Western Railroad Discussion > Indiana & Ohio Railway--Does it still exist???

This beauty has been working for some time on the DGNO in Dallas. Still wears the beautiful orange, red, and black (shades of Daylight scheme) paint job of the Indiana & Ohio Railway.

Does the I&O still exist? Anyone know the history of this handsome GP40?

--Steve Schmollinger

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Yes the I&O still exists, its part of the Rail America family. Ofcourse though the bright red/orange/black scheme was long ago discontinued, with the current scheme being the old gray and red design from the Railtex days.

Bryan Jones

redneckrailfan Wrote:
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> Yes the I&O still exists, its part of the Rail
> America family. Ofcourse though the bright
> red/orange/black scheme was long ago discontinued,
> with the current scheme being the old gray and red
> design from the Railtex days.
>
> Bryan Jones




In actual practice, the I&O I know and refuse to photograph, runs a collection of rent-a-wreck crap, some BN-painted "green weenies" (GP40s that were never repainted) lettered for various roads in the RailGenerica family, 3 NYSW SD75Ms, a couple of HLCX SW1500s in a not-bad green scheme and probably some other stuff like what Bryan suggests. They run within two miles of my house....I haven't shot an IORY train in, ummmmmmmm, years. Rostered some engines in 2001. Last moving train was probably in the 90s. (I really miss those red-and-orange engines).

BobE

BobE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> redneckrailfan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yes the I&O still exists, its part of the Rail
> > America family. Ofcourse though the bright
> > red/orange/black scheme was long ago
> discontinued,
> > with the current scheme being the old gray and
> red
> > design from the Railtex days.
> >
> > Bryan Jones
>
>
>
>
> In actual practice, the I&O I know and refuse to
> photograph, runs a collection of rent-a-wreck
> crap, some BN-painted "green weenies" (GP40s that
> were never repainted) lettered for various roads
> in the RailGenerica family, 3 NYSW SD75Ms, a
> couple of HLCX SW1500s in a not-bad green scheme
> and probably some other stuff like what Bryan
> suggests. They run within two miles of my
> house....I haven't shot an IORY train in,
> ummmmmmmm, years. Rostered some engines in 2001.
> Last moving train was probably in the 90s. (I
> really miss those red-and-orange engines).
>
> BobE



hey Bob don't forget the 2 or 3 fresh SD40T-2's they recieved in the fall (one of which has a tan primer in place of the standard gray on the top portion of the longhood) and the ex SP SD45T-2's! I know when I stopped by the yard the day after Summerail this past fall that there was a Pittsburgh Industrial RR SW1500 in black hanging around as well. One thing for sure though is that you are more likely to hit the Powerball than you are to get 3 matching locos on the same train! While I love a nice set of matching power, the roster photographer deep down inside of me loves these railroads that are a riot of color! (case in point is that CSX is my primary local railroad, need I say more!).

Bryan Jones

BobE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> In actual practice, the I&O I know and refuse to
> photograph, runs a collection of rent-a-wreck
> crap, some BN-painted "green weenies" (GP40s that
> were never repainted) lettered for various roads
> in the RailGenerica family, 3 NYSW SD75Ms, a
> couple of HLCX SW1500s in a not-bad green scheme
> and probably some other stuff like what Bryan
> suggests. They run within two miles of my
> house....I haven't shot an IORY train in,
> ummmmmmmm, years. Rostered some engines in 2001.
> Last moving train was probably in the 90s. (I
> really miss those red-and-orange engines).
>
> BobE

Actually, normal road power is right at half and half. 9 in lease paint & 9 in IORY/Railtex paint.

Here we go:

3092 CEFX/UP
4034 I&O red/orange
4036 I&O red/orange
4050 NYSW
4052 NYSW
4070-4072 Railtex red/grey (3 units)
4082-4085 Railtex red/grey (4 units)
5597 NREX grey
5678 NREX/CP "dual flags"
9362 full SP speed letter
9392 SP/CEFX
9400 SP/CEFX
9500 SP/CEFX

The 4034 & 4036 have been in local service, but occaisionally see road use. Power sets have been staying together for a couple Cincy - Flat Rock round trips lately, so your chances of seeing a red & grey in lead are pretty good. Have not seen one of the BN GP50's in quite some time; the crews don't like them much anyway.

In other words, GET OVER IT.

