The Elkhart & Western: the freight door of the Ball Band works

1888–PRESENT · THE SHORT LINE

A railroad built by one Elkhart businessman, for freight: The Elkhart & Western was the work of Dr. Herbert E. Bucklen of Elkhart — Herbert in the railroad's own successor record, "H. E. Bucklen" in the county history — who, in Abraham Weaver's 1916 telling, was "quietly engaged in the construction of a railroad from Elkhart to South Bend" while Goshen watched its own railroad fights. The road was incorporated in 1888 and built west from Elkhart along the St. Joseph River about ten miles to Mishawaka — it never reached South Bend, whatever its projector's announced direction; its western end was the Ball Band works. It was also called the Pleasant Valley Line, for a development location some five miles west of Elkhart. Weaver records that when completed it was bought by the Lake Shore company. The successor record tells the purchase in two further dates, and all three are printed as they stand: the railroad-history record drawn from its modern operator dates the New York Central's purchase of the Elkhart & Western to 1912, and the New York Central's own list of predecessors dates the Elkhart and Western Railroad's merger into the Central to 1915. The three statements can mark stages — a purchase of the property, a purchase by the parent, a corporate merger — but no source reached reconciles them, and the file does not pretend otherwise.

What the road did: The Elkhart & Western was a freight railroad. The compiled passenger-station lists give it no passenger stations, and the guides reached list no passenger service on it; its business was the works along the river. In the words of the record its modern operator supplied: "The E&W was Uniroyal's and Ball Band's freight door to the world. It also hauled thousands of tons of coal to the Twin Branch Steam Power Plant as well as other coal operations in town," and "the volume of freight on the E&W was astounding and revenues made the short line one of the most profitable in the world." The road crossed the St. Joseph River on its own bridge east of the Ball Band works — the photographic record holds a Penn Central crew bringing a cut of empty hopper cars across that river, east of Ball Band, on 11 February 1976 — and on Mishawaka's north side it connected with the Grand Trunk Western, the connection that gave the works a second road to the world. Its Mishawaka station, photographed about 1900, became a building of the works itself: later known as Building 45 at the Uniroyal plant, and since demolished with the plant. Photographs from its operator's archive show the road under New York Central ownership in the 1940s "running through downtown Mishawaka" — down the riverbank and through the works district the road was built to serve.

Decline, and the name restored: The road passed with the Central into Penn Central in 1968 and into Conrail in 1976. The Grand Trunk connection at Mishawaka was disconnected during Conrail's ownership, and the track through the Ball Band grounds to the old station was lifted in the Conrail era; the photographic record's last word on the old line is a 1984 view of its right of way with the tracks removed. What survived was the eastern stem, Elkhart to Mishawaka's northeast side. On 1 May 2001 Pioneer Railcorp created a new Elkhart & Western Railroad out of its Michigan Southern operation — nine miles from the Norfolk Southern interchange at Elkhart westward to Mishawaka, ending at Currant Road — and the trade press noted the point of the revival: the short line "originally connected with Grand Trunk Western Railroad, but was disconnected during Conrail's ownership of the line," and Pioneer's shippers gained competitive access through Elkhart, Goshen, Mishawaka and South Bend. Patriot Rail completed its purchase of Pioneer's parent on 14 September 2022 and holds the road today; the June 2026 fight over reconnecting it to Canadian National is carried in the freight entry below.

Sources:

1. Abraham E. Weaver, A Standard History of Elkhart County, Indiana (1916) — Bucklen "quietly engaged in the construction of a railroad from Elkhart to South Bend" in the name of the Elkhart & Western Railway Company; "when completed it was bought by the Lake Shore Company."
2. List of Indiana railroads (compiled) — the Elkhart and Western Railroad from 1888, New York Central system.
3. Monon Society, New York Central page, drawing on Pioneer Railcorp's record — the "Pleasant Valley Line"; Bucklen as the road's author; the freight volume and profitability; Ball Band's and Uniroyal's freight door; the Twin Branch coal; the New York Central purchase of 1912; the Elkhart & Western station about 1900, later Uniroyal Building 45, demolished; the Penn Central hopper cars crossing the river east of Ball Band, 11 February 1976; the 1984 right-of-way view.
4. The New York Central's predecessor list (New York Central System Historical Society) — the Elkhart and Western Railroad merged into the New York Central, 1915.
5. Progressive Railroading, 5 June 2001 — Pioneer Railcorp's spin-off of the nine-mile Elkhart & Western Railroad Co. on 1 May 2001, from the Norfolk Southern (formerly Conrail) Elkhart interchange westward to Mishawaka; the original Grand Trunk Western connection and its disconnection under Conrail; competitive access for Elkhart, Goshen, Mishawaka and South Bend shippers.
6. The Elkhart and Western Railroad's own profile (as compiled) — the Elkhart Branch from the Norfolk Southern junction at Elkhart, across and along the St. Joseph River, ending on the northeast side of Mishawaka at Currant Road; Patriot Rail's purchase completed 14 September 2022.