Dates of operation 1903–1917 | Locale Indiana | |
The Cincinnati, Bluffton and Chicago Railroad (CB&C) was a short-lived railroad that provided service to locations in the U.S. state of Indiana from 1903 until 1917. Although the railroad aspired to trunk-line status, it was unable to achieve sufficient financing to provide service to two of the three of the municipalities listed in its corporate name. It operated a 52-mile-long northwest-southeast alignment from Huntington to Portland, via Bluffton and Pennville.
The CB&C's financial condition, never good, worsened significantly with a pair of accidents in 1913. On May 22, 1913, a freight train fully loaded with masonry stone was passing over one of the small railroad's key assets, a trestle bridge over the Wabash River at Bluffton, when the overburdened span collapsed. The mishap threw the steam locomotive into the river, killing the engine driver.
Later that year on December 13, a crew had braked one of the railroad's remaining steam locomotives for the night at the short line's northern terminus, Huntington. The track apparently sloped and the locomotive slipped its brake and ran away after working hours. Overshooting the CB&C's trackage stub, the power unit crossed a downtown street and buried itself in the plate-glass front window of a small downtown grocery store/confectionery. There were no known casualties. A photograph of the incident survives.
As these incidents were taking place, the railroad significantly cut back its use of steam power, replacing units with gasoline-powered railcars after 1912. This innovation did not save the line, however, and service ended permanently in 1917.