Main Line (Columbus to Indianapolis via Bradford)

Last updated October 01, 2019

The Columbus to Indianapolis via Bradford Main Line was a rail line owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the U.S. state of Ohio.

The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was so named because it was established in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders.

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Of the fifty states, it is the 34th largest by area, the seventh most populous, and the tenth most densely populated. The state's capital and largest city is Columbus. Ohio is bordered by Pennsylvania to the east, Michigan to the northwest, Lake Erie to the north, Indiana to the west, Kentucky on the south, and West Virginia on the southeast.

The line ran from Bradford on the Columbus to Chicago Main Line southwest to New Paris on the Pittsburgh to St. Louis Main Line, forming part of a route between Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana.^[1] It is now completely abandoned.^{[ citation needed ]}

Bradford is a village in Darke and Miami counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 1,842 at the 2010 census.

New Paris is a village in Preble County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,629 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Columbus is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a population of 892,533 as of 2018 estimates, it is the 14th-most populous city in the United States and one of the fastest growing large cities in the nation. This makes Columbus the third-most populous state capital in the US and the second-most populous city in the Midwest. It is the core city of the Columbus, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses ten counties. With a population of 2,078,725, it is Ohio's second-largest metropolitan area.

History

The line was built by the Richmond and Covington Railroad and opened in 1863.^[2] It was eventually leased by the Pittsburg, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway on February 1, 1869, placing it under Pennsylvania Railroad control.^[3] The PC&StL and its successors, the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway and Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, operated the line until January 1, 1921, when the PRR began operating it under lease.^[4] The line passed to Penn Central Transportation in 1968 and Conrail in 1976.

The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, commonly called the Pan Handle Route, was a railroad that was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system. Its common name came from its main line, which began at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, crossed the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, and continued west to Bradford, Ohio, where it split into a northern line to Chicago and a southern one through Indianapolis, Indiana, to East St. Louis, Illinois.

Conrail 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, and while it no longer operates trains it continues to do business as an asset management and network services provider in three Shared Assets Areas that were excluded from the division of its operations during its acquisition by CSX Corporation and the Norfolk Southern Railway.

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References

↑ Pennsylvania Railroad, "Western Region employee timetable" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-04-21. (23.3 MiB), April 30, 1967
↑ "PRR Chronology, 1863" (PDF). (140 KiB), May 2004 Edition
↑ "PRR Chronology, 1869" (PDF). (114 KiB), June 2004 Edition
↑ "PRR Chronology, 1921" (PDF). (100 KiB), June 2004 Edition

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[1] Pennsylvania Railroad, "Western Region employee timetable" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-04-21. (23.3 MiB), April 30, 1967

[2] "PRR Chronology, 1863" (PDF). (140 KiB), May 2004 Edition

[3] "PRR Chronology, 1869" (PDF). (114 KiB), June 2004 Edition

[4] "PRR Chronology, 1921" (PDF). (100 KiB), June 2004 Edition