Indiana Railroad - Freight Operation

Freight Operation

Although considerable planning and expenditure was going into improving the passenger operation, the real hope for profits from Insull's Midland Utilities' new Indiana Railroad amalgamation of the former five marginal interurban lines was to come from an expanded freight operation. Less-than-carload (LCL) overnight deliveries between the various IR linked towns and to or from Ohio was possible that was not available from the competing railroads which could require two to three days. For example, delivering machined parts made in Terra Haute overnight to Fort Wayne auto manufacturer Auburn. Some cartage business already existed due to the interurban's ties to local power companies. Regularly at night the IR's arch windowed wood bodied box motors would rumble down the quiet brick streets of an Indiana town towing one or two gondolas loaded with coal for the local power plant. In some cases, freight trains operating on city streets became an objection of town councils, particularly if those trains operated during the day. The income generated supplemented passenger income by providing lcl freight and package shipping services, and many merchants, newspapers, and small manufacturing companies used the frequent interurban scheduling provided. Should this business have increased with an improving economy along with that generated by a motivated sales force, the IR would have a promising future. The idea was a good one, but the national economy didn't improve. Instead, it collapsed further. When the Indiana Railroad lost an important freight interchange connection with neighboring interurban Dayton and Western which had ties to the important Cincinnati and Lake Erie interurban with its Ohio towns of Toledo, Cincinnati, and Columbus, prospects for survival were poor. The C&LE abandoned operations in early 1938. The IR continued to barely survive with just Indiana freight business, but lines were abandoned one by one. Total abandonment occurred in 1941.