Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railroad
Monon
Reporting marks	MON
Locale	Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky
Years of operation	1853 – 1971
Track gauge	4 ft 8.5 in
Headquarters

The Monon Railroad, also known as the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railroad from 1897-1956, operated almost entirely within the state of Indiana. The Monon was merged into the Louisville & Nashville Railroad in 1971, and much of the former Monon right of way is operated today by CSX Transportation.

Monon route

The railroad earned the name Monon due to the convergence of its four main routes in Monon, IN. From Monon, the mainlines reached out to Chicago, IL, Michigan City, IN, Indianapolis, IN and Louisville, KY. In Chicago, the Monon's passenger trains served Dearborn Station. Smaller branches connected points on the Louisville mainline to Victoria, IN and French Lick, IN.

The Monon directly served five colleges and universities along its line:

• Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN
• Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN
• DePauw University in Greencastle, IN
• Indiana University in Bloomington
• Butler University in Indianapolis, IN

The university traffic was important enough to the Monon, that the railroad used the schools' colors on its rolling stock as the railroad's offical paint schemes. The red and gray of Wabash College was used on the railroad's passenger equipment, and the black and gold of DePauw University adorned the railroad's diesel freight locomotives.

Timeline

• 1853: The Monon opens its 300-mile mainline between Chicago, IL and Louisville, KY
• April 1865: The Monon becomes one of twenty railroads to haul Abraham Lincoln's funeral car when a Monon engine pulls the car at 5 mph from Lafayette, IN to Michigan City, IN.
• 1932: The 300-pound Monon Bell is first presented as the trophy of the annual football matchup between the DePauw University Tigers and the Wabash College Little Giants. The rivalry has remained close and intense up to the present day. The Bell was formerly installed on a Monon steam locomotive.
• 1946: John W. Barriger III becomes President of the Monon. Under his direction, the Monon becomes the first Class A railroad in America to fully convert from steam motive power to diesel motive power.
• 1959: The Monon's passenger service between Chicago, IL and Indianapolis, IN is discontinued.
• 1971: The Monon is merged into the Louisville & Nashville.

External link

• Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society (http://www.monon.org/)