- Home
- First 100 Years
- Part 3: Confluence of Transportation
- Chapter 2: Wabash & Nickel Plate Railroads
Chapter 2: Wabash & Nickel Plate Railroads
The subject of railroads was overshadowed for some years by interest in canals. The argument was that every undeveloped area had the means for constructing canals—earth, stone, wood, water and horse propelled power—whereas the iron and steam machinery for railroads had to be imported at great cost.
But the transition to railroads was inevitable and, in 1857, the Wabash Railroad laid tracks through New Haven. The trains traveled between Toledo and Logansport. The line then known as the Lake Erie, Wabash and St. Louis Railroad officially became the “Wabash Railroad” after restructuring in 1877. A branch line to Detroit was added at the turn of the century. [Photo: Wabash Passenger Train]
A Wabash train depot was built in 1890, west of State Street and north of the tracks, to handle passengers and freight. The railroad did a brisk passenger business serving New Haven travelers going east to Toledo and west through Fort Wayne to St. Louis. The depot was moved twice over the years as the tracks were reconfigured. In 1964, it was shuttered and abandoned. [Photo: Wabash Depot in 1900]
In 1988, the New Haven Area Heritage Association acquired the deed from then-owner Norfolk & Western Railroad, saving the depot from demolition. [Photo: Wabash Depot in 2001]
_1.png "photo of restored train depot by the Historic Association")
Using grants, the Association moved the depot to its current location, completed an extensive renovation and, in December 2012, dedicated the restored symbol of New Haven’s transportation history. The depot is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s the only combination depot on the Wabash's Toledo-St. Louis Line (now Norfolk Southern) that has survived. [Photo: Restored depot]
A second railroad company came to New Haven 25 years after the Wabash Railroad arrived. The Nickel Plate--officially the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Company—placed tracks through New Haven in 1882 for trains running between Buffalo, New York and Chicago. For a considerable period, the Nickel Plate was used almost exclusively for freight shipments. [Photo: Nickel Plate Fast Freight]
When the Nickel Plate road opened in 1882, a depot stood on the southeast side of the tracks on State Street. In the early 1900s, this depot was replaced with a new one on the southeast side of the tracks on Broadway. In the mid-1960s, an “old timer” recalled in a column in a local paper that the depot “was a welcoming place whether ordering a box car to ship hay to Alabama, inquiring about the fare to Payne, Ohio, or picking up your Sears order.”
When gate crossings were introduced in the early 1900s, each railroad had a watchtower manned by a person who watched for trains and lowered the gates when a train was approaching the crossing. Before that, a man stood by the side of the tracks and warned road traffic when a train was coming. [Photo: Watchtower overlooking Broadway crossing]
In 1920, to accommodate passenger traffic, a hotel was built at 531 State Street on the northeast side of the tracks. [Photos: At left in 2011 before renovations began, at right in 2023.]
OF NOTE
Two train wrecks were caused by a dangerous curve on the track east of State Street. In 1937, the Wabash Flyer headed to Detroit hopped the track, plowing along 180 feet of the right-of-way before coming to a rest in the backyard of 603 W. Main Street. A tree beside the home stopped the train from hitting the house. The engineer was killed in the wreck.
Then in 1951, a worse disaster occurred. The Berkshire 767 from the Nickel Plate Railroad was traveling 60 miles per hour near the station when a Fort Wayne dispatcher saw from the train control that a wreck was imminent and called ambulances.
As the engine cleared the depot, the Berkshire engineer saw a Wabash Railroad passenger train on the crossover. He shut off steam and applied the air brake but plowed into the passenger train. The roar of escaping steam awakened most of New Haven. The Berkshire toppled on its side. The seven-car passenger train was shattered and tossed.
There were four fatalities in the crash, all were aboard the Wabash passenger train. Following the 1951 disaster, the degree of the dangerous curve was lessened to what it is today.
Both the Wabash and the Nickel Plate Railroads were part of a 1964 merger with Norfolk & Western Railway to become a Midwestern powerhouse. In 1982, Norfolk & Western merged with Southern Railway to become today’s Norfolk Southern which operates exclusively through New Haven.
One of the world’s last living steam locomotives is housed and operated east of New Haven at the Edgerton Road restoration facility of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. In 1974, the Society removed the historic Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive No. 765 from display in Lawton Park in Fort Wayne and successfully restored it. The Society hosts a variety of steam-powered vintage passenger excursions and special railroad events throughout the year. Learn more at fortwaynerailroad.org.
New Haven’s historic Wabash Railroad bridge can be seen from the Landin Road bridge, looking east down the river. The bridge is rated as “outstanding” for its historic authenticity in Indiana’s architectural database. This iron bridge was built in 1905 and is still in heavy use. It was constructed from a simple structure beam called a truss. Its design was influenced by 19th- and 20th-century concepts, making it the oldest type of iron truss bridge still used today.