Unused/Abandoned Portions of the Logansport and Eel River Railroad in Logansport, Indiana

[@spaceghost8995]

I recall the PRR trackage in the South Bend area still in place until the 90's. Studebaker was a big customer on the line but they closed in 1963. US30 in Plymouth still has the bridge that goes over the PRR corridor.

[@tylerallen6995]

I commute from Auburn to Columbia City everyday down 205 and am fascinated by the old Butler branch. We actually live not far from where the line exits the east side of Auburn. Wish there was more visual history of that section, especially at Auburn Junction, but it was abandoned by the 50s.

[@charleskoeppen729]

That. Was the Logansport and Eel River. I worked for them in 1990, sad to see all the work we did rotting away. We built the siding at the lumber kiln that year.

[@billinindiana1]

You've really done your research. Amazing history. Excellent work.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thank you so much! I appreciate you.

[@dannygillingham7904]

These are my favorite footage videos, of abandoned railroads, of bygone days, and years. Just an added note, I'd be most pleased if you'd be sure to include any possible round RxR signs, that may still exist, at railroad crossings {maybe, maybe not}. It delights me if they're still there, even if there are no more train traffic on these abandoned rails. Thanx 😊

[@gmftrainvideos]

Hey thanks! I do think some of the round yellow signs still exist. I'll keep that in mind when I do this again!

[@GUSTAVTIME]

Wow great video feels the passage of time in sound and images

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thank you so much

[@freebrickproductions]

1:38 is likely marking a Derail, if I had to take a guess. Nice finds with the abandoned crossing signals as well!

[@gmftrainvideos]

That's what I was thinking but wasn't sure. Thank you for that!

[@iloverootbeer8]

I live in Logansport and I see that track everyday

[@gmftrainvideos]

That's cool! Hopefully it will see some museum trains soon!

[@kevinkennedy7702]

There's a rehabilitation effort in making with that line....it's slow but hopefully soon it gets accomplished

[@MarkInLA]

Nice to see something other 152 lb rail !! Thanks ,M

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thanks for watching!

[@kevinmallory8337]

last train on the line was a gravel train from Culver to logansport in 1974.Last passenger service was a gasoline car in the late 30's

[@gmftrainvideos]

Ah thanks for the information.

[@Westerner78]

@@gmftrainvideos When these locals lost their mail contracts to trucks. It was the end of them. And the few passengers left that transfered to the mainline were gone from the mainline after that.

[@jklein17]

I grew up on Claude street which is just a few blocks up from the South Bend spur Michigan Avenue crossing. I can only ever remember freight traffic on that line which dwindled to a trickle in the early to mid 1970's. Some time in the late 1970's the spur was abandoned and even the maintenance trucks stopped coming. In the mid 1980's the tracks were removed and the woods that they traveled through began to reclaim the road bed. I was in my early to late teens in the 80's so the road bed became a great place to ride motorcycles and minibikes. We used to start at one end where the tracks crossed Michigan avenue and ride as fast as we could to the other end where it crossed back over Michigan avenue to see if we could beat the vehicle traffic. Wild raspberries used to grow along the west side of the tracks and in the 1970's I remember one time my sister and I were picking those berries when a service truck snuck up on us and scared us to death when he honked his horn. Speaking of horns this line crosses the horny creek just before it crosses back over Michigan avenue. All the children who grow up in the neighborhoods in this area end up becoming known as Horny creek Marines.

[@jklein17]

Growing up in the area in the 1970's and 80's I have no recollection of tracks being present on the Butler spur. The road bed and a trestle over Horny creek where it joined the Eel river were all that remained. Sometime around 2010 (don't remember exactly when) the road bed was paved over and converted into a walking trail. A bridge over the Eel river was added connecting it to Riverside Park.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thanks for the info on the line. Those are such great stories to hear about riding your motorcycles around that curve and picking berries with your sister. It was cool how the line crossed Michigan Avenue twice and Horney Creek twice within such a short distance. I recently checked out the two bridges that still stand over the creek in that area. Did you take the motorcycle across those at all? That would be a rough ride lol. I'm glad to hear that you have such great memories from that area. Thanks for commenting and sharing.

