Railroad Forums 

  • Anyone have news on Bloomington?

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in the American Midwest, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Kansas. For questions specific to a railroad company, please seek the appropriate forum.
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in the American Midwest, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Kansas. For questions specific to a railroad company, please seek the appropriate forum.

Moderator: railohio

 #18824  by RDGAndrew
 
As a Pennsylvanian who spent two years living near the Indiana Rail Road in Bloomington, I'm curious about these announcements/blurbs about an application for abandonment of a short section of line in Bloomington and another about INRD purchasing the little bit of ex-Monon from CSX. Can anyone tell me specifics? I moved away in 1997 (wow, that sounds like a long time ago, suddenly) and at that point CSX was still running from McDoel out to the GE plant a couple times a day. INRD would go past my apartment in Run 8 getting all the boxcars up the hill and out of the yard. Is the yard still there?

 #20011  by HoosierSubFan
 
Jan. 5, 2004, was the last day of CSX in Bloomington. All operations were transferred to INRD on that date.
Travelling north to south in Monroe county one will find ex-Monon track in place from MP Q213.5 (SR 46 crossing; Ellettsville) to MP Q222.5 (south end McDoel yard- country club rd. crossing).
The track removal, slated for late 2004, will take the portion of MP Q219.8-Q222.5. This will remove tracks from the the INRD's ex-IC line connection southward to the end-of-track via downtown Bloomington. In its place will be linear greenway (rail-trail). This right-of-way was purchased by the city to "remove an eyesore and connect both sides of the city in a unique fashion".
INRD will still serve GE daily and base a switcher in town at the old Hunters siding on the west side of the city.
I hope I answered your questions.

-HoosierSubFan-

 #20157  by RDGAndrew
 
Thanks, HoosierSubFan. Glad I got my pix when I was there (of course schedules are always flexible when one is a graduate student!). INRD was still in the "stealth gray" scheme and I have to say I like the red better. One more question - why the Q in front of mile marker numbers? I noticed this in Trains and in your post - is that a CSX thing?

 #23376  by HoosierSubFan
 
The Q prefix is a CSX thing. All subdivisions begin with a single,double,or triple letter prefix. How each line receives what letter seqeunce, I've no idea.

You say were around during the all grey scheme? Do you have any slides of the SD18's in service? These are the 7300 series units; ex-C&O. I'm very partial to them. Yes, I very much enjoy the INRD red as well. If you ever got out west of Bloomington you'll know what I mean here- "You'll like Linton" That was my spot.

HoosierSubFan

 #34518  by Arborwayfan
 
Will the rail from Rte. 46 in Elletsville to MP Q219.x be removed later, or are they leaving it in for some reason.
When was the last service through Elletsville, and to where?

 #34622  by cjberndt
 
I was in Bloomington two weeks ago. There were two boxcars with rusty wheels in McDoel Yard, and the depot is boarded up. What are the plans for the depot? There was asphalt on the inside of the rails on the 5th Street crossing.

I lived in B'Town until 1994 and saw the last train run south to Bedford. In the early 1990's there were a couple of former car maintenance buildings and some wheel sets in McDoel Yard, and the foundation of the turntable was still in place.

At that time CSX still served a small manufacturer on the west side of the tracks north of Country Club Rd. with covered hoppers of plastic pellets. This stub siding was formerly the branch to the stone quarries southwest of the city. CSX also served a lumber yard on the east side of Walnut St., and the newspaper publisher on the west side of Walnut. Of course, GE was their big client. I don't recall what other customers they served.

INRD served the Hoosier Warehouse and the RCA warehouse from the yards next to RCA, and there was a good amount of INRD rail traffic there. They also switched cars at McDoel.

Craig Berndt

 #53223  by Tadman
 
Who owns the line that bisects the IU campus? I visited friends over the last four years at IU but never actually saw a train. I heard them, and the ROW looked in good shape too.

 #61602  by RDGAndrew
 
Tadman, the line thru IU's campus is Indiana Rail Road's ex-IC main route from Indy to Illinois. There were frequent - usually nighttime - coal trains shuttling between the IL mines and the Indy power plant that was the reason for the trains when I was there 1995-97. There was also the afternoon boxcar train with GE traffic - I believe that headed southwest for interchange with CSX.

HoosierSubFan, somewhere I do have a slide of an SD18 in service - I will see what I can find, though I can't promise it will be soon. Never got to Linton, though I did chase a daylight coal train to the Tulip Trestle once. Also saw the faux-Monon F-units from the Indiana Transportation Museum on the ex-IC in Bloomington on a fantrip - are they still running those trips?