Madison & Indianapolis Railroad

The Madison & Indianapolis Railroad linked Madison and Indianapolis and was the first railroad built in Indiana.

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The Madison & Indianapolis Railroad linked Madison and Indianapolis and was the first railroad built in Indiana. Portions of the line remain in service, while other sections are abandoned.

History

Madison & Indianapolis Railroad

The state of Indiana chartered its first railroads in 1830 and soon explored a route from the growing river town of Madison, incorporated in 1809. ¹¹

On January 27, 1836, Governor Noah Noble signed the Internal Improvements Act, which authorized canals, turnpikes, and the Madison & Lafayette Railroad. ^{1 11} E. M. Beckwith, a state engineer, and John Woodburn, a local resident and member of the Board of Internal Improvements, oversaw the initial work. ¹¹ After surveys in 1836 and 1837, the state hired several contractors and about 1,400 laborers, many of whom were Irish immigrants who traveled by rail to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, then by canal to Pittsburgh, and by river to Madison.

Construction began on September 16, 1836. ¹ The segment between North Madison and Vernon opened on June 6, 1839, and required five bridges. ¹¹ Track reached Queensville by June 1, 1841. The Madison incline opened on November 3, involving the removal of 500,000 tons of earth and the construction of a 7,012-foot incline with a 5.89% grade—the steepest on any standard-gauge railroad in the nation. ⁶ Because locomotives could not climb it, horses initially pulled the cars. ²

Financial strain halted further state work, and the 27.8-mile line was transferred to the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad on June 20, 1842 ¹ /February 18, 1843. ¹¹ M&I agreed to extend the line to Edinburg by July 1, 1846, and to Indianapolis by 1848.

The full 85.79-mile route opened ahead of schedule on October 1, 1847. ¹¹ Its completion established Indianapolis as a major transportation hub for the 4,000 miles of rail laid over the next three decades. The line reached its peak success in the decade after completion; however, after the 1850s, the expanding interstate connections centered on Indianapolis threatened the prosperity of both the M&I and Madison.

A cogwheel system was installed on the Madison incline in 1848, but was abandoned in 1868 after the introduction of the 56-ton Reuben Wells, whose weight allowed it to operate without cog assistance. At the summit, however, it was still replaced by a standard locomotive. A plan in 1853 proposed a 4¾-mile low-grade bypass through the Clifty Creek valley, including two tunnels, but construction stopped after $309,479 had been spent because of financial difficulties. ⁶

The M&I was sold at foreclosure on March 27, 1862, and renamed the Indianapolis & Madison Railroad (I&M). ¹¹ It abandoned 10.09 miles of track between Columbus and Edinburgh in 1864 and used the Jeffersonville Railroad’s alignment to the east. ⁸

Jeffersonville Railroad

The Ohio & Indianapolis Railway was chartered on February 3, 1832, to build a line from Indianapolis south to the Ohio River at Jeffersonville. It was not organized until March 17, 1848, and was renamed the Jeffersonville Railroad on February 3, 1849. The first section, between Jeffersonville and Memphis, opened in 1850, and the extension to Columbus opened in August 1852.

Separately, the Jeffersonville Railroad leased the Shelbyville Lateral Railroad in 1851 and the Knightstown & Shelbyville Railroad in 1852; both lines were abandoned in 1868. ⁹ It also began operating the Rushville & Shelbyville Railroad under lease on September 1, 1852; the line became the Shelby & Rush Railroad in 1882.

Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad

The Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad (JM&I) was organized on April 30, 1866, to consolidate the I&M and the Jeffersonville. ⁹ It absorbed the I&M on May 1 and the Jeffersonville Railroad on June 1. It also incorporated the Shelby & Rush Railroad, the Columbus & Shelby Railroad, and the Lake Erie & Louisville Railroad.

In 1890, the JM&I was consolidated with other lines to form the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway (PCC&StL), which became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) system.

Later Years

Dedicated passenger service in Madison ended on August 15, 1935, and was replaced by a coach attached to daily local freight trains until October 10, 1938. ⁴ The PRR merged with the New York Central Railroad in 1968, forming Penn Central (PC), which went bankrupt in 1970. ¹¹ The U.S. government formed the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) to merge bankrupt northeastern railroads into one network, and the line between Indianapolis and Madison was folded into Conrail.

