Railroad Cities
And Towns
Madison, Indiana
Of course, as an avid railfan and aspiring historian, I must place Madison at the top of
this list. After all, Madison was the birthplace of the railroad in the State of Indiana. It was
above the Ohio River that initial construction began on the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad.
In order to connect Indianapolis with the Ohio River at Madison, there had to be a way of making
it down the steep slope to the banks of the Ohio.
North Vernon, Indiana
The railroad has been such a part of North Vernon's history that the town celebrates each June
with Railroad Days. The community gets together celebrate their railroad heritage. Although, at one time,
six different railroad lines ran into North Vernon, only four remain.
Columbus, Indiana
Columbus, at one time was a stopping point on the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central.
This was achieved with the Madison Incline. To this day, it is the steepest mainline grade
in the United States at 5.89%.
Attempts were made to solve the slope problem, by blasting tunnels into the hillside. These
attempts failed, but the uncompleted tunnels still exist inside the Clifty Falls State Park near
Madison.
Today, the Madison Railroad operates from
Madison. Although the railroad seldom uses the incline, it is still connected with the mainline.
Also of interest to railfans and historians will be the restored, historic Madison depot.
At one time, the B&O, Pennsylvania and New York Central each ran trains through downtown North Vernon.
The Pennsy ran on the Madison & Indianapolis tracks, which was the first stretch of track to reach the town.
To the northwest, Pennsy's tracks ran to Columbus and on to Indianapolis. To the southeast, they reached Madison and the Ohio River.
The B&O ran through town on the former O&M. The B&O tracks ran west to Seymour and on to St. Louis. To the east, they connected to Cincinnati.
The B&O also had a track which ran southwest to Jeffersonville.
The New York Central (or Big 4) had one track that came into North Vernon from Greensburg, Indiana, entering town from the north. From North Vernon
to Jeffersonville, the NYC used trackage rights over the B&O.
In 1973, NYC abandoned the 23.7 miles from Greensburg to North Vernon. Three years later, in 1976, Conrail abandoned the 17 miles over former Pennsy track
from Columbus to North Vernon. The remaining track between North Vernon and Madison was taken over by the City of Madison Port Authority to operate the
Madison Railroad. In 1980, the B&O abandoned the 28.2 miles of track from North Vernon to Nabb.
Today, the former B&O east-west track is operated by CSX Transportation.
The pages on this site are my personal homepages. They are not in any way affiliated
with the railroads or other organizations mentioned in them.
In addition, I make no financial gain from these pages.