Indiana Southwestern Railway is a subsidiary of

Pioneer Railcorp Pioneer Lines (formerly Pioneer Railcorp) is a holding company for a number of American short-line railroads. Other subsidiaries offer locomotive and freight car leasing to its own railroads and to third parties, and also freight car cleaning. Pio ...

, operator of several

short-line railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

companies. The ISW is a

Class III railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$5 ...

, and operated on 17 miles of track from

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

, northward to

Cynthiana, Indiana Cynthiana is a town in Smith Township, Posey County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 545 at the 2010 census. Cynthiana is also home to internationally known companies, including Gore Galore, leading creator of haunted house props, ...

. That track is currently out of service but switching still occurs in ISW's yard and surrounding industries. The line was originally operated as part of an

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...

line that ran all the way to

Newton, Illinois Newton is a city in and the county seat of Jasper County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,849 at the 2010 census, down from 3,069 at the 2000 census. Newton is home to a large coal-fired power plant operated by Illinois Power Gen ...

. Illinois Central sold off the line south of

Browns, Illinois Browns is a village in Edwards County, Illinois, United States. The population was 139 as of the 2020 census, slightly up from 134 as of the 2010 census. History Few records of the early history are available because the first books were des ...

, to Indiana Hi-Rail Corporation; the line went through a succession of operators, all of which had to contend with the line's ancient

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

over the

Wabash River The Wabash River ( French: Ouabache) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana in the United States. It flows fro ...

near

Grayville, Illinois Grayville is a city in Edwards and White counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2010 Census, the city's population was 1,666, reflecting a decrease of 59 (-3.4%) from the 1,725 in 2000. Grayville is the birthplace of naval hero James ...

. The bridge suffered damage from floods on more than one occasion, and one span finally collapsed completely around 1999. Pioneer bought the line and its Evansville shops in 2000 from the Evansville Terminal Railway. However, when Pioneer stopped shipping grain, the track had to be dismantled and salvaged at the close of 2011. Only the small stretch from the interchange northwest of Evansville to just north of their yard is still used, a distance of about 4 miles. The dates back to 1881 as part of the Evansville and Peoria Railroad, which then became part of the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Railway through a series of purchases. The PD&E became part of Illinois Central in 1900. The ISW is currently the only remaining in-service segment of the PD&E south of

Mattoon, Illinois Mattoon ( ) is a city in Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 16,870 as of the 2020 census. The city is home to Lake Land College and has close ties with its neighbor, Charleston. Both are principal cities of the Charleston� ...

References

External links

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History of the PD&E, original owner of the line
Defunct Indiana railroads Transportation in Evansville, Indiana Switching and terminal railroads Pioneer Lines {{Indiana-transport-stub