Mount Carmel, IL to Evansville, IN

The Evansville, Mount Carmel and Northern Railroad

Picture Point of Interest

Note: Some information was drawn from Limiteds, Locals, and Expresses in Indiana 1838 to 1971, by Craig Sanders, Indiana University Press.
Showing of

This wooden trestle can be found near Skelton, IN. Photo by Howard E. Espravnik, March 2009.

The line was opened under Big Four subsidiary Evansville, Mt. Carmel & Northern Railroad in July 1911. Passenger service rose and fell between 1911 and 1942 when it was discontinued. For a while though, one could catch a sleeper car to Chicago on this route.

While most of the line has been out of service for decades, some people question if it was ever officially abandoned. Another source said Conrail abandoned the line from North of Evansville to Skelton, near the Wabash River, close to Mt. Carmel. Norfolk Southern retains ownership of the line after receiving it in the Conrail split. At one time, L&N received trackage rights to use it as a bypass around most of Evansville.

Today, with miles of rusty rails in between, both ends of the line still see some service. At Mt. Carmel, rolling stock is stored on the line. At the Evansville end the tracks are used as a CSX mainline into Howell Yard seeing dozens of trains per day.

Thanks to Howard E. Espravnik for contributing information about this route.

These photos are great! I was just over their around I-64 Saturday. Do you have any other photos of that southern/conrail line? Also do you know exactly when the line was shut down and if their are any photos of train towards the end like the last train that ran on it?

Kerry Robertson
Belle River, IL
3/24/2009

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Thanks for some interesting pictures of a railroad which seems to have been very well built. I believe the 35-mile long line survived in use until the early 1970s, being formally abandoned (from the junction built for the L&N Evansville Bypass in 1972 to Skelton, 22 miles) in 1982, but forgot to record the source of this information.

Malcolm Dymott
London, England
5/7/2009

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does any one know what thay are going to do with the railroad's that are just sitting thare they look cool and all but ya i would think a farmer would want to use the ground or something

chris h
plymouth, IN
6/14/2009

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For years we've traveled that way back and forth from our home in Anahuac,Texas to Loogootee, Indiana, home of my wife. I kept noticeing that grain spur under weeds and the bridge with no approach. For years I've wondered where that line ran and noe, recently You have given me the answer I seek. If this bed is railbanked then why don't they keep the road bed clean?

Raybourne Ricks "Hank" Gupton
Anahuac (Anna-wack), TX
8/12/2009

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The line was rail banked as part of the final Conrail plan. Most of the line has not been operated since 1974. It is not abandoned - only discontinued service though some sections of track in Vanderburgh County have been illegally removed by adjoining landowners. In addition some overhead road bridges have been removed and filled in (St. Joe Ave and SR 65 north of Cynthiana). The southern 6 miles is part of the CSX bypass and mainline into Evansville. The rest is still owned in fee by NS but not active.

John DiDomizio
Evansville, IN
1/5/2010

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I was in Penn Central train service as a conductor when service on this line discontinued. My last run from Mt. Carmel to Evansville was in 1973. Now I am an engineer on CSX out of Evansville and run to Avon near Indy. I drive Indiana 65 most of the time to work and drive over the roadbed at Cynthiana and many times take Boonville - New Harmony road where the line used to go over the road. Most of the rail appears to still be on the ground. Now I run trains over the south part of the line almost every day from Ohio St to North Harwood at Evansville. Where that part was 10 mph in '73, it is now 40 mph to Bypass Junction, where it meets up with the original CE&I Main.

David Reeves
Mt. Carmel, IL
1/17/2012

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