[@MikeFranklin69]

@@jklein17 The one wooden bridge does remain, right before it crosses Michigan ave. You have to turn up Smith st. Then go down the road immediately to the right. But it is there. I allways wondered what that line was for!! Thank you!! I want to go explore the right of way across Michigan Ave. It has a neat canopy of trees over it. But you can tell a rail was there at one time.

[@joelchristensen9503]

Just plain cool!!

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thanks for watching!!

[@carypyke935]

Fascinating

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thanks a lot!

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

way back when, we would catch LOPI PILO in western ohio. hung out at urbana,ohio alot. saw several of the TPW run throughs. spent august 1983 photoing the TPW from ill/ind border to ft madison,iowa. just 4 months till the end.

[@gmftrainvideos]

How cool! Good thing you got the photos while you could. Nothing like railroading back in the day.

[@Jamersonde]

that switch at the beginning was pulled a couple of years ago, without L&ER consent, by TP&W. Yeah, they've been inactive, but they still didn't tell TP&W they could remove it.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Yeah I've read that. That's messed up.

[@pruitt3507]

Do you know by chance who and when the railroad line between frankfort to Crawfordsville was abandoned?

[@gmftrainvideos]

It was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad lines. This segment ran between Frankfort and Terre Haute. Penn Central was the last owner of the line. It was abandoned in the early 1970s.

[@pruitt3507]

@@gmftrainvideos i spent bout have the day looking yesterday to find out. Lol I was out there underneath 65 pouring some concrete for the new tunnel.

[@JawTooth]

Awesome video! I would love to have that push cart. I wonder why its off the track. Could there still be a locomotive in one of those buildings? One thing I would really like to video is the transfer table off of 18th street. I wonder if they still use it

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thank you. Maybe a trespasser tried taking it lol!. I've heard that they still use the transfer table but I've never seen it happen so we'll see!

[@jklein17]

These buildings were built in the 1980's by the Logansport and Eel River Railroad. During that time Logansport had a summertime festival called the Iron Horse festival. The city purchased a steam train (with donated funds) and a group of volunteers helped maintain it. The train usually ran between Logansport and France park along state highway 24 west of Logansport. As the ridership fell and the maintenance costs grew the city decided to sell the train to some group in Ohio where it sits today rusting away in the elements. The building in the video with the push cart was used to store the locomotive. The passenger cars were stored on the tracks between the buildings and the Michigan avenue crossing.

[@TaylorMMontgomery]

6:02 were they building a new spur for that lumber company? they've got the ties all laid out? or is that just storage for the lumber?

[@dabombboy2015]

1:38 Actually it was being used til recent inside last 5yrs. They pulled the frog out unknown to the Eel River which filed injunction. Cole Lumber used it till they pulled the frog

[@lasalleman]

Sort of sad. The railroads abandoned the towns, then the towns began to deteriorate. But perhaps the trains will come back.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Very sad, but it seems part of this might reopen for excursion trains in the near future.

[@charlesgault3777]

I hear that the Indiana transportation museum, who is in the process of relocating, might be using this line in the near future. But I'm not really sure. All I know is they plan to relocate from Noblesville to logansport.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Yeah that was the plan, but things are moving slow and I'm not sure all the companies want to work out something with each other. I wish they would though I would love to see action on the line again.

[@jasonjordan1853]

I'm the current Vice President of the Logansport and Eel River Rwy. The tracks are owned by the stockholders of the company. As much as I would like to keep the tracks in, I have a feeling that we might put them up for abandonment.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Hey I'm with you. I would love for the rails to see some sort of service again, but I understand, sometimes things don't work out how you want them to.

[@kevinkennedy7702]

I'd love to go down there and help do track work...just saying

[@billinindiana1]

I took a passenger train in 1961 to Chicago from Kokomo on the Pennsylvania. It took about 4 hours. That Kokomo line is still used, isn't it? Fine video. Thanks.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thank you! I would have loved to do that. The line is still used between Logan and Kokomo by U.S. Rail.

[@glenreynol0075]

Interesting video. Who owns the right of ways now? Nicely done thanks.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thank you. I think all the tracks are still owned by the Eel River Railroad as the sheds are at 18:05 but I'm not 100% sure. Further along the Butler Branch ROW, tracks have been removed and turned into a public trail. The South Bend branch, tracks have been removed and now parts belong to the owners of their homes or business.

[@pruitt3507]

You know whats in that barn and shed where the tracks lead into them?

