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 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, Michiga ...

, which owned a railway line between Fort Wayne, Indiana, and

Jackson, Michigan Jackson is the only city and county seat of Jackson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 33,534, down from 36,316 at the 2000 census. Located along Interstate 94 and U.S. Route 127, it is approxi ...

. The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway leased the company in 1882. Most of the company's line has been abandoned.

History

The precursor of the Fort Wayne and Jackson Railroad was the

, 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. Construction began the same year, and the company completed a from

, to Reading, Michigan, on November 22, 1869. A further from Reading to Angola, Indiana, was completed on January 17, 1870. The final from Angola to Fort Wayne, Indiana, was finished on December 5, 1870. 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). Much of line was abandoned in 1973, following the Penn Central bankruptcy: *

Waterloo, Indiana Waterloo is a town in Grant and Smithfield townships, DeKalb County, Indiana, United States. The population was 2,242 at the 2010 census. History Waterloo was laid out in 1856 when the railroad was extended to that point. It was likely named afte ...

–

Pleasant Lake, Indiana Pleasant Lake is an unincorporated community in Steuben Township, Steuben County, in the U.S. state of Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the ...

* Jonesville, Michigan– Bankers, Michigan * Haires, Michigan– Horton, Michigan 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. In 1976, several small sections within the vicinity of Fort Wayne, Jackson, and Waterloo were conveyed to

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

. The lines between Jonesville and Horton, and Auburn and Waterloo, saw little traffic and was abandoned. The new short-line railroad Hillsdale County Railway took over the section between Bankers and Pleasant Lake. In 1981, the city of Auburn established the

City of Auburn Port Authority Auburn is a city in DeKalb County, Indiana, United States. The population was 13,820 at the 2020 census. Founded in 1836 by Wesley Park (1811–1868), the city is the county seat of DeKalb County. Auburn is also known as Home of the Classics. Hi ...

to purchase the remaining that connected the city with the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

, and then leased the line to the B&O (now

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{cite book , title=Final system plan for restructuring railroads in the Northeast and Midwest region pursuant to the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 , year=1975 , author=United States Railway Association , author-link=United States Railway Association , location=Washington, DC , url=http://multimodalways.org/docs/govts/federal/executive/Agencies/DOT/USRA/FSP/FSP%20VII.pdf , oclc=2889148 , volume=2 , ref={{Harvid, USRA, 1975b Defunct Indiana railroads Defunct Michigan railroads Railway companies established in 1879 Railway companies disestablished in 1976 Railroads transferred to Conrail American companies established in 1879 Companies affiliated with the New York Central Railroad