crossing and signals have been removed
6:55 -- Courtland Avenue crossing
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This crossing has been removed
7:22 -- Morrison Street crossing
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This crossing has been removed
7:51 -- Indiana Avenue crossing, partial signals, and relay case
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This crossing and signals have been removed
8:33 -- Wabash Street crossing
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This crossing has been removed
9:15 -- McCann Street crossing, partial signals, and relay case
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This crossing and signals have been removed
10:13 -- Monroe Street crossing, partial signals, and relay case
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This crossing and signals have been removed
10:44 -- Lindsay and Jefferson Street crossing and partial signals
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This crossing and signals have been removed
11:16 -- Elevator foundations
11:34 -- Jackson Street crossing
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This crossing has been removed
12:08 -- Phillips Street crossing, partial signals, and relay case
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This crossing and signals have been removed
12:37 -- Taylor Street crossing
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This crossing has been removed
12:51 -- Side spur remnants
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This side spur has been removed
13:50 -- Mulberry Street crossing, partial signals, and relay case
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This crossing and signals have been removed
14:57 -- Walnut Street signal base and relay case
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This crossing has been removed
15:16 -- Western Avenue and Sycamore Street signal foundation
15:36 -- Multiple track section remants
**UPDATED 10/01/19 - This has all been removed
18:08 -- Remains of two bridges of a side spur at Wildcat Creek and a ditch
20:55 -- Berkley Road crossing area
21:38 -- Switch remnants
**UPDATED 04/15/20 - Rails and switch have been removed
22:35 -- Former bridge site at Markland Avenue
23:15 -- Bridge over Wildcat Creek
24:44 -- Dixon Road crossing
25:05 -- Bridge remains at County Road 50 South/Defenbaugh Street
**UPDATED 04/15/20 - More of these bridge remains have been removed
26:14 -- County Road 100 South/Blvd. Street crossing, signal bases, and relay case
26:38 -- Malfalfa Road crossing
Unlisted remnants:
0:05 and 0:57 - Remnants from a side spur remain to the south of the mainline, south of
west of Lafountain Street.

[@Letsgoexplore2468]

Dont know how I never seen this video. Right up my street!!.. you know kokomo had a sweet railway back in the day.. awesome video man

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thanks! Yes I've learned a lot about Kokomo over the last few years. I went there A LOT back in 2018 because I fell in love with the railroads so much. It became one of my favorite places to go. I need to make a trip back out there soon.

[@mikefinney5269]

Just saw this one. I used to work on this line in Kokomo for many years. Starting in 1974 I was an operator in the small building that was at the diamond of the Clover Leaf and the IMC at the northwest corner of W Madison and Buckeye st. (you zoomed right by where it sat) Later I was a brakeman (later still an engineer) and worked between Marion IN and Frankfort IN. We used to pick up and set out cars (where I think your video says multiple tracks) on the siding called Shambaugh Pass between W Sycamore and S Berkley Rd. It was a siding about 3000' long. Very cool to see all this area again. Hope you still get notifications on people posting here.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Hey. For some reason, the cloverleaf in Kokomo sparked by interest more than the other lines in town. Surely some interesting stories to hear about this line. I would have loved to see trains between Kokomo and Frankfort on the line. I'm glad I recorded this, because unfortunately since then, all the tracks in the heart of town have been removed and replaced with a trail. All old signals down and everything.

[@GTRFTrainCinematography]

It's so sad to see a beautiful line that had potential go to waste.

[@popps2502]

Very wise of you to document this line. 20 years from now every one will be looking at this video.

[@gmftrainvideos]

It's crazy too cuz right after I filmed it most of this track got removed

[@darlenejohnson8864]

Another great video.ihadnt seen this one. A little sad but beautiful.some. things shouldn't disappear.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thank you! For some reason, I really love this portion of the line and sadly, a lot of the stuff in this video has been removed.

[@billinindiana1]

Terrific job on my favorite Kokomo line, the Cloverleaf. I grew up on a farm NW of Russiaville, and I used to see trains through that town in the late 50s and the 60s. It wasn't uncommon to be stopped on Washington St. in Kokomo by this line. When I visited Covington, In. in the mid-60s, I used to travel by the side of the Cloverleaf west of Frankfort. In 1966, a friend of my family was struck and killed by a train in West Middleton. I've seen NKP engines through that town as well. This line crossed Berkley St. south of St. Joseph Hospital (jail now), where there stood the Kokomo Meat Market/slaughterhouse, which was right on the railroad. The last train I saw west of Kokomo was about 2002 crawling out of Kokomo southwest of town en route to Russiaville (or beyond?).My mother grew up on a farm north of Russiaville. She was born in 1915 and used to tell my brother and me about lying in bed at night listening to the mournful sounding whistles of steam trains going through Russiaville, 2 miles south. She said it sounded sad and lonely. By the 70s I had returned to Kokomo and recall seeing NW locomotives on the Cloverleaf instead of NKP. At least they were rolling! It does something to me to think back as a kid and then see it now. Melancholy . . .

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thank you for the story I enjoyed reading it. I have to say myself, I had so much fun exploring this line as it was full of so many interesting pieces and the layout of the tracks. That's one reason why I started coming to Kokomo is because each track they have through town, abandoned or not, the layout of them is so interesting. You have streetrunning, switches in the roads, old wooden trestles, and so on. I imagine how you feel seeing this line years ago and then seeing it today. I'm just glad it still stands and hasn't been completely ripped out yet.

