Valparaiso & Northern Railway

Product Details

Historical Context

The Valparaiso & Northern Railway was an electric railway that was organized in 1908 to connect the northern Indiana cities of Valparaiso and Chesterton to the lines of the Goshen, South Bend, and Chicago Railroad (GSB&C). The GSB&C was part of a much broader effort to create a fully electrified railway line that connected Chicago to New York.

The trip along the ~750-mile long Chicago-New York Electric Air Line Railroad was to take about ten hours, about half that of other contemporary rail options. The suggested path was an almost direct route between the two cities (hence the name), with a slight bend at Gary to account for Lake Michigan. When first proposed around 1905, near the height of the interurban area, the idea found enthusiastic support across the nation.

The Air Line Railroad was organized as a holding company, comprised of local firms from the participating states. The first, and only, such company to be formed was the GSB&C. Terrain leveling performed by the Co-Operative Construction Company began at La Porte, Indiana in 1906, but high costs, economic depression, and possible financial irregularities quickly led to the abandonment of the Air Line Railroad. As a result, the GSB&C focused on serving as the interurban railroad for the new city of Gary – a use for which its connections to Chesterton and Valparaiso would come in handy.

Ultimately, only about 20 miles of the Chicago-New York Electric Air Line Railroad was built through the localized efforts of the GSB&C. It would continue to build interurban connections throughout cities across northern Indiana, facilitating the region’s rise in steel production. The Valparaiso & Northern Railway was likely the longest-lasting remnant, continuing to operate service into the late 1930s.

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