October 1979. The End of A Railroad Era

Looking back through the history of Indiana, and Indianapolis in particular, it is hard to have an opinion other than one simple premise: the railroad built the Hoosier State and its capital. Now hear me out. There were people coming into the state by the roads and rivers. I can’t deny that. But the numbers of people that were coming increased drastically when the railroads began their journeys across the state. Think about it, in the year 1847, when the first railroad entered Indianapolis, the state capital had officially become big enough to legally change from a town to a city.

But what comes around, goes around. Fast forward to 1 May 1971. The new government railroad company, Amtrak, started operations as the major passenger train company. Not all railroads gave up their passenger operations to Amtrak in the beginning. Some railroads wanted to give it a go, continuing their passenger service. That, however, did not last long.

The passenger service in the United States continued to stumble along as Amtrak tried to find its footing. Eight years later, the company decided to shed some of its dead weight.

Indianapolis, a city that at one point had 200+ trains daily stopping at Union Station, by 1971, had dropped to two: the James Whitcomb Riley and the National Limited. The National Limited, as it was called then, was actually the continuation of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Spirit of St. Louis, connecting New York to Kansas City. The original National Limited was actually a Baltimore & Ohio train connecting Washington, DC, to St. Louis. That train ceased operations on 30 April 1971, the day before the Amtrak takeover.

Another train that rumbled through the Hoosier landscape was the Floridian, carrying passengers from Chicago to Miami. It had two regular stops in Indiana during the 1970’s: Lafayette and Bloomington. Hence, Lafayette had the service of two regular trains through the 1970’s: James Whitcomb Riley and Floridian.

As I mentioned yesterday, the James Whitcomb Riley had its route changed due to track issues between Chicago and Louisville along the Penn Central. By 1974, the number of passenger trains serving Indianapolis had dropped to one: National Limited. And even that was questionable just a year prior.

A plan by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (the official name of Amtrak) was to eliminate their trains numbered 30, 31, 52 and 53 on 2 August 1973. In Amtrak parlance, trains 30 and 31 were the National Limited. Trains 52 and 53 were the Floridian. Opposition to this plan was found in the government officials all along the two rail routes. Mayor Richard Lugar of Indianapolis issued a statement on 12 July 1973 stating just that. The expectation was that Indiana Governor Otis Bowen would issue a statement along the same lines within days.

Protests to the pending removal of these railroad lines was due to be in Washington, DC, by 18 July 1973. Other protests came from the United Transportation Union, the union that represented Amtrak employees.

The railroad routes were saved. For the time being. 1974 saw, as mentioned above, the necessary, and supposedly temporary, rerouting of the James Whitcomb Riley. Richmond would be the benefactor in this arrangement, as now that city had more passenger service than did Indianapolis. (And, yes, I do not the irony in that passenger service to Richmond was provided by the same trains that had provided Indianapolis with it.) Now, instead of Indianapolis, the James Whitcomb Riley and the National Limited had stops in Richmond.

Fast forward to the summer of 1979. Amtrak is planning cuts again to both the National Limited and the Floridian. And, again, the protests started. It even led to a Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, to issue a temporary restraining order directing Amtrak to maintain the National Limited past the proposed 30 September 1979 end date to at least 12 October. That was shot down when Amtrak appealed to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court would snuff out the restraining order, allowing the National Limited to leave Penn Station in New York at 1555, 30 September 1979.

When it stopped at Indianapolis, it would be the last train to use the grand old Union Station after 90 years of service to the city. The last train to serve the station would be the eastbound run of the National Limited, which, ironically, would be running late.

The Floridian last a bit longer. A judge in Wichita, Kansas, ordered Amtrak to keep three of its lines operating. These included the Lone Star, the North Coast Hiawatha, and the Floridian. All three of these trains served Chicago. The Lone Star went to Houston. North Coast Hiawatha served cities and towns between Chicago and Seattle. As mentioned above, the Floridian rumbled its way through Lafayette and Bloomington on its way to places warm and sunny.

The reprieve would not last long. The Floridian had been operating on a day-to-day basis since the original 30 September 1979 end date. That extension would last about two weeks.

There was talk, especially in Richmond, of restoring the National Limited. Talks of Penn Central/Conrail abandoning the old Panhandle main line connecting Richmond and Terre Haute via Indianapolis did not quell the talk. The National Limited could simply be rerouted toward the Bee Line out of Richmond, and still connect Indianapolis and Terre Haute on its way west. The Panhandle was abandoned in 1982 and 1984. And the National Limited never saw its revival.

And Indianapolis Union Station would be just short of its 100th anniversary (keeping in mind that before 1888, and the current station was built, it was known as Indianapolis Union Depot) before it would see another passenger locomotive grace its portals. And that was the return of the train that had been the James Whitcomb Riley.