[@dannygillingham7904]

Such great film footage, from the beginning, right to the very end. Enjoyed "walking the railroad lines" right along with you. What a true surprise at the end, which I wasn't expecting, to come across an old abandoned railroad bridge. Wow, nice catch!

[@SCRANE1115]

Enjoyable walk about. Love the relics of old rails, signals, ties, smash boards and telegraph poles. The rails entering the overgrowth in certain areas is both melancholy and haunting for me. Please use caution when crossing railroad bridges. Often, these bridges are still private property and you may get into unexpected big trouble from authorities. Great views of the once powerful industrial rail line.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Hey thank you for watching, I appreciate it!

[@reginaldlawrence412]

Great video . The last train on those tracks was in 1995.

[@josephbrewer5523]

I grew up in Cayuga, IN which was the last stop in Indiana before going to Illinois. I remember in September '88 when they removed the NP tracks - it was a sad day. In many ways the town never recovered.

[@nevetslegasi5686]

It blows my mind that at one time, SO MANY different railroads all converged on these small cities, diamonds everywhere, Interchanges, facilities, tracks going to almost every industrial building.............crazy it's all gone.

[@gmftrainvideos]

I love Kokomo for that reason. I have never seen so much network of track. Too bad most of it is unused now, but still nice to paint a picture of what it once was.

[@CSXrailfan814]

The area i grew up is home to the remains of three class one railroad lines. Some is saved as a local short line by unfortunately most if not all of the rail and equipment was scraped by the railroads. The railroads where the, New Yourk Central, Pennsylvania, and the Lehigh valley. Some day i would like to do something like this where i start at one spot and go as far as I can documenting the little remains of the former railroads. I would also like to find some images of what it was like when there was the railroads to show how things have changed. It alway make me sad to see a railroad line in this state.

[@GoodbyeKamala2024]

Man I miss the Nickel Plate.😔😔😔

[@kevinbaker4241]

The Mad River & NKP Museum in Bellevue, Ohio, would probably love to have that tilting target signal in their collection, along with one of the original crossing signal assemblies and the post with 'NKP RR' written on it. Of course, the odds of that happening are pretty much ZERO...

[@philipellis3227]

These are great examples of “stranded assets”, there was a tremendous amount of capital invested in the rail, signals, and other infrastructure that is lost. Kokomo, Muncie , NewCastle, we’re served by the Nickel Plate back in the day, now look at the detritus left behind as a result of corporations going elsewhere. Sad.

[@scoobycarr5558]

You might want to check out the former Nickel Plate Road east of Gibson City, IL. Whereas Norfolk Southern has the west end from Gibson City to Bloomington and the ex Wabash Railroad south out of Gibson City, the east end is not around anymore. Neither is the ex Wabash north of Gibson City near Strawn. Guess that NS predecessor Norfolk & Western abandoned the ex Nickel Plate. That could have been an ideal bypass around Chicago. But then again, Norfolk Southern already has the Wabash RR, and so the Nickel Plate that once went to Buffalo from Peoria is no more.

[@billinindiana1]

My stepfather was an employee of Continental Steel for over 30 years. He told me about the spurline to the Cloverleaf over Wildcat in the mid 70s. He knew a lot about Continental. The line crossed Markland towards the NW to join the Cloverleaf. I remember a few trains crossing Markland with cars full of rusty steel and wire. Even the cars looked old and crummy. I can only guess they went west to Frankfort, St. Louise, and Lafayette and Kansas City.

[@billinindiana1]

I meant St. Louis

[@gmftrainvideos]

Yes, sadly they recently redid Markland and Park and wiped out some remains near there but there are still some rails north of Markland Avenue as well as bridge remains over the creek. I recently visited the bridge site and I have to say it was gorgeous lol. There are coiled-filled abutments right before the creek where the railroad crossed a ditch, and immediately after, there was the Wildcat Creek bridge. That's very cool that you got to see all the action you did!

[@jackchatfield5464]

I think they should reuse the NYC&StL route, Reuse Recycle, Reopen. Such a shame that it was left to ruin.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Me too. I wish they would have.

[@wideworldofrailroads4014]

I have a nkp railroad spike from 1950 from mentone Indiana

[@Westerner78]

Route of the BLUE DART AND BLUE ARROW. Died when mail it carried went to trucks.

[@brianfalzon6739]

How dare this happened? Hate seeing that beautiful line going to waste! What’s wrong with these people?

[@gmftrainvideos]

I know. It's a shame, really. This line had a lot of meaning.

[@dietapplejuice2715]

This train line abandoned in 2005

[@calebclark194]

Watching from Cowden il

[@wideworldofrailroads4014]

If you see old nkp railroad spikes you can have them I seen people make stuff out of railroad spikes

[@gmftrainvideos]

Hey that sounds really cool! I think I have one but I'm not sure if it's NKP.

[@wideworldofrailroads4014]

GMF Train Videos go to mentone Indiana you will find the nkp railroad tracks

[@tpwandnsrailfan1234]

1:40. You laughed! What did he say?

[@johnnysmith6028]

When was this line abandon

[@gmftrainvideos]

I believe most of it was abandoned in the 1990s but some of the line was still used near downtown Kokomo for years after that.

[@dragonsbreath1984]

Ahhhh.... Globalization. Isn’t it wonderful what it’s done for our generation?

[@wideworldofrailroads4014]

I just uploaded a video of my NKP railroad spike

[@kansasstatealerting717]

:(

[@scottpool4777]

Who knows maybe they just shut him down for a while I don't know you know how these railroad our.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Haha true but I think this one is doomed. Most the rails in Kokomo have now been removed, and it would take a lot of money to restore the intact sections. But you never know.