The north–south road: the Cincinnati, Peru & Chicago succession, and who runs it now

1853–2026 · chartered 2 June 1853; Elkhart & Western lease to 31 July 2029

The town's founding railroad ran north and south: the Cincinnati, Peru & Chicago Railway was chartered on 2 June 1853 and built through this ground in 1855, on the La Porte-to-Plymouth course that made West Troy and then Walkerton possible (the Story of Walkerton section leg carries the plats). The road was nicknamed the "Pe-wee road" in its Peru years. Its corporate course ran: consolidation with the Indianapolis, Peru & Chicago in 1881, as the Logansport Pharos Tribune stated it on 26 May 1881; purchase by the Lake Erie & Western in 1887; the Nickel Plate in 1922; Norfolk & Western in 1964; and Norfolk Southern in 1982 — the succession the Story of Walkerton section leg prints at frame strength from the corporate record.

The present needs one correction to that frame, and this section prints it at federal-record strength: Norfolk Southern owns the line, but it has not operated the railroad through Walkerton since 2010. The Surface Transportation Board's docket FD 35347, served 19 February 2010, records the Elkhart & Western Railroad's lease of the Norfolk Southern line from Argos (milepost I 108.6) to Walkerton (milepost I 131.6) — some 23.0 miles, with Walkerton as the lease's north end. The lease was amended in 2016 (Sub-No. 1) and its term extended to 31 July 2029 (Sub-No. 2, Federal Register, 31 January 2020). The Elkhart & Western was created by Pioneer Railcorp on 1 May 2001, and Patriot Rail acquired Pioneer Lines on 14 September 2022, so the short line that switches Walkerton today is a Patriot Rail property. The Federal Railroad Administration's crossing inventory, dated 4 November 2026, lists the Elkhart & Western as the reporting railroad at the town's crossings — Adams, Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois, Virginia and Georgia streets, and US 6 — which is the inventory's way of saying whose railroad this now is at street level. The one Walkerton shipper named in the record reached is Opta Minerals, in covered hoppers, carried at railfan-compilation strength.

Sources:

1. The Story of Walkerton section leg of this build (the charter of 2 June 1853; the succession at frame strength, from the corporate record and the Logansport Pharos Tribune, 26 May 1881).
2. Surface Transportation Board, Finance Docket No. 35347, Elkhart & Western Railroad — lease and operation, served 19 February 2010; Sub-No. 1 (2016); Sub-No. 2, notice in the Federal Register, 31 January 2020 (term to 31 July 2029).
3. Patriot Rail Company, acquisition of Pioneer Lines, 14 September 2022; Elkhart & Western Railroad, created 1 May 2001 under Pioneer Railcorp.
4. Federal Railroad Administration crossing inventory via the Rail Crossing Atlas, dated 4 November 2026 — the Elkhart & Western as reporting railroad at the Walkerton crossings named.
5. Railroadfan.com, Elkhart & Western customer list (Opta Minerals, Walkerton) — railfan-compilation strength, printed as such.