Tippecanoe Railroad

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Tippecanoe Railroad
legal form Corporation
founding 1979
resolution 1992
Seat Monterey , Indiana ,United StatesUnited States
management Gordon C. Taiclet
Branch Rail transport

The Tippecanoe Railroad ( AAR -reporting mark: TIPP) was a class 3 local railroad - railroad company , which from 1980 to 1990 in the north of the US state Indiana provided goods traffic over a distance of about 26 km.

history

On April 1, 1976, the newly founded Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) took over, among other things, a large part of the activities of the insolvent Erie Lackawanna Railway (EL), but not their main line between Marion (Ohio) and Chicago. In the following years, the Erie Western Railway (1977– June 1979) and the Chicago & Indiana Railroad (April – December 1979) tried to continue operating the approximately 256 km long section in the state of Indiana, but had to cease operations in 1979.

In order to secure the rail connection of its own grain silo in Monterey , its operator Buckeye Feed & Supply founded the Tippecanoe Railroad, named after the Tippecanoe River , on November 30, 1979 . The Buckeye family business, run by Gordon C. Taiclet, held the majority of the company's shares, but other local companies, employees and twelve external investors also held shares in the company. After the Chicago & Indiana Railroad ceased operations on December 31, 1979, the Tippecanoe Railroad took over freight traffic on January 9, 1980 on the approximately 26 km long section between Monterey and North Judson , where the transition to the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) existed.

The EL line in Indiana remained in their ownership after EL's own rail operations had ceased , but was leased by the State of Indiana for a limited period under USRA clients and sublet to the successor operators. For the section used by the Tippecanoe Railroad, this initially also applied to a transition phase previously defined until June 30, 1980. The EL insolvency administrators sold the entire infrastructure in Indiana in 1980 to LB Foster , who in turn sold the Monterey – North Judson section to the Tippecanoe Railroad for $ 1.6 million. The purchase was supported by a $ 0.8 million loan from the state of Indiana.

From April 1981 to 1985, the Fulton County Railroad (FCR) also kept the Monterey section to Rochester operational. The grain silo in Monterey and other freight customers not only had access to the C&O in North Judson, but also to the Norfolk and Western Railway in Rochester. The FCR had no locomotives of its own at that time; Freight trains running on demand were carried by the Tippecanoe Railroad. 1985 the operation between Monterey and Rochester was given up with the exception of a short section at Rochester.

The Tippecanoe Railroad ran a profitable operation between Monterey and North Judson with two full-time and two part-time employees. In 1989 the Buckeye Feed & Supply silo in Monterey was taken over by the agricultural trading company Frick Services. Its shareholder Daniel J. Frick acquired the transport services, employees, vehicles and infrastructure of the Tippecanoe Railroad on April 24, 1980 and continued rail operations via the JK Line (JKL). The Tippecanoe Railroad company existed until July 29, 1992.

Infrastructure

The Tippecanoe Railroad was an approximately 26 km (16 mile ) section of the former EL mainline to Chicago between Mileposts 183 in Monterey and 199 in North Judson. In North Judson there was a connection to a C&O line, from 1986 CSX Transportation . The Tippecanoe Railroad did not serve any intermediate stations.

traffic

Virtually the Tippecanoe Railroad's only freight customer was Buckeye Feed & Supply's grain silo and agricultural warehouse in Monterey. In the first years of operation, between 1040 and 1280 freight wagons with grain and fertilizers were transported annually.

vehicles

With the start of operations, the Tippecanoe Railroad acquired two RS-11 diesel locomotives under the numbers 6001 and 6002 made by the manufacturer Alco from the Chicago & Indiana Railroad. Both were originally built for the Southern Pacific Company . Locomotive 6002 was sold a little later. In 1986 the railway company also replaced the remaining RS-11 with two EMD type SD18 diesel locomotives acquired from C&O and CSX Transportation . One of these two machines, locomotive 7311, continued to be used by JKL after 1990, while locomotive 7302 switched to the Central Railroad of Indianapolis .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ H. Roger Grant: Erie Lackawanna: The Death of an American Railroad, 1938-1992 . Stanford University Press, 1996, ISBN 978-0-8047-2798-3 , pp. 212-213 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d Frederick D. Fravel; Office of Technology and Planning Assistance: Innovative Funding for Intercity Modes: A Casebook of State, Local, and Private Approaches: Final Report . Ed .: US Department of Transportation . 1987, p. 44 (English).
  3. ^ A b Tippecanoe Railroad Company. In: indiana-register.com. Retrieved March 28, 2020 : “Incorporation Date November 30th 1979; Dissolved Date 29th July 1992 "
  4. ↑ a b Interstate Commerce Commission : Car Service: Tippecanoe Railroad Co. Authorized to Operate Over Tracks Leased From the State of Indiana . In: Federal Register . tape 45 , no. 9 , January 14, 1980, p. 2655 (English).
  5. ^ Edward A. Lewis: American Shortline Railway Guide (5th Edition) . Kalmbach Publishing, Co., 1996, ISBN 978-0-89024-290-2 , pp. 357 (English).
  6. ^ Edward A. Lewis: American Shortline Railway Guide (5th Edition) . Kalmbach Publishing, Co., 1996, ISBN 978-0-89024-290-2 , pp. 163 (English, Lewis calls the successor railway company "JK Lines"; the official name according to Surface Transportation Board sources, however, was "JK Line").
  7. ^ Charles W. McDonald, George H. Drury: Diesel locomotive rosters: US, Canada, Mexico . Kalmbach Books, 1986, ISBN 978-0-89024-084-7 , pp. 142 (English).
  8. ↑ Pete Greischar: Tippecanoe Railroad # 6001 (Alco RS-11). June 1986, accessed March 27, 2020 .