Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway

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Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway
Locale Pittsburgh, PA to Chicago
Dates of operation 1851–
Track gauge 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)

The Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway was a major part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system, extending the PRR west from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania via Fort Wayne, Indiana to Chicago. It included the current Fort Wayne Line and Fort Wayne Secondary.

[edit] History

The Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad was chartered in Ohio on February 24 and in Pennsylvania on April 11, 1848 to build from Allegheny City, Pennsylvania (annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907) west to Crestline, Ohio on the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad. It was organized on June 15, and construction began on July 4, 1849. The first section, from Allegheny City west to New Brighton, opened July 30, 1851. Extensions opened to Clarks Summit on October 22 and Enon Valley November 19. On November 27, 1851 a section between Salem and Alliance, Ohio was completed, not yet connected to the rest. On December 8, the east section was extended west to East Palestine, Ohio, with a stagecoach transfer provided for through travel. Further sections opened January 3, 1852 west to Columbiana, and on January 6 the gap between Columbiana and Salem was filled. In conjunction with the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad, connecting at Alliance, a through line was provided between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. On March 11, 1852, an extension west to Massillon was opened with an excursion. On August 10, 1852 a further extension from Massillon west to Wooster opened. The line west to Mansfield was finished April 8, 1853, and the full line to Crestline opened April 11. With this it formed part of a through line to Cincinnati via the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad.

1850 map of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad
1850 map of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad

Work began on August 16, 1854 on the Fort Wayne Railroad Bridge over the Allegheny River to extend the O&P into Pittsburgh to connect with the Pennsylvania Railroad. The bridge opened September 22, 1857, with a temporary station at Penn Street and Tenth Street.

The Ohio and Indiana Railroad was chartered in Ohio on March 26, 1850 and in Indiana on January 15, 1851, to extend the line west to Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was organized July 4, 1850 and work began in February 1852. Some of the capital was gained from a merger with the Great Western Railroad of Ohio in 1851. On August 26, 1853 the line opened from Crestline west to Bucyrus, and a continuation west to Forest opened in early January 1854. On June 10 the line opened west to Delphos, and on October 31 the full line to Fort Wayne was completed, opening the next day.

The Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad was chartered in Indiana on May 11, 1852 and organized September 14, 1852 as a further extension west to Chicago. It was chartered February 5, 1853 in Illinois. The first section opened in February 1856 from Fort Wayne to Columbia City.

On July 26, 1856 the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Rail Road was formed as a consolidation of the Fort Wayne and Chicago, Ohio and Indiana, and Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroads. Extensions opened west to Warsaw September 28, Plymouth November 10, Englewood, Illinois (south of Chicago) on November 29, 1858, and Van Buren Street in Chicago on December 25, 1858. On January 1, 1859 trains started running to Chicago, with a terminal at the future location of Union Station. The part west of Plymouth was built with rails removed from the New Portage Railroad.

From the early days, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) had been involved with the project, supplying funds. Once the Fort Wayne Railroad Bridge at Pittsburgh was finished in 1857, trains began to run through from Philadelphia. In 1858 the PFW&C began using the first Union Station in Pittsburgh, shared with the PRR.

On July 1, 1859 the PFW&C defaulted on its debts, and was sold at foreclosure on October 24, 1861. It was reorganized as the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway February 26, 1862.

On July 1, 1865 the PFW&C leased the New Castle and Beaver Valley Railroad, giving it a branch from Homewood, Pennsylvania north to New Castle. The Lawrence Railroad, branching west from Lawrence Junction on the NC&BV to Youngstown, Ohio, was leased on June 27, 1869. On June 1, 1887 the Lawrence Railroad became part of the Youngstown, Lawrence and Pittsburgh Railroad, which on August 1 merged into the PRR's Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Ashtabula Railroad, and on January 9, 1906 that merged with the New Castle and Beaver Valley to form the Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Ashtabula Railway, still leased to the PRR.

The PFW&C bought the Cleveland, Zanesville and Cincinnati Railroad by deed on July 1, 1865, making it its Akron Branch. The line ran from Hudson, Ohio on the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad south through Akron, crossing the PFW&C at Orrville and continuing to Millersburg. In 1868 a short 3.5 mile (5.5 km) extension to the south was built, and on November 4, 1869 the PFW&C sold the line to the Pittsburgh, Mt. Vernon, Columbus and London Railroad. That company later became part of the PRR's Cleveland, Akron and Cincinnati Railway.

On May 22, 1869 the PFW&C leased the Massillon and Cleveland Railroad, giving it a short branch from Massillon north to the Akron Branch at Clinton.

On July 1, 1869 the PRR leased the PFW&C and began operating it directly, but on April 1, 1871 the PFW&C was transferred to the newly-formed Pennsylvania Company. On December 1, 1871 the Pennsylvania Company leased the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad. Since January 25, 1860 the C&P had been operated jointly by itself and by the PFW&C, providing a branch of the PFW&C from Rochester, Pennsylvania west and north, crossing the PFW&C at Alliance, Ohio and continuing to Cleveland.

Operation was transferred back to the Pennsylvania Railroad from the Pennsylvania Company on January 1, 1918.

ca. 1874 Pennsylvania Railroad map, including the PFW&C
ca. 1874 Pennsylvania Railroad map, including the PFW&C

On February 1, 1968 the PRR was merged into Penn Central. The PFW&C stayed separate, filing for bankruptcy on July 14, 1973 after Penn Central's 1970 bankruptcy. On April 1, 1976 the PFW&C became part of Conrail. Conrail downgraded the line, preferring other parallel lines. On June 2, 1994 the Norfolk Southern Railway bought 18 miles (29 km) from Gary to Valparaiso, which had been out of service since 1991, for $1.4 million. They soon bought 61 more miles (98 km), from Valparaiso east to Warsaw, and acquired trackage rights east to Fort Wayne.

With the August 22, 1998 breakup of Conrail, the line was split at Crestline, Ohio. West of Crestline, including the section that had been owned by Norfolk Southern since 1994, went to CSX Transportation, along with the intersecting Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (part of the New York Central Railroad system until 1968). East of Crestline went to Norfolk Southern, which also obtained trackage rights west of Crestline. At the west end, the line has been abandoned from Buffington, Indiana (in northwestern Gary) northwest to Whiting, Indiana; at both locations there are connections to the parallel old Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (New York Central Railroad). On the east side, the line is out of service west of Tolleston, at the junction with the old Michigan Central Railroad (now CSX). On the other side of the gap, at Whiting, the LS&MS disappears, and a connection goes back to the old PFW&C, which runs the rest of the way into Chicago, carrying both Norfolk Southern freight trains and several Amtrak passenger services.

On August 1, 2004 the Chicago Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad, a new short line owned by RailAmerica, leased the west part of the line, from Crestline, Ohio west to Tolleston, Indiana, from CSX. It also obtained overhead trackage rights along the formerly out-of-service line from Tolleston west to Clarke Junction, and west along the former Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (now CSX) to Blue Island, Illinois. Norfolk Southern continues to own the line east of Crestline, as well as the part west of Whiting, Indiana.

[edit] References