Early in the 20th century, the mighty interurban provided a link from Indianapolis to nearly every city and village in existence. For little more than five or ten cents, a passenger could journey to Anderson, Franklin, Martinsville, Richmond, or Muncie, and all of the stops along the way. Its hundreds of miles of track provided the Hoosier state with the first mass transit system in history. At its zenith, the Indianapolis Traction Terminal became one of the busiest interurban stations in the world, handling 100,000 cars and over a million passengers annually.Like other titles in Arcadia's Images of Rail series, this book helps preserve an important chapter in our nation's rail history, illustrating how it shaped our landscape, aided our expansion, and accelerated our progress.

The passenger train has long held a special place in the imagination of Americans, and Indiana was once a bustling passenger train crossroads. Limiteds, Locals, and Expresses in Indiana, 1838–1971 brings to life the countless locals, accommodation trains, and secondary expresses that Hoosiers patronized during the Golden Age of the passenger train. Craig Sanders gives us a comprehensive history of intercity passenger service in Indiana, from the time railroads began to develop in the state in the mid-19th century through May 1, 1971, when Amtrak began operations. Each chapter summarizes the history and development of one railroad, discusses the factors that shaped that railroad's passenger service—such as prolonged financial difficulties, competition, and the influence of a strong leader—and concludes with a detailed account of its passenger operations in Indiana. Sixteen maps, 87 photographs, and other evocative illustrations supplement Sanders's text.

First printed in 1970, Elmer Sulzer's study of the abandoned railroads of Indiana quickly proved itself invaluable to both the serious student of railroading and the railroad ""buff."" In conjunction with Ghost Railroads of Kentucky (1967) and Ghost Railroads of Tennessee (1975), this volume details the history of railroad closings and their impact on the railroad traffic running from the industrial North and East to the agricultural South and West. Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee provided the essential route for much of the nation's rail traffic.

The Indiana Rail Road Company is an extraordinary success story among the scores of independent short line and regional railroads spawned in the wake of railroad deregulation. Christopher Rund chronicles the development of the company from its origins as part of America's first land grant railroad, the Illinois Central, through the political and financial juggling required by entrepreneur Tom Hoback to purchase the line when it fell into disrepair. The company was reborn as a robust, profitable carrier and has become a new model for the American regional railroad.

The Indiana Rail Road Company is unique among chronicles of these small railroads. It draws together a historical perspective, as well as a detailed narrative of the business aspects of rehabilitating the rail line and transforming it into a profitable enterprise. The book also touches on a variety of subtopics, significantly the application of new technologies to manage costs and improve productivity. The Indiana Rail Road Company pioneered the most significant of these in the United States.

Take a historic excursion across a state that is often mistaken as the home of grain and corn production, and little more. Countless manufacturing centers in northern Indiana strengthened the economic fabric of Hoosier land. The railroads that criss-crossed northern Indiana were instrumental in populating the small towns and larger cities by employing thousands over the course of many years. Through photographs of depots, freight houses, and other railroad structures, long demolished yet an integral part of community development, Railroad Depots of Northern Indiana reviews the history of the cities and towns that used the rail to transport raw materials and finished manufactured products across the state to markets such as Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. This book also tells the story of a short line railroad and the commodities it has transported for the past century, as well as the longest-existing interurban, still operating just south of Lake Michigan, the resilient South Shore Line.

Despite the huge amount of interest in railroads, this is the first complete description and history of the railroads of Indiana from the first line, completed in 1838, up to the present. Simons and Parker follow Indiana's railroads through five distinct eras - 1830 to 1860, 1860 to 1900, 1900 to 1930, 1930 to 1960, and 1960 to 1996. The broad themes of Indiana railroad history are sketched within the framework of these periods. In addition, there is a brief synopsis of each railroad system, tracing its corporate and physical growth and evolution. A third section is devoted to commonalities among the various railroads, focusing on services, facilities, personalities, and accidents.

