Chicago,
Fort Wayne and Eastern Transportation - (en)
CF&E Transportation, which stands for Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern
Transportation, is a railroad company that bought out the former
Pennsylvania Railroad tracks from East Chicago, Indiana to Fort Wayne,
Indiana.
The Beginning
In 1856, the Pennsylvania Railroad was built extending from Hobart,
Indiana to Valparaiso, Indiana. The main principle of this railroad was to
transport materials from Hobart to Valparaiso.
The Conrail Purchase
After the trains began to use other main rail lines as means of
transportation, the tracks were abandoned, and later purchased by
Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), a railroad company which
purchases bankrupt railroads. Conrail later sold the railroad to Norfolk
Southern.
1998
In 1998, CSX purchased the railroad from Norfolk Southern and announced
that construction would begin in 1999.
1999
CSX began to make changes to the railroad in 1999. These changes included:
new crossing signals, paving crossings, and weeding the railroad. After
this was complete, signs were posted at each crossing notifying motorists
of an increase in train traffic. Trains began rolling on the tracks again.
Today
CF&E now owns the railroad. However, it is rarely used. CF&E has
permission to run as many as 10 trains per day, but only about 2 trains
per week roll down the tracks.
