Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Company
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The Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Company, or THI&E, was the second largest interurban in the state of Indiana at the height of the "interurban era." This system included over 400 miles of track, with lines emanating from Indianapolis to the east, northwest, west and southwest as well as streetcar lines in several major cities. The THI&E was formed in 1907 by the Schoepf-McGowan Syndicate as a combination of several predecessor companies, and operated independently until incorporation into the Indiana Railroad in 1931. The THI&E served a wide range of territory, including farmlands in central Indiana, the mining region around Brazil, and numerous urban centers. Eventually it succumbed, like all of the other central Indiana interurban lines, to competition from automobiles and trucks.
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[edit] Consolidation
On March 1, 1907, financiers Hugh J. McGowan, Randal Morgan and W. Kesley Schoepf formed the THI&E out of four predecessor companies: the Indianapolis and Western Railway, which operated the line from Indianapolis west to Danville; the Indianapolis and Eastern Railway, with lines from Indianapolis east to Dublin and from Dunreith to New Castle; the Richmond Street and Interurban Railway, with the line in eastern Indiana from Dublin to Richmond; and the Indianapolis Coal Traction Company. Three weeks later the THI&E acquired the Terre Haute Traction and Light Company, which operated a line from Terre Haute south to Sullivan, north to Clinton, Indiana, and west to Paris, Illinois. In April 1907 the Schoepf-McGowan Syndicate leased the Indianapolis and Northwestern Traction Company, a system of over 90 miles with lines from Indianapolis to Lafayette and from Lebanon to Crawfordsville, and purchased the Indianapolis and Martinsville Rapid Transit Company, which ran between the cities in its name. The final major piece of the THI&E was the 1912 addition of the Indianapolis Crawfordsville and Danville Electric Railway, nicknamed the "Ben Hur Route" in honor of Lew Wallace of Crawfordsville, author of the novel "Ben Hur."
[edit] Operations
The THI&E was a very typical Midwestern interurban line, operating far-flung lines to midsized prairie cities using long wooden combines. Trackage varied, with some side-of-the-road operation contrasting with fairly major earthworks in hillier sections of the line. Most service was hourly but main routes also saw some express service. The express to Terre Haute was named the "Highlander," the "Ben Hur Special" ran to Crawfordsville and the "Tecumseh Arrow" to Lafayette. The line was never prosperous enough in the 1920's to replace its aging fleet of interurban cars but many were rebuilt and modernized, and much of the streetcar lines were modernized with one-man Birney streetcars.
[edit] Decline and Absorption
The THI&E was perhaps the weakest of the great Indiana interurban systems, and during the 1920's its consistent operating deficits were offset only by the sale of power from its power stations and by the profits of the Indianapolis Street Railway, a subsidiary company. The company went into receivership on April 2, 1930. At the time Samuel Insull was in the process of consolidating all of the central Indiana interurbans into the Indiana Railroad, but the unprofitable branch lines that made up much of the THI&E didn't fit into his master plan. The Danville, Martinsville, Lafayette and Crawfordsville branches were abandoned on October 31, 1930, and the lines to Sullivan and Clinton were abandoned early the next year. In June 1931 the THI&E was acquired by Midland Utilities and was incorporated into the Indiana Railroad. The last THI&E line was abandoned in 1940.
[edit] External links
[edit] Sources
Hilton, George W.; John F. Due (1960). The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 256, 278-279, 283-284.