In the 1976 Final System Plan for Conrail, which assumed control of PC and other bankrupt railroads in 1976, the Madison to North Vernon segment of the PC was slated for dismantling, despite its service to the Clifty Creek Power Plant. ⁵

Elsewhere, a 16.8-mile section from North Vernon to Rossman south of Columbus was dismantled in 1975. ³

Madison Railroad

Facing the loss of rail service, the City of Madison Port Authority formed the Madison Railroad, and began operating in September 1978 over 25 miles of track between Madison and North Vernon under an interim lease from PC for $20,000 per month. ^{11 13} The city of Madison acquired the line in 1981 under state legislation that allowed municipalities to operate short-line railroads under 50 miles. ¹ The city’s initial $500,000 offer was rejected, but a successful condemnation action under eminent domain in 1984 enabled the purchase for $307,000. ^{5 11}

Track from the top of the hill in Madison to the Clifty Creek Power Plant last saw regular use in 1992. ⁷ It had been recently refurbished with support from the Indiana-Kentucky Electric Corporation and was used to move equipment during the plant’s expansion.

The Madison Railroad later acquired 14 miles of track in the former Jefferson Proving Ground. ¹⁰ It has invested more than $15 million to upgrade the line to Federal Railroad Administration Class II standards ¹² and to accommodate rail cars with a 286,000-pound load limit. ¹¹

In 2011 and 2012, the railroad replaced two bridges in Jennings County and rehabilitated three others. ¹²

In 2022, the Madison Railroad replaced the deficient deck truss bridge over Graham Creek to accommodate higher-capacity rail cars. ¹¹ Although the superstructure remained in generally good condition, showing only minor pitting, pack rust on some members, corrosion on several stringers, and bearings in fair to poor condition, the substructure ranged from poor to fair because of heavy spalling and extensive cracking.

The original Graham Creek Bridge was built in 1839 as a covered Burr through truss. ¹¹ By 1846, the M&I sought its replacement because such bridges were considered unsafe for heavier locomotives, and the company installed a covered Howe through truss. Around 1910, the PRR replaced that structure with a steel modified Pratt through truss, originally built circa 1880 for another location.

The railroad is proposing to replace the deteriorated North Muscatatuck River Bridge in Vernon. ¹² The plan calls for installing a steel deck plate girder bridge with a reinforced concrete ballasted deck.

Louisville & Indiana Railroad

The remaining line between Columbus and Indianapolis was acquired by the Louisville & Indiana Railroad in March 1994.

Heritage Trail

A trail linking downtown Madison with the hilltop was proposed in 1995, ³ and the Madison Heritage Trail Committee formed the following year. ¹⁴ In 1999, the General Assembly allocated $435,000 for the project, supplemented by $45,000 from the Build Indiana Fund. Construction of the first segment, from Crooked Creek to a quarry, was awarded to Wingham Construction in 2001, and the Heritage Trail, utilizing part of the original Madison & Lafayette Railroad in Madison, opened on September 21, 2002. ² The trail reached the top of the hill in 2007. ¹⁴

In July 2011, the Madison Railroad received $403,000 from the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to improve the out-of-service incline. ¹⁵ The project aimed to make the corridor safe and visually appealing for public use as a walking path. Work began in 2012 and included excavation, track rehabilitation, landscaping, and the installation of historic markers and signage. Although the project was not intended to restore rail operations, it did not prevent the possibility of rehabilitating the track for future use if needed.

As of 2025, the railroad has revoked public access to the walking path, despite receiving public funding from INDOT to rehabilitate the incline.

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Gallery

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Sources

1. “Madison Railroad’s Origins.” Madison Railroad. 2011.
2. “Madison Railroad Incline Cut.” National Park Service.
3. “Indiana Railroad Abandonments.” Indiana Department of Transportation, Oct. 2007.
4. Jefferson County Historical Society. “Gone Forever.” River to Rail, 2007.
5. Jefferson County Historical Society. “The Final Chapter.” River to Rail, 2007.
6. “Madison’s Railroad.” Old Madison, 1997.
7. Wright, Ruth. “Building, traversing Madison incline tested early railroad engineers.” RoundAbout., Jan. 2003.
8. Netzlof, Robert T. “Corporate Genealogy, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, The Panhandle.” 20 Jan. 2008
9. Hallberg, M. C. “Railroads in North America: Some Historical Facts and an Introduction to an Electronic Database of North American Railroads and Their Evolution.” 24 Apr. 2006.
10. “Home.” Madison Railroad.
11. Shaw, Anne E. Minimum Architectural Documentation of Graham Creek Railroad Bridge. Clark Dietz, 15 Mar. 2021.
12. “Infrastructure Improvements.” Madison Railroad.
13. “About Us.” Madison Railroad.
14. Demaree, Bob. “Greene, others had a vision for trail system.” Madison Courier, 18 Aug. 2025.
15. Hodges, Laura. “Federal grant will enhance Heritage Trail, train incline.” RoundAbout, Sept. 2011.