Re: Marion, IN

This discussion is very fascinating to me ... but also kind of confusing.

In 1982, my wife and I moved to Marion IN; our house was maybe a mile from the station in question, which is located at the corner of 4th & McClure Streets. At that time, the main tracks past the station were part of the Conrail system (so they might have been Pennsylvania at one time), but the station itself was owned by Norfolk & Western, which had a small spur line that ran south for a couple of miles (to 38th St) and then west to Kokomo. There was (and still is, as far as I know) another building, located at the corner of 10th & Washington Streets (6 blocks south and 3 blocks west), on another set of tracks, which had been a Pennsylvania station, but had been a liquor store for many years.

After the N&W and SOU merger, the new NS sold off the spur line to a local carrier. Eventually the station became that Mexican Restaurant, and the northern part of the spur line was pulled up and became parking areas and green areas. There must have been a fair amount of buying and selling of railroad property amongst the various players for the history recounted here and the history as I experienced it to make sense.

BTW - In 2003, our family, including the two daughters who were born in Marion (and one very recently acquired kitten), moved to Kansas. By 2006, when we moved to Massachusetts, one daughter was in college, so only three of us (and now two cats) made that move. By 2013, when we moved back to Indiana, this time to South Bend, the older daughter was finishing grad school and the younger one was finishing undergraduate school, so only two of us (plus two cats) made that move.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2015 05:35PM by Randall Hess.