Heard a report that today was the last day of operations on the Southern Indiana Railway. This was a segment leftover from the Indiana Railroad, an interurban line that served a good portion of the Hoosier State. SIND used two repowered S2 Alco's (Cummins engines) and also had a bay window caboose on the property, possibly ex-Erie. This was one of the last segments of the old Indiana Railroad to be operated, and possibly the very last.

Les

Where do they run? If those Alcos are the type which were run from the steps, they were designed to be mine switchers, or maybe very local switchers and certainly not road locomotives! Is that what they are?

Darn, I thought the plant was closing in 2022. The caboose is also rumored to be ex-NKP.



They are S2M's, formerly from the Pickens Railroad. They would make great power for a tourist road.


Check out this little Wiki about the railroad:
http://railroadfan.com/wiki/index.php/S ... na_Railway

Does the Hoosier Heartland Trolley group know about this?

Their website: https://www.hoosiertrolley.org/

The Southern Indiana would be a good place to operate the Indiana Railroad interurban they are restoring. Partnering with the city & county would also provide a way to preserve the line so it can be used for new traffic in the future.

There was a recent blog post about this 5 mile interurban mainline with superelevated curves between Speed and Watson, located very near to I-65:
https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/2020/02/01/indiana-short-line-makes-last-run/

For information on how to get a great way to follow blogs, plus recent lists, see this RYPN link:
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28550&p=298609

An update: as posted on the Indiana Railroads Bull Session, a filing with the STB was made on March 11 by the Louisville & Indiana Railroad to acquire the Southern Indiana Railway. Given proximity of existing LIRC tracks in Sellerville, this probably would be used as an interchange with the CSXT at Watson. I found it interesting that the process would require a historical analysis of any tracks older than 50 years, if there were plans to abandon any portion of the line. LIRC stated they plan to operate the entire SIRY.

Link to discussion: https://indianarailroads.org/board/index.php?topic=23115.0#msg218924

The below map was included as part of the docket (click on image to see larger version).

First: The Southern Indiana Railway has not operated for a little over 2 years, if I recall correctly, they last ran in January 2020.

Originally, the L&I was only going to purchase the property and shop, NO equipment.

I was ask to sell the 2 locomotives and other equipment, but some things changed, and they have been sold with the railroad.

With the change off operations at the cement plant, the Southern Indiana Railway was locked out of servicing them, after successfully giving that plant an outlet for 2 railroad interchanges for close to 80 years.

The plant will receive inbound cement loads from the Mitchell plant, which will be transferred from the rail cars to the silos, then to semi trailers. The plant is giving all these car loads to the L&I railroad.

This line has 4 very tight curves and that limits the length of rail cars on the line.

I doubt that anyone really knows what the future hold for the line. Only time will tell, after the purchase is completed.

The 2 locomotives were rebuilt by GE in 1992 and repowered with a single Cummins K19 diesel engine rated at 600 hp. These have served this company very well for the last 20 years. They operate from the cab, just like a regular Alco S2 locomotive. Infact, if you were to get in the cab, you could not tell it from a regular Alco S2. The caboose is a former NKP unit.

James Kopkey

Worked the B&O Train Order Operator's position at Watson during the 1966-67 period - recall the SIND bringing down loaded cars of cement for the B&O to move.