[@gmftrainvideos]

Unfortunately no. I tried doing research to figure out information about them but came up with nothing. I'm gonna try to dig deeper though.

[@pruitt3507]

GMF i work on an ambulance part time in that county. I took an older patent and that person said they use to have a steam engine rides on that line back in the day. Now idk how true that is. Or if that loco is still in that barn or they sold it. Im not sure.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Sounds interesting. I feel as though I've heard that at one point or another. As soon as I get time I'm gonna see what I can find out. Thanks.

[@BNSF798]

Correct, Brian. Back in the 80's and 90's the Logansport and Eel River Railroad operated their Buffalo Creek & Gauley 2-8-0 on trains using the TP&W to France Park and back for the Iron Horse Festival at the time. They also used C&O 2716 for a few years. There are lots of pictures around of their power.

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thanks for the info.

[@billinindiana1]

Do you know why the line to South Bend was abandoned?

[@gmftrainvideos]

I'm not completely sure. I just know when all the mergers happened, rail traffic starting declining more and more until abandonment.

[@charlesgault3777]

I've always heard that the south bend branch began going downhill starting in the mid 1960s when the Studebaker plant closed. But Conrail finally abandoned most of the line in early 1980s.

[@markheiser2147]

@@gmftrainvideos there was a derailment north of plymouth that tore the tracks up back in the early 70s. rather than repare them they stopped using it beyond culver. then abandoned it altogether. sad!

[@microbusss]

oh maaaan I wants the Push Cart!!!

[@gmftrainvideos]

Lol I know what you mean!

[@jklein17]

I'm sure the city of Logansport would sell it to you. Heck they would probably sell their own mothers if they thought they could make a nickle. The train that used to be housed here was purchased with donated funds of around 50 thousand dollars. The train was maintained by volunteers and yet the city sold the train without consulting the public to a private buyer for 120 thousand dollars which of course they kept.

[@scottpool4777]

Get Michigan Avenue does tractor perfect definitely.

[@sardu55]

Were these only freight lines outside of ICC control for the most part?. I've read where Indiana had a weird relationship with the ICC, as some lines couldn't wait to bail on passenger service while some others saw it as a service to the community. The ICC usually let those off easy.

[@gmftrainvideos]

I'm not completely sure...I know the the Pennsy Railroad was on their list of railroads they wanted to consolidate...but the Pennsy system was so large, I'm not sure what the deal was with these two branches.

[@jklein17]

I can tell you that the Butler spur was used from the 1950's through the 1980's by the city of Logansport to supply coal to the local power plant. Sometime in the 80's it became cheaper to deliver the coal by truck and the train traffic ceased. At least as far back as the early 1970's the tracks from the plant east to Butler had been removed.

[@jklein17]

It looks like the track from Mexico Indiana north existed into the late 1970's. Here are a series of pictures from the last ever run on the line then owned by Conrail. So apparently it saw some passenger service during it's time. conrailphotos.thecrhs.org/node/24260

[@MikeFranklin69]

@@jklein17 I remember back in the 80s, the part where the trail is now, used to have some track. We used to mushroom hunt back in there. I allways wonder what happened to the right of way east of Davis st. ?

[@mikeyfanofgames2203]

I wish I road the push cart on the tracks and switch some so i can go different ways.

[@gmftrainvideos]

That sounds like a fun plan.

[@paducahandlouisvillerailro1694]

I have a brand new Pennsylvania Railroad spike from 1950

[@pruitt3507]

who owns it now?

[@gmftrainvideos]

I'd have to research to be sure. The Logansport and Eel River Railroad Co. owned it last I knew but the Indiana Transportation Museum is suppose to operate on it in the future so I'm not completely sure at the moment.

[@erie910]

I read that the Indiana Transportation Museum deal tonuse the Eel River line fell through.

[@mheyqu22]

👍👍👍

[@gmftrainvideos]

Thanks

[@R3ading]

i live up in south bend

[@gmftrainvideos]

Nice! How long you live there?

[@marksymbala1193]

Reading aka Railer2 four winds field?

[@R3ading]

Well, I actually moved to Elkhart but ever since I was born except for a year of living in Tennessee, I’ve been living up here.

[@eddieknox9874]

I would take that cart home, tie a chain on it and pull it home at night

[@gmftrainvideos]

Lol that'd be nice. Although I don't think I could pull it off.