Beech Grove Shops

The Beech Grove Shops is a railway maintenance facility in Beech Grove, Indiana, outside Indianapolis. Beech Grove is Amtrak's primary maintenance facility.[1] It also contains a very large freight yard.

Rebuilt GE P40DCs 817 and 824 at Beech Grove in 2010.

History

The shops were originally constructed in 1904–1908 by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis Railway (the "Big Four"), servicing a network stretching across the Midwest into Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. The facility was used as the company's repair shop for steam locomotives and passenger and freight cars.[1]

The Big Four was acquired by the New York Central Railroad (NYC) in 1906, but operated as an independent business until it was formally merged with its owner in 1922.[2] The facility passed to Penn Central Transportation in 1968 when the NYC merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Penn Central declared bankruptcy in 1970.[1] Amtrak purchased the facility from the bankrupt Penn Central in April 1975.[3][4][5]

On September 20, 2002, an F2 tornado hit the shops, damaging Coach Shop 3, which was going to be torn down after the tornado; it had been used to overhaul Superliner passenger cars until 2000.

In the early hours of May 2, 2021, two storage buildings on the site were destroyed by a fire.[6]

  • Amtrak P42's under repair at Beech Grove
    Amtrak P42's under repair at Beech Grove
  • Damaged Amtrak P42 #8 at Beech Grove after a collision with a Norfolk Southern freight in 2007.
    Damaged Amtrak P42 #8 at Beech Grove after a collision with a Norfolk Southern freight in 2007.
  • Amtrak equipment at Beech Grove shops.
    Amtrak equipment at Beech Grove shops.
  • The shops in the 1980s
    The shops in the 1980s

References
  1. "Beech Grove shops- Amtrak: History of America's Railroad". Amtrak. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  2. Beech Grove HEP Conversion Program Results in Like-New Car for Passengers Amtrak News August 1, 1980 page 10
  3. Beech Grove Purchase Gets Green Light Amtrak News March 15, 1975 pages 1, 8
  4. Miracle at Beech Grove Railway Age February 1985 pages 53, 56
  5. Amtrak (August 27, 2012). "Beech Grove shops". Retrieved 2012-11-25.
  6. "News photos: Fire destroys buildings at Amtrak's Beech Grove shops (updated)". Trains. Retrieved 2021-12-22.

Media related to Beech Grove Shops at Wikimedia Commons

39°43′11″N 86°4′40″W


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