B&O Two for Tuesday

The wayback machine has landed us in Indianapolis on Dec. 29, 1972, at the Baltimore & Ohio engine terminal. While there we check out a pair of GP30s, Nos. 6941 and 6912.

The B&O had a secondary branch line operation in Indy. To the east it ran to Hamilton, Ohio, where it joined the mainline between Cincinnati and Toledo. This route is still used today by CSX and hosts Amtrak’s Chicago-New York Cardinal.

To the west the line ran to Springfield, Illinois. That line is abandoned west of Indianapolis and in Hendricks County the right of way has been converted to a hiking and biking trail named after the B&O.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

One December Day on the B&O in Indianapolis

Indianapolis was a small but not insignificant terminal on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

The B&O’s route to the capital and largest city in Indiana extended from Hamilton, Ohio, where it connected with the Cincinnati-Toledo mainline, to Springfield, Illinois, on the west.

The line had some significant industrial traffic in Indianapolis and at the Illinois cities of Decatur and Springfield. There also was substantial agricultural traffic.

The B&O’s yard and engine terminal in Indy was located on the east side of town where the scene above was made there on Dec. 29, 1972.

The view is pure B&O and has a timeless quality to it. But nothing on the railroad ever stays exactly the same.

CSX still operates the former B&O route from Indianapolis to Hamilton, which is also used by Amtrak’s tri-weekly Chicago-New York Cardinal.

But the ex-B&O west of the city has been abandoned with portions of it in Hendricks County having been converted to a hike and bike trail.

Some segments of the B&O line that served Indianapolis are still in place in Illinois east of Decatur and in far western Indiana. Today they are served by short line Decatur & Eastern Illinois.

CSX also operates a small portion of the former B&O at Rochdale, Indiana, to serve a grain elevator complex with unit trains.

Photograph by Robert Farkas