After almost a quarter of a century, Monon: The Hoosier Line is back in print in a revised second edition featuring an updated Epilogue, additional photographs, and a new Afterword by Frank Van Bree, President of the Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society, Inc.

Many railroads served the state, but the Monon was Indiana's own. If you wanted to travel from Delphi to Broad Ripple, or from Gosport to Smithville, you took the Monon. The self-proclaimed "Hoosier Line" celebrated its heritage by naming its flagship passenger train The Hoosier, featuring Indiana cooking in the dining cars and offering homespun service. Monon celebrates the history of this magnificent railroad, from its inception in 1847 as the New Albany & Salem Rail Road, then as the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago, to its merger in 1970 with the L&N, and beyond. The informative text is enhanced by 258 black-and-white illustrations and a special color insert, "The Monon in Color," with 17 additional photographs.

In the 1830s, as the Trans Appalachian economy began to stir and Europe's Industrial Revolution reached its peak, concerned Midwesterners saw opportunities and risks. Success of the Erie Canal as a link to East Coast economic markets whetted the appetites of visionaries and entrepreneurs, who saw huge opportunities. Amid this perfect storm of technology, enterprise, finance, location, and timing arose some of the earliest railroads in the Midwest.

By the late 1840s three such vision-driven railroad ventures had sprung to life. Two small railroads carrying goods to Midwestern markets - the Indianapolis & Bellefontaine in Indiana and the Bellefontaine & Indiana in Ohio - spawned early enthusiasm, but few citizens would look beyond the horizon. It was the admonition of Oliver H. Smith, founder of the Indiana line, who challenged the populace to look farther: "to decide whether the immense travel and business of the west should pass round or go through central Indiana."

Soon, the two local lines would crystallize in the minds of people as the "Bee Line." In Cleveland, meanwhile, a clique of committed businessmen, bankers, and politicians came together to finance the most prosperous of all early Midwestern railroads, extending from Cleveland to Columbus. Their aspirations expanded to control the larger Midwestern market from Cleveland to St. Louis. First by loans and then by bond purchases, they quickly took over the "Bee Line."

Hoosier partisans' independence, however, could not be easily brushed aside. Time and again they would frustrate the attempts of the Cleveland clique, exercising a degree of autonomy inconsistent with their dependent financial underpinnings. Ultimately, they acquiesced to the reality of their situation. After the Civil War, even the group from Cleveland fell victim to unscrupulous foreign and national financiers and manipulators who had taken their places on the boards of larger trunk lines expanding throughout the Midwest.

Exhaustively researched and meticulously documented, Forging the "Bee Line" Railroad, 1848-1889 is the first comprehensive scholarly work on this most important of early Midwestern railroads.

Early in the 20th century, the mighty interurban provided a link from Indianapolis to nearly every city and village in existence. For little more than five or ten cents, a passenger could journey to Anderson, Franklin, Martinsville, Richmond, or Muncie, and all of the stops along the way. Its hundreds of miles of track provided the Hoosier state with the first mass transit system in history. At its zenith, the Indianapolis Traction Terminal became one of the busiest interurban stations in the world, handling 100,000 cars and over a million passengers annually.Like other titles in Arcadia's Images of Rail series, this book helps preserve an important chapter in our nation's rail history, illustrating how it shaped our landscape, aided our expansion, and accelerated our progress.

Railroads have played a major role in transportation, logistics and development in the state of Indiana. A perfect resource for railroad enthusiasts or students of Indiana history, Indiana Railroad Lines provides a comprehensive and detailed account of the railroad companies that operated in the state between 1838 and 1999 and the counties and towns they served. This volume provides the dates of the contraction, purchase, sale, lease and abandonment of the various railroad lines and is complete with charts and maps that provide information on the development and decline of railroads in the state.

Still Here is a pictorial of several participating individuals in Indiana's Native American Culture, Activities and events throughout the State. Contains a listing of Powwows, Groups, Businesses, Dictonary, places, names and more. Full color pictures from several State Wide Powwows and events