Fort Wayne and Jackson Railroad

The Fort Wayne and Jackson Railroad was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1879 to reorganize the Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad, which owned a railway line between Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Jackson, Michigan. The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway leased the company in 1882. Most of the company's line has been abandoned.

Fort Wayne and Jackson Railroad
Overview
Dates of operation1879 (1879)1976 (1976)
PredecessorFort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad
Successor
Technical
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in)
Length97.6 miles (157.1 km)
Route map

mi
0.0
Jackson
1.1
5.1
10.4
Horton
Detroit, Toledo and Milwaukee Railroad
14.1
Hanover
16.2
Stony Point
18.8
Mosherville
24.6
Jonesville
25.3
Fort Wayne Junction
31.1
Bankers
35.8
Reading
41.2
Montgomery
44.7
44.8
Ray
56.2
Angola
60.5
Pleasant Lake
63.5
Steubenville
64.7
Summit
70.3
70.4
Waterloo
75.4
Auburn
76.6
80.1
Saint Johns
81.6
New Era
86.4
Huntertown
90.7
Academie
97.4
97.7
97.9
98.0

History

The precursor of the Fort Wayne and Jackson Railroad was the Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad, which was incorporated on January 26, 1869. That company consolidated two older companies, the Jackson, Fort Wayne and Cincinnati Railroad of Michigan and the Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad of Indiana.[1] Construction began the same year, and the company completed a 35.4-mile (57.0 km) from Jackson, Michigan, to Reading, Michigan, on November 22, 1869. A further 20.4 miles (32.8 km) from Reading to Angola, Indiana, was completed on January 17, 1870. The final 41.8 miles (67.3 km) from Angola to Fort Wayne, Indiana, was finished on December 5, 1870.[2]

Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway leased the company in 1882. This lease was later assumed by the New York Central Railroad (1915) and Penn Central Transportation (1968).[3]

Much of line was abandoned in 1973, following the Penn Central bankruptcy:

These abandonments left four sections of the old line: yard trackage within Jackson, a branch from Jonesville to Horton, a branch from Bankers to Pleasant Lake, and a branch from Fort Wayne to Waterloo.[2] In 1976, several small sections within the vicinity of Fort Wayne, Jackson, and Waterloo were conveyed to Conrail.[4] The lines between Jonesville and Horton, and Auburn and Waterloo, saw little traffic and was abandoned.[5][6] The new short-line railroad Hillsdale County Railway took over the section between Bankers and Pleasant Lake.[7] In 1981, the city of Auburn established the City of Auburn Port Authority to purchase the remaining 1.7 miles (2.7 km) that connected the city with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and then leased the line to the B&O (now CSX Transportation).[8][9]

Notes

  1. Meints 1992, p. 76.
  2. Meints 2005, p. 247.
  3. Meints 2005, pp. 247–248.
  4. USRA 1975a, p. 268.
  5. USRA 1975b, pp. 162, 418.
  6. "Indiana Railroad Abandonments" (PDF). p. 7. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  7. Lewis 1986, p. 99.
  8. Meints 2011, p. 79.
  9. Jones, Jeff (September 26, 2021). "Shortline railroads provide vital links". The News Sun. Retrieved January 7, 2023.

References

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