TRIPLE RAILROAD CROSSING
by
John May
The Triple Railroad Crossing was once located in Elliston on the west bank of the White River in Fairplay Township. This landmark actually evolved in three stages and then partially disappeared at the end of the Golden Age of the Railroad in Greene County.
The first stage involved the Bloomfield-Bedford Branch of the Monon. Completed in 1876 using narrow gauge track, it ran east and west and crossed the township at ground level.
The second stage occurred a few years later when the Evansville-Terre Haute line was built which ran north to south. The track crossed the county line south of Newberry, and then ran through Elliston into Worthington. It intersected the Monon line at Elliston at ground level with a common depot. This line has also been known as the Evansville, Indianapolis, and Terre Haute as well as the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis. Eventually it was Purchased by the New York Central.
In 1895 the entire Bedford-Switz City segment of the Monon line was changed from narrow to standard gauge track. This change necessitated a new crossing with the Evansville and Terre Haute Railroad. Originally stop boards, a type of signaling device, were used to inform the conductors which train had the right of way at the intersection. Later a combination gate and tilting target was installed on the Monon track. When the target was in vertical position and gate against the Monon, the crossing was clear for the Evansville-Terre Haute; when the target was horizontal and the gate against the Evansville-Terre Haute, the crossing was clear for the Monon.
The third and final stage was completed in 1906 when the Illinois Central built elevated tracks that crossed directly above the intersecting lines of the Monon and Evansville-Terre Haute. The elevated tracks bisected the other two lines diagonally.
Since the time of the three railroads crossing, local people have claimed that this was the only place in the world where three railroads crossed at the exact same spot. Although the world-wide theory may be hard to prove, records document it as the only triple crossing in Indiana.
However, in 1935 the triple crossing was reduced to just a two railroad crossing. The events that lead up to the closing of the Monon line are historical. After the first railroad bridge across the White River at Elliston collapsed in 1884, the fallen structure was replaced later in that year with a covered bridge, a rarity in Indiana rail ways. The four 150-foot span trestle bridge was built by A.M. Kennedy and Sons, outstanding Indiana builders of covered bridges during this era.
In 1930, the condition of the covered bridge over the White River became so bad that operation of the six miles west of the bridge had to be discontinued by Monon. The story is told that just before that section was closed, the Monon crews would reduce the speed of the train so it would move slowly across the bridge. When the train reached the other side of the bridge the members of the crew, who had already walked across, would swing on board.
On September 16, 1935, permission was granted by the Interstate Commerce Commission to close the line from Avoca to Switz City. Shortly after this date the line was dismantled. However, the covered bridge over the White River remained in place, minus the rails and ties. On January 16, 1937, a raging flood in the White River Valley brought down the eastern 150-foot span. The remainder of the bridge, which constituted a hazard, was removed shortly thereafter.
The New York Central line operated on ground-level tracks until 1996 when the line was closed and the tracks were removed. The only remnants of the Triple Crossing is the Illinois Central line. The Indiana Southern Railroad, which purchased the Illinois Central, uses the elevated tracks to haul coal from Greene County to Indianapolis. The Viaduct, the third largest railroad trestle in the world, is located on the same line just a few miles away.
REFERENCES
Bredeway, Madeline, and Sixth Grade G.A.T.E. Class Linton Facts and Hi Dry Tracks. North Manchester, Indiana: Heckman Bindery, Inc., 1986.
"Fairplay Township," History of Greene County, Indiana: 1885-1989. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1990.
"Railroads," History of Greene and Sullivan Counties. Chicago: Goodspeed and Brothers and Company, 1984.
Sulzer, Elmer G. Indiana’s Abandoned Railroads: Part I-Abandoned Railroad of Bedford. Indianapolis: Council for Local History, 1959.