Monroeville, Indiana

Monroeville water tower

Overview

Monroeville is located in eastern Allen County on the RailAmerica Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad (ex-Pennsy). There is a large co-op building located on the south side of the tracks and is serviced by the RailAmerica. This section of the Fort Wayne Line is 40 mph jointed rail which is quite a rarity these days.

Historical Aspects

Fort Wayne, Van Wert, & Lima Traction Co.
The Overhead Bridge

Just west of town at the corner of Wyburn and Sampson Rd. there are two concrete bridge abutments on either side of the tracks. They are the remnants of an interurban line, the Ft. Wayne, Van Wert & Lima Traction Co., that once passed through here. It used to cross the Pennsylvania Railroad here on a very long trestle and girder bridge, which was completed in mid-1905. There was a station stop in Monroeville. The interurban line ended service sometime in the 1940's.

The following are some old photos taken of the interurban overhead that were published in the Monroeville News. It is very fortunate that someone had the foresight to take photos of this amazing bridge. After you view these photos, take a look again at the remaining bridge abutments above. Maybe you'll even want to make a trip to see them for yourself! Thanks to Tom Robison for supplying these.

Photo 1 - A view of the bridge looking west, and a view of the entire trestle looking northwest.
Photo 2 - An interurban car heads north across the Pennsy in this photo. Very cool!
Photo 3 - An eastbound Pennsy steamer, perhaps a K4, roars underneath the overhead.

Fort Wayne, Van Wert, & Lima Traction Co.
The Interurban Depot

Interestingly, the interurban station still stands today in Monroeville.

Photo 1- This was taken in 1993. The station sits northwest of the intersection of South St. and West St. The building has served several uses since the interurban trolleys left. In the 1940s it was a Hudson dealership and in 1951 became a Chevy dealership, which continued into the 1970s.
Photo 2- This postcard was sent in 1911 and was recently printed in the Monroeville News. Note the roof overhang is still there. Without this feature it doesn't look much like a depot anymore.
Photo 3 - An action scene at the station taken in the late 1920s or early 1930s. This is facing west and the interurban car is stopped in the middle of South Street. Thanks to Tom Robison for supplying these 3 photos and for the information on them!

Pennsylvania Railroad Depot

The Pennsylvania Railroad station in Monroeville, Indiana was unfortunately torn down in 1980 by Conrail. The depot sat on the west end of town at the north end of Short St. on the south side of the tracks. Here are two views of the station. The picture on the left was taken sometime in the late 1970s. The one on the right was taken in the 1950s. The water tower in the background was torn down and replaced with the present one on the northwest side of town. A much older photo of the depot taken in the 1900s was published in the Monroeville News. Click here to view it. This picture came from a postcard Special thanks to Tom Robison for supplying all 3 of these great photos!

Pictures/Audio

CSX 3108 runs westbound between the interurban remnants in Monroeville. This is WIFW30 (C726) and today he is returning back to Piqua Yd. light. July 14, 1999.

The EMP Co-op building has a spur for occasional car delivery/pickup.

Conrail 5065 pulls the east local through Monroeville on October 18, 1997.

Just a few weeks after the Conrail acquisition on June 18, 1999, the CSX east local to Lima, at the time still called WIFW30, comes through Monroeville led by Conrail 3373, a GP40-2.

It is very much a treat to hear clickity-clack at higher speeds in this age of welded mainlines.
[MP3 Format, 310K, 38 sec.]

On February 21, 2001 NS 20T trundles eastbound through Monroeville at 40 mph led by primer C40-9Ws 9606 and 9604. In October 2000, Norfolk Southern began running 20T on the Fort Wayne Line. In July 2002 they began running 20A instead and 20T was shifted north to the Chicago Line through Toledo. Today, both of these trains run through Toledo.

On June 28, 2001 mail train NS 21A comes westbound across Main St. in Monroeville with a massive 6 engine consist led by C40-9W #9448. The inactive Pennsy signal is at MP 304 and is turned perpendicular to the track.

INDEX