AJB

BobE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> redneckrailfan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yes the I&O still exists, its part of the Rail
> > America family. Ofcourse though the bright
> > red/orange/black scheme was long ago
> discontinued,
> > with the current scheme being the old gray and
> red
> > design from the Railtex days.
> >
> > Bryan Jones
>
>
>
>
> In actual practice, the I&O I know and refuse to
> photograph, runs a collection of rent-a-wreck
> crap, some BN-painted "green weenies" (GP40s that
> were never repainted) lettered for various roads
> in the RailGenerica family, 3 NYSW SD75Ms, a
> couple of HLCX SW1500s in a not-bad green scheme
> and probably some other stuff like what Bryan
> suggests. They run within two miles of my
> house....I haven't shot an IORY train in,
> ummmmmmmm, years. Rostered some engines in 2001.
> Last moving train was probably in the 90s. (I
> really miss those red-and-orange engines).
>
> BobE


> > Bryan Jones

Why such a dislike towards I&O..? I live ten miles from them and I would rather railfan the I&O than CSX or NS just because of the "rainbow" of paint scemes and the various power running around on their railroad. These days all you see are the "widecabs" from both GE & EMD and they all "look" the same. To me the new generation of power is nothing to get excited about vs. the first and second generation power of 30 to 40 years ago.
>
>

AJB wrote:

Have not seen
> one of the BN GP50's in quite some time; the crews
> don't like them much anyway.


I reply:

The GP50s were shipped out three years ago, that's why you haven't seen them. Last I heard, they were congregating on the Alabama & Gulf Coast (how do you like them, Howie?).




AJB wrote:


> In other words, GET OVER IT.


I reply:

Dude, GET OVER YOURSELF. I can foam whatever railroad I want to for whatever reasons trip my trigger. If I don't care to photo a railroad with crap power, I won't do it and you have zero say in the matter.

BobE

20thCENTURYLIMITED Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why such a dislike towards I&O..? I live ten miles
> from them and I would rather railfan the I&O than
> CSX or NS just because of the "rainbow" of paint
> scemes and the various power running around on
> their railroad. These days all you see are the
> "widecabs" from both GE & EMD and they all "look"
> the same. To me the new generation of power is
> nothing to get excited about vs. the first and
> second generation power of 30 to 40 years ago.
> >

I'll respond because I feel the same way about the I&O that Bob does. After about three or four trains with "rainbow" power, the novelty wears off real quick for me. Except for the two GP40 rebuilds, which don't seem to make it to my area often enough to justify paying attention, nothing on the Indiana & Ohio has any real local identity.

I shot a lot of I&O during the first year or two after RailTex took over, when all six of the rebuilt GP40s (which are ex-CSX, by the way) and the two red-orange GP30Ms were still on the property. Even then, there were a lot of "rainbow" lashups, but if I heard a warrant go out with one of those red-orange units' numbers as a leader, I pretty much dropped whatever other foaming I was doing and chased after it. Later, after most of the GP40s were sent to Texas and the NYSW SD70Ms showed up on lease, I still made an effort to catch each of the Susie Q's on an I&O train, given that I had previously photographed them on home rails, on intermodal trains running on NS across the ex-NKP, and at least once in lease service on CSX. But now they're old hat.

The closest I got to a perfect I&O picture occurred after I drove 45 minutes (or so) from Ridgeway, Ohio, to Quincy after I heard a warrant given for a southbound departing Lima with a GP40 leading. The train had three of the red-orange GP40s in its power consist! Unfortunately, the second unit was a green weenie and the lead engine was running long-hood ahead. I have never since made that much effort for an I&O train.

I like to shoot the older stuff myself. But I'll sooner drive many hours to photograph the attractive-looking, home-identity trains of roads like the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern, the Iowa Northern, the Maryland Midland, or the Providence & Worcester than burn 35 minutes to go shoot anything on the I&O. I'd much rather photograph a matched set of black GEs on Norfolk Southern than I would RailAmerica dog vomit, and it's when NS puts an unpainted "primer" unit on the point that I often save my film for the next train. It has nothing to do with what kind of engines I like, and everything to do with aesthetics. The primer thing is just plain ugly, and I've already photographed more than enough of them to "document" that part of history. The same philosophy applies to the "rainbows" on the I&O: been there, done that, sick to death of it -- whereas, if everything, or even almost everything, on the property were in that red-orange, I'd still care.

Steve,

I don't know why some of the others who responded to your question have such disdain for the I&O. At least it's an American railroad that's actually showing a profit. Another similar one to the I&O is the Ohio Central. In the words of another respondant, it too, has a lot of "crap" locomotives, but the Ohio Central is also making a nice profit.

The I&O uses many of the routes of the old DT&I Railroad in Ohio and Michigan (I believe). For example, every day, at least one auto rack goes from the Lima (Ohio) Ford plant north to Detroit and one comes back again.

For anyone interested, I've attached a couple of pictures of Ohio Central trains.

Wes

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drwes Wrote:
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> I don't know why some of the others who responded
> to your question have such disdain for the I&O.

I thought I explained the reasoning pretty well. And if "being an American railroad that is making a profit" is the only qualification for being of interest to railfans, well, I do think at least one or two others bring a little money in once in a while.

Further thought: Steve can see for himself why Bob and I and certain others don't trouble ourselves with the I&O very often. The units we'd like to see are in Dallas!

P.S. Autorack trains on the I&O have nothing to do with the Ford plant in Lima. The Ford plant in Lima makes engines, which are shipped in highcubes, not autoracks.

I stand corrected. The Lima plant makes engines, I know. These forums are just like the model railroad hobby . . . there are too many opinions and too much criticism.