The Hoosier Southern 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 ...

owned and operated by the Perry County Port Authority (PCPA) of

Perry County, Indiana Perry County is a County (United States), county located in the Southwestern Indiana, southwestern part of the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 19,170. The county seat is Tell City, Indiana, Tell City. It is the hilliest co ...

History

The railroad originally consisted of a 22.3 mile line between the Indiana communities of Cannelton and

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

that the Port Authority purchased from

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

in 1991. The line had been unused since the mid-1980s and Norfolk Southern was considering abandonment prior to the Port Authority's purchase.

Purpose and services

PCPA's goal in obtaining and putting the Hoosier Southern line back into service was (and is) to attract new industry to Perry County. When Waupaca Foundry announced plans to build a facility just north of Tell City in 1995, the Port Authority undertook construction of a spur to that site. In 1996, an additional 2.4 miles of trackage between

and Lincoln City was added to the HOS system. This trackage was also purchased from Norfolk Southern. Combined with the Tell City River Port on the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

at Tell City, the Hoosier Southern provides multimodal transportation to serve the needs of businesses in both

Perry Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Austral ...

and Spencer counties. Though the Hoosier Southern is no longer part of the Norfolk Southern system, it interchanges with the NS system at Lincoln City. NS gives HOS customers a direct connection to much of the eastern United States, with lines to such centers of commerce as

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

and

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

Communities

The Hoosier Southern passes through the following Indiana communities: * Cannelton * Tell City *

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

* Evanston * Buffaloville * Lincoln City

Sources

Official website of the Hoosier Southern Railroad
with link to Perry County Port Authority operations

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070929111757/http://www.ispls.org/pdf/RailroadListIN.pdf Indiana Society of Professional Land Surveyors: Railroad List {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoosier Southern Railroad Indiana railroads Transportation in Perry County, Indiana Transportation in Spencer County, Indiana 1991 establishments in Indiana