Indiana Northeastern Railroad photo gallery

Indiana Northeastern Railroad

The Indiana Northeastern Railroad is a shortline railroad running in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. It is owned and operated by a close-knit family and friendly employees. The railroad has an all-Electro-Motive Division locomotive roster, which is maintained in a state-of-the-art shop at Hudson, Ind. The shop forces have rebuilt several of the railroads four-axle units.

Moving grain is the INR’s top business, with unit grain trains received from and delivered back to Norfolk Southern at Montpelier, Ohio. Montpelier — on the far east end of the Indiana Northeastern — is the railroad’s only outlet to the North American system.

The stars of the locomotive show on this railroad are its two former Conrail GP30s, Nos. 2185 and 2230, former Reading Lines and Pennsylvania Railroad units, respectively. GP30 No. 2185 was rebuilt in the Hudson Shops and improved with a new wheel adhesion system. Being slippery when starting heavy trains is considered by many consider to be the GP30’s downfall. The locomotive wears a 30th anniversary paint scheme. Plans are to also upgrade and repaint sister GP30 No. 2230.

While the bulk of the locomotive roster is four-axle power, two SD40-2 locomotives, No. 3084 and No. 3125, were recently joined by former Union Pacific Railroad SD70Ms. Those are Nos. 4379 and 4670, which operate in a patched-UP scheme and will eventually see new Indiana Northeastern paint.

The company was formed in 1992 from the failed Hillsdale County Railway. It is operated from the former division office building and passenger station of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway in Hillsdale, Mich. The company has reinvested much of its revenue into its physical plant, along with enjoying state grants to improve its track, grade crossings, and grade crossing protection.

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Indiana Northeastern Railroad EMD GP30 No. 2185 and sister No. 2230, easily the stars of the railroad’s motive power show, roll along Railroad Avenue in Coldwater, Mich., on Feb. 6, 2012. The ponds at Waterworks Park are now filled in and replaced by a field of solar energy panels. Coldwater is the west end of operations for INR in Michigan.

INR’s classic pair of GP30 locomotives — Nos. 2230 and 2185 — rumble past the former Jonesville, Mich., station, which is now the home of a bed & breakfast — The Rooms at Grayfield. The building was constructed for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway in 1898.

Under a full moon and the photographer’s strobe flash, Indiana Northeastern's GP30 pair — Nos. 2185 and 2230, rest outside the company headquarters at Hillsdale, Mich., on Feb. 6, 2012.

No. 1601, a former Reading GP7, is teamed with No. 1602, an ex-Great Northern GP9 No. 1602, to work the last customer on the line at Coldwater, Mich., on April 16, 2012. Both locomotives have since been rebuilt by the railroad’s Hudson, Ind., shops.

Utilizing Norfolk Southern trackage, Indiana Northeastern Railroad GP9 No. 2216 West departs Montpelier, Ohio on April 16, 2012. One of the road’s GP30s — No. 2230 — is in the second position, while NS No. 2699, an EMD SD70M-2, rounds out the motive power. The empty grain train is meeting a loaded welded rail train.

Aboard former Illinois Central Gulf GP10 No. 1073, locomotive engineer Jimmy Van Heerde cuts away from the last loaded grain hopper as he begins to build a grain train at South Milford, Ind., on Feb. 25, 2013.

Indiana Northeastern Railroad’s state-of-the-art Hudson locomotive shop has rebuilt and repainted several locomotives in the fleet. A former Great Northern Railroad GP9 No. 1602, and ex-Pennsylvania Railroad GP30 No. 2230 are in for work on Feb. 25, 2013.

In typical shortline fashion of doing what it takes to get the job done, Jeffrey James, conductor, (left), and Jimmy Van Heerde, engineer, change to maintenance-of-way staff, albeit temporarily. The two make quick work of a downed tree blocking the tracks at Montgomery, Mich. With the railroad’s twin GP30s, they are bound for Coldwater, Mich., on Thursday, May 31, 2018.

Engineer Kevin Petre watches traffic on Old U.S. Highway 27, as his train approaches Steubenville Junction, Ind., on a sweltering, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2017. Built as Cleveland Union Terminal No. 5903 in 1954, the GP9 was rebuilt by employees at the company’s Hudson, Indiana shops.

Two of the Indiana Northeastern Railroad’s six-axle units blast westbound from the railroad’s headquarters city of Hillsdale, Mich., on Friday, Aug. 12, 2022. No. 3125, now a SD40M-2, began life as a Southern Pacific SD45, as evidenced by the flared radiator grills. No. 3084 was originally part of the Canadian Pacific roster.