The Vermilion Valley Railroad is a

short-line railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

that operates across the

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

state line, connecting the Flex-N-Gate Corporation facility west of

Covington, Indiana Covington is a city in, and the county seat of, Fountain County, Indiana, United States. The population was 2,645 at the 2010 census. History Fountain County was formed on April 1, 1826. Later that year, the county seat was established at Covin ...

with

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

Danville, Illinois Danville is a city in Vermilion County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The populations was 29,204 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Danville micropolitan area. History The area that is now Danville was on ...

. Operations by the VVRR began in 2003 after CSX abandoned the ex-

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

line. On May 12, 2023, VVRR was acquired by Gulf & Atlantic Railways.

History

The line was completed in 1869 by the Indianapolis, Crawfordsville and Danville Railroad, and later became part of the Pekin-

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

line of the Peoria and Eastern Railway, a

subsidiary. Successor

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...

abandoned the portion between

Olin Olin may refer to: People Organizations * OLIN, American landscape architecture firm * Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis * Olin College, an undergraduate engineering college in Massachusetts * Olin Corporation, a chem ...

and Crawfordsville by 1985, and in 1999 the remaining pieces were conveyed to

New York Central Lines LLC New York Central Lines LLC was a limited liability company that owned railroad lines in the United States that are owned and operated by CSX Transportation. The company was formed in 1998 to own Conrail lines assigned to CSX in the split of Conrai ...

for operation by CSX. CSX filed with the

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is an independent federal agency that serves as an adjudicatory board. The board was created in 1996 following the abolition of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and absorbed regula ...

for abandonment between Danville and Olin in 2001, since there had been no traffic for the past three years. Flex-N-Gate Corporation is an Illinois-based auto parts manufacturer that has submitted an offer of financial assistance and bought the line through newly created FNG Logistics Corporation in December 2002. The Vermilion Valley Railroad began operating the line in April 2003. After being run by Indiana Boxcar Corporation until 2019 and Midwest and Bluegrass until 2023, VVRR operations have transitioned to Gulf & Atlantic Railways.

Locomotive roster

Loco roster
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vermilion Valley Railroad Illinois railroads Indiana railroads Transportation in Vermilion County, Illinois Transportation in Vermillion County, Indiana Transportation in Warren County, Indiana Switching and terminal railroads Railway companies established in 2003 2003 establishments in Illinois 2003 establishments in Indiana Spin-offs of CSX Transportation 2023 mergers and acquisitions