Have been reading the thread about the PRR line through Madison County, Ind., and visited your web page regarding same. I don't have any first-hand knowledge of the line but with my son's recent entrance into Indiana University at Bloomington, I've become a lot more interested in the railroads of that region.

Burgess & Kennedy's PRR centennial history is "wholly inadequate," says Bill Withuhn of the Smithsonian Institution, and I've found that to be true. Working for their employer, the engineering consulting firm Coverdale & Colpitts, B&K completed another, much larger, four-volume corporate, financial and construction history about the same time, but it was intended for internal use only and was extremely limited in distribution, primarily to PRR officers – probably only 100 copies were published.

Vol. 3 (Leased lines west of Pittsburgh), contains the blood lineage of the route in question. Decided to send it as a private e-mail rather than post it on the list because of its length.

"At the time this Company was formed the road between Richmond and New Castle, 26.79 miles, had been completed by a predecessor corporation. The line between New Castle and the south bank of the Wabash River near Logansport was opened for operation July 4, 1857, by John W. Wright and Co., lessee, of this company."

"In 1858 foreclosure proceedings covering the road from Richmond to Logansport were instituted in the U.S. Circuit Court . . . a decree of sale was rendered March 14, 1860 . . . the road from Richmond to Logansport was sold April 28, 1860, to a committee . . . and conveyed to them by deed dated May 26, 1860 . . . they conveyed it by deed dated July 11, 1860, to the Cincinnati & Chicago Air-Line Railroad Co., which had been organized by the bond-holders."

"This company completed the bridge over the Wabash River near Logansport and constructed a connection 0.77 mile from a point on the south bank of the Wabash River .43 mile east of the terminus of the road to a junction with the Chicago & Cincinnati Railroad Co., [note that this is different from Cincinnati & Chicago] and opened it Sept. 25, 1861."

"This company was consolidated with the Chicago & Great Eastern Railway Co. (No. 3) to form the Chicago & Great Eastern Railway Co. (No. 4). The two companies conveyed their roads to the new company by deed of Jan. 25, 1865."

"In 1867, its road extended from the terminus of the Richmond & Miami Railway at Richmond, Ind., to Twelfth Street, Chicago, 220.46 miles."

"This company was consolidated with the Columbus & Indiana Central Railway Co. to form the Columbus, Chicago & Indiana Central Railway Co. Articles of consolidation were executed Dec. 4, 1867, and filed in the offices of the secretaries of state of Ohio and Illinois on February 11, 1868, and Indiana, Feb. 12, 1868."

"An agreement for the reorganization of the Company was entered into by the stockholders and creditors on July 1, 1882, and [a] purchasing committee [was named] . . . The purchasers organized the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh Railroad Co. (of Indiana) and the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh Railroad Co. (of Illinois) and conveyed the entire route to the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh Railroad Co. (of Indiana) by deed dated March 17, 1883."

"Certificate of Incorporation dated Feb. 22, 1883 was filed in the office of the secretary of state of Indiana March 14, 1883. This company was formed for the purpose of reorganizing the Columbus Chicago & Indiana Central Railway Co. in accordance with the laws of Indiana. It existed only from March 14, 1883, until April 3, 1884."

"This company was consolidated with the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh Railroad Co. (of Illinois) to form the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh Railroad Co. Articles of consolidation were executed Sept. 5, 1883, and filed in the offices of the secretaries of state of Indiana April 1, 1884, and Illinois April 3, 1884."

"Organization: April 3, 1884."
"This company was consolidated with The Pittsburg, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway Co., the Cincinnati & Richmond Railroad Co. (No. 2), and the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad Co. to form The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. Articles of consolidation were executed on June 10, 1890, and filed in the offices of the secretaries of state of Ohio, Aug. 28, 1890, West Virginia, Aug. 26, 1890, Indiana, Aug. 25, 1890, and Illinois, Aug. 25, 1890, and in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Aug. 29, 1890."

"Organization: Sept. 18, 1890."
"This company was consolidated with Vandalia Railroad Co.; Pittsburgh, Wheeling & Kentucky Railroad Co., the Anderson Belt Railway Co.; and Chicago, Indiana & Eastern Railway Co. to form The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Co. Articles of consolidation executed Sept. 28, 1916, were filed in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Dec. 21, 1916, and in the offices of the secretaries of state of Ohio, Dec. 30, 1916, and of West Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois, Dec. 29, 1916, and recorded in Cook County, Illinois, Dec. 30, 1916."

"Organization: Jan. 3, 1917."
Leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. under lease dated March 26, 1921, for 999 years from Jan. 1, 1921 . . ."

-- One person posted a comment on the idea that CC&IC was or may have been an owner of the line through Anderson, and this reference verifies that.

-- In 1929, the line from Richmond to New Castle, Anderson, and Kokomo, as far as Anoka Jct., was part of PRR's Richmond Division. By 1933 it was merged into the Cincinnati Division, as noted on your web page.

You're welcome to use any of this info on your page. I'm glad to help and I don't need to be acknowledged. If you wish to, ok but it's not necessary. If you want the info for your bibliography, it is: The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Corporate, Financial and Construction History of Lines Owned, Operated and Controlled to December 31, 1945. Volume 3, Lines West of Pittsburgh, Prepared by Coverdale & Colpitts, Consulting Engineers, New York, N.Y. Printed in U.S.A. by Allen, Lane & Scott. (As for a date, the title mostly says it all, but the foreword is dated March 1, 1947).

Dan Cupper

Last updated December 05, 1998.
This "Railroads of Madision County" page is written, maintained and hosted by: Roger P. Hensley madisonrails@railfan.net
Copyright 1998 by Roger P. Hensley.