I wonder if part of Conrail keeping that line had to do more with the PAX operations than anything. If
I remember right, Amtrak still ran the "Broadway" via Ft. Wayne until around 1990 or so and also there
was a shuttle between Valparaiso, IN and Chicago back and forth at least on the weekdays. It seems after
the Broadway was re-routed that's when CR downgraded the line and deactivated the signals, etc.
So that makes me assume CR was getting dollars elsewhere (AMTK, et al) to keep this line intact as
long as they did.
Charlie
~Charlie Ricker