MILW Indiana Lines

[Tadman]

I came across this pic today of two MILW F45 pulling a freight through Dolton, IL, a south suburb of Chicago. I believe MILW had trackage rights through Dolton to access their southern Indiana route, but I've never seen such big power headed south before. Usually MILW trains to southern Indiana rated a few SD10. Thoughts?

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 71&nseq=99

[CarterB]

IIRC the MILW used the B&OCT to access their Southeastern division. Use to use
In 1973 things changed a bit "However, this sleepy status changed on March 1, 1973, when the line was extended from Bedford, Indiana, to Louisville, Kentucky, with acquisition of trackage rights over the former Monon mainline. At first the trackage rights to Louisville weren't of much use, since in 1973 The Southeastern was in great disrepair, and The Milwaukee did not have the required reconstruction capital. To solve this dilemma, in 1979 the railroad forsook its own right-of-way north of Terre Haute, Indiana, in favor of trackage rights over Conrail's former New York Central (Big Four) "Egyptian" line, which ran the length of the Illinois-Indiana Stateline from the south-side of Chicago, through Terre Haute, all the way to Cairo, Illinois. Actually Conrail's track north of Danville, Illinois was not much better than The Milwaukee's, but the two railroads could then split maintenance expenditures on one route, to help turn a profit. The Milwaukee Road's trackage between Terre Haute (Spring Hill Tower) and Bedford was substantially rebuilt to complete the Chicago-Louisville route." Not sure how they accessed their own lines after 1973.

[Desertdweller]

I was working for the MILW at the time it gained access to Louisville, and it was promoted as a big deal then.

MILW in Louisville was an addition to my personal list of "out of place" railroads, like CB&Q in Billings, MT, IC in Sioux Falls, SD, or C&NW in Lander, WY.

Les

[Tadman]

Or Burlington Northern in Mobile, AL? Or N&W in Omaha? Yeah, I always wonder how those roads wound up with such routes. Obviously through merger, but you figure they'd have sold them by now...

As for how the MILW reaches southern Indiana these days, it was succeeded by Soo>CP>INRD, and I've seen INRD trains going through Chicago Heights on UP(C&EI), headed south to CSX(C&EI).

[Desertdweller]

Tadman,

Yes, I keep a mental list of "out of place railroads". It doesn't mean much anymore, with all the mergers.

BNSF into Mobile? I assume this was the result of the SLSF-BN merger. It also put BNSF into Pensacola, FL.

N&W into Omaha? The result of N&W's acquisition of Wabash. Wabash into Omaha (and Des Moines)? An out of place railroad in itself.

Les

[Thunder]

NS has no "Connection" to Des Moines really. BNSF brings trains from W Quincy for them. W Quincy crew to Burlington up the K line,then galesburg crews to Des Moines. NS crews run the yard there, but I wonder if Roanoke knows about them?

[SlowFreight]

NS has no "Connection" to Des Moines really. BNSF brings trains from W Quincy for them. W Quincy crew to Burlington up the K line,then galesburg crews to Des Moines. NS crews run the yard there, but I wonder if Roanoke knows about them?

Prob'ly been forgotten, and magically the paycheck still clears at the bank. When the crew retires, the motive power will just rust in the yard until some customer calls CYO Atlanta and asks why the car they released 15 months ago is still inside the plant.

[Thunder]

Yeah I kinda had that thought. Or the WQMDSM shows up and there is no yeard space lol.