WABASH RAILROAD

The 'Wabash Railroad' was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including trackage in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri and Ontario. Its primary connections included Chicago, Illinois, Kansas City, Missouri, Detroit, Michigan, Buffalo, New York, St. Louis, Missouri, and Toledo, Ohio. The Wabash's major freight traffic advantage was the direct line from Kansas City to Detroit, without going through St. Louis or Chicago.

Contents

History

Genealogy

Council Bluffs - St. Louis line

Iowa portion of line

Missouri portion of line

External links

References

History

The 'Toledo and Illinois Railroad' was chartered April 20, 1853 in Ohio to build from Toledo on Lake Erie west to the Indiana state line. The 'Lake Erie, Wabash and St. Louis Railroad' was chartered in Indiana on August 19 to continue the line west through Wabash into Illinois towards St. Louis, Missouri, and the two companies merged August 4, 1856 to form the 'Toledo, Wabash and Western Railroad'.
The company soon went bankrupt and was sold at foreclosure. The 'Toledo and Wabash Railroad' was chartered October 7, 1858 and acquired the Ohio portion October 8. The 'Wabash and Western Railroad' was chartered on September 27 and acquired the Indiana portion on October 5. On December 15, the two companies merged as the 'Toledo and Wabash Railway'.
Later mergers and reorganizations formed the 'Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway' on July 1, 1865, 'Wabash Railway' in January 1877, 'Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway' on November 7, 1879, and 'Wabash Railroad' on August 1, 1889.
In 1904, the Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway was formed and acquired control of the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad, giving the Wabash access to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the final step in an attempt to break the near-monopoly of the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central Railroad for traffic to the east. However, the Wabash had overextended itself, and the WPT went bankrupt in 1908; it would later become part of the Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway. The Wabash Railroad itself was sold at foreclosure July 21, 1915 and reorganized October 22 as the 'Wabash Railway'.
The Pennsylvania Railroad acquired loose control of the Wabash in 1927 by buying stock through its Pennsylvania Company. In 1929 the Interstate Commerce Commission charged the PRR with violating the Clayton Antitrust Act. The ruling was appealed, and in 1933 the Circuit Court ruled that the control was for investment only and did not violate the act.

The Wabash Railway again entered receivership on December 1, 1931. The 'Wabash Railroad', controlled by the PRR, was organized in July, 1941 and bought the Wabash Railway on December 1.
In fall of 1960, the PRR agreed to a lease of the Wabash by the Norfolk and Western Railway. The PRR's Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad assumed control of the Wabash on December 31, 1962. On October 16, 1964 the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road) merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway, and the N&W leased the Wabash and Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway. On March 31, 1970 the Pennsylvania Company exchanged its last Wabash shares for N&W common stock; that stock was later divested as a condition of the 1968 merger into Penn Central Transportation. The profitable N&W was itself combined with the Southern Railway to form the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1982. The Wabash Railroad Company continued to exist as a legal entity until it was absorbed into the Norfolk Southern Corporation in late 1991.

Genealogy

★ Norfolk Southern Railway (1982)

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★ Norfolk and Western Railway (1964)

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★ Wabash Railroad (1941)

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★ Wabash Railway (1931)

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★ Wabash Railroad (1889)

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★ Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway (1904 - 1908) later Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway

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★ Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad

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★ Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway (1879)

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★ Council Bluffs and St. Louis Railway (1877)

Council Bluffs - St. Louis line

The track between Council Bluffs, Iowa and St. Louis was constructed in 1877 by the Council Bluffs and St. Louis Railway. In 1879 that railway became part of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway. Today, most of the line is abandoned (222.4 miles from MP188.56 TO MP410.96) under ICC Decision AB-10 (SUB-NO. 27) by the Norfolk and Western from Kelley, Missouri to Council Bluffs, Iowa and effective January 13 1984.

Iowa portion of line

The Iowa Southern Railroad (ISR) took over 61.5 miles of the Wabash rail line in Iowa to the Missouri stateline between Council Bluffs and Blanchard, Iowa. On August 22 1988 the line was cut back to serve only Council Bluffs. In August 1990 the remaining Iowa Southern line in Council Bluffs was sold to the Council Bluffs and Ottumwa Railroad (CBOA). In May 1991 the CBOA was sold to the Council Bluffs Railway (CBR), an OmniTrax subsidiary. Today the 66 mile route is abandoned between Council Bluffs and Blanchard and is has been converted into a trail known as the ''Wabash Trace Trail''[1].

Missouri portion of line

A 93-mile portion of Wasbash's Council Bluffs - St. Louis line in Missouri between Blanchard, Iowa (other sources show Burlington Junction, Missouri) and Lock Springs was sold to the Northern Missouri Railroad (NMOR) and began operations on February 13 1984. Operations on that line were discontinued in June 1986.
Norfolk & Western abandoned the track between Lock Springs and Chillicothe.
Thirty-nine miles of track between Chillicothe and Brunswick was sold to the Chillicothe Southern Railroad. The line was sold to the Chillicothe-Brunswick Rail Maintenance Authority (CBRM) on July 24, 1987. On April 1 1990 the line was leased to the Wabash and Grand River Railway. The Wabash & Grand River Railway's lease was terminated on December 1 1993 due to severe flood damage on the line and the line reverted back to the Chillicothe-Brunswick Rail Maintenance Authority. On December 8, 2006, the Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune reported that the city of Chillicothe sold the majority, about 37 miles, of the railroad to Seattle, Washington based Montoff Transportation, LLC for $976,000. The part of the railroad that was sold has been embargoed since 2003. The city still owns the railroad to the city's industrial park and to a location just east of Chillicothe where future development is planned. Today, the part of the railroad that stretched from Brunswick northward through Triplett and to where it meets up with BNSF railroad in Sumner has been torn down, while the tracks north of that to the location east of Chillicothe have been abandoned and most of the tracks are covered in vegetation.

External links

★ Wabash Railroad Historical Society

★ Wabash Time Tables

★ Gallery of Wabash Photographs

References

★ History of the Railroads of Ohio

★ PRR Chronology

★ Railroad History Database

★ American Shortline Railway Guide - 5th Ed., Stindt, Fred A., , , Kalmbach Publishing, 1996, ISBN 0-89024-290-9

★ The historical guide to North American railroads - 2nd Ed., Lewis, Edward A., , , Kalmbach Publishing, 2000, ISBN 0-89024-356-5

★ SPV's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America - Prairies East and Ozarks, Walker, Mike, , , Steam Powered Publishing, 2004, ISBN 1-874745-17-X

★ Abandonment Report (Adobe Acrobat Format)