Fort Wayne Line
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| Fort Wayne Line Fort Wayne Secondary |
|
|---|---|
| Extent | Pittsburgh, PA - Chicago, IL |
| Dates of operation | independent: 1851-1869 Pennsy: 1869-1871 Pennsy Co.: 1871-1918 Pennsy: 1918-1968 Penn Central: 1968-1976 Conrail: 1976-1999 NS: 1994-present CSX: 1999-present CFER: 2004-present |
| Other names | Main Line (Pittsburgh to Chicago) |
The Fort Wayne Line and Fort Wayne Secondary is a rail line owned and operated by Pennsylvania Lines LLC/Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Transportation (CFER), and New York Central Lines LLC/CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. The line runs from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania west via Fort Wayne, Indiana to Gary, Indiana[1] along what was once the Pennsylvania Railroad's Pittsburgh to Chicago Main Line.
From downtown Pittsburgh, at the west end of the Pittsburgh Line, west to the junction with CSX's Greenwich Subdivision at Crestline, Ohio, NS operates the line through New York Central Lines LLC. Major junctions include the Conemaugh Line in northern Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Line at Rochester, Pennsylvania, the Youngstown Line at New Brighton, Pennsylvania, the Lordstown Secondary east of Alliance, Ohio, and the Cleveland Line again at Alliance. From Crestline west to Adams, Indiana (Fort Wayne Line) and beyond to Tolleston, Indiana (Fort Wayne Secondary), the line is owned by New York Central Lines LLC and leased to CFER, with trackage rights assigned to NS. The final piece, from CSX's Porter Subdivision at Tolleston west to NS's Chicago Line at Gary, is owned by New York Central Lines LLC and operated by CSX with NS trackage rights, junctioning CSX's Barr Subdivision near its west end.
Amtrak's Capitol Limited operates over the line east of Alliance.
[edit] History
The Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad opened the line from Allegheny (Pittsburgh) west to Crestline in 1851,[2] 1852,[3] and 1853;[4] the Fort Wayne Railroad Bridge connected it to the Pennsylvania Railroad's Main Line in downtown Pittsburgh in 1857.[5] From Crestline west to Fort Wayne, the Ohio and Indiana Railroad opened the line in 1853[4] and 1854.[6] The Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad extended the line west to Columbia City in 1856, on July 26 the three companies merged to form the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Rail Road. The line was completed to Chicago in 1856[7] and 1858.[8]
The Pennsylvania Railroad began operating the line under lease on July 1, 1869.[9] The line was subleased to the Pennsylvania Company on April 1, 1871,[10] which operated it until January 1, 1918, when the lease was reassigned to the PRR.[11] It passed to Penn Central Transportation in 1968 and Conrail in 1976.
Conrail began routing most Chicago freight via the ex-New York Central Railroad Chicago Line,[citation needed] and NS bought the line from Valparaiso west to Gary on June 2, 1994, and from Warsaw to Valparaiso soon after, with trackage rights east from Warsaw to Fort Wayne, giving them an alternate to their Chicago District.[citation needed]
After the breakup of Conrail in 1999, CSX acquired Conrail's portion of the line from Crestline to Fort Wayne and NS's portion of the line west of Fort Wayne, giving CSX a second route to Chicago.[12] NS kept trackage rights and acquired the line east of Crestline. CFER leased the line from Tolleston to Crestline on August 1, 2004.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Conrail System Map Showing The Proposed Allocation Of Conrail Lines & Rights, July 9, 1997
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1851PDF (67.7 KiB), March 2005 Edition
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1852PDF (83.5 KiB), March 2005 Edition
- ^ a b PRR Chronology, 1853PDF (91.5 KiB), March 2005 Edition
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1857PDF (54.1 KiB), March 2005 Edition
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1854PDF (79.1 KiB), March 2005 Edition
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1856PDF (52.4 KiB), March 2005 Edition
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1858PDF (56.8 KiB), March 2005 Edition
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1869PDF (114 KiB), June 2004 Edition
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1871PDF (72.9 KiB), January 2005 Edition
- ^ PRR Chronology, 1918PDF (117 KiB), June 2004 Edition
- ^ "Pact ends Conrail battle: After bitter fight CSX and Norfolk Southern agree to split key routes," Lloyd's List, April 10, 1997. Retrieved on Lexis-Nexis.
