User:Mitchazenia/Leiters (Erie Railroad station)

Leiters was a station on the Erie Railroad's main line in the Leiters Ford section of Aubbeenaubbee Township in Fulton County, Indiana. The station depot, located off the intersection of Railroad Street and North 750 Street, was located on the Chicago and Erie Railroad portion of the main line through Indiana. The station depot was first constructed by the Chicago and Atlantic Railway in 1880, but did not see its first passenger train until 1883. The station depot served the C&A for several years, before the company was reorganized into the Chicago and Erie, which served as a part of the Erie Railroad until 1941. However, the last passenger train stopped at Leiters on September 29, 1935, closed with several stations within the state.

Since its closure, the station has changed ownership several times, ending up in the hands of Wilma and Woodie McGlothin, who bought it from the Erie Lackawanna Railway (the merged Erie Railroad and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad) in 1967. Ten years later, the station depot was deemed to the Fulton County Historical Society, who laid new tracks in 1980 in front of the depot that originally was located in Rochester, Indiana. However, the museum was closed and came under control of Rich Runrow, who needed room to expand and as a result would need to tear down the depot. The station depot was given by Aubbeenaubbee Township and Runrow to the Fulton County Model Railroad 4-H Club, who would have until at least October 31, 2010 to move the depot 14 mi east to Rochester and put on their property.

The station ultimately was not moved by the Fulton County Model Railroad 4-H Club, instead from May 24 to June 8, 2013, the depot was disassembled by Amish workers and moved to Delphi in Carroll County. Due to the lack of funds, the depot would not be reassembled until more money could be found, but it would be reassembled at the Delphi Canal Park. The depot was reassembled in Delphi by volunteers and completed in October 2015.

Erie years


The station at Leiters derives from the construction of the Chicago and Atlantic Railway, formed in 1871 as the Chicago, Continental and Baltimore Railway. Two years later, that was re-branded the Chicago and Atlantic Railway without any tracks. In 1880, tracks were constructed between the Hammond station to the connection with the Erie Railroad at Marion station (later Marion Union Station). Despite construction of stations and tracks, passenger service was not instituted until April 2, 1883. Leiters station was constructed in 1880. The Chicago & Atlantic would operate service for seven years before 1890, when bankruptcy protection re-branded the railroad as the Chicago & Erie Railroad. Five years later, in 1895, the Erie Railroad bought the Chicago and Erie Railroad, remaining an autonomous section of track from the rest of the Erie Railroad. This includes when the Erie had to send its Valuation Report to the Interstate Commerce Commission, that it boasted its own report away from the rest of Erie system.

Leiters station was used for passenger service beginning in 1883, but when stations in Indiana were consolidated, including nearby Monterey, to just freight service, the last train went through in September 1935. In 1884, train service by mail began via the Chicago & Erie. This also caused construction of Leiters Ford's post office in a hardware store nearby. Service to Leiters Ford was also done by a milk train that showed up at 6 a.m. CST. Local Leiters Ford schoolteachers would have to catch the milk train at Rochester station in nearby Rochester, Indiana. The depot boasted benches for a waiting room, along with a pot-bellied stove. A nearby outhouse served as the restroom. People would gather to the depot in the early 20th century to hear about election results via the telegraph as well as the World Series.

The station remained in control of the Erie Railroad, eventually being dropped from all passenger timetables in December 1951. By now, the Chicago and Erie had lost its autonomous status and been considered just part of the Erie main line. In 1967, long after the Erie had consolidated with its former rival, Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, in October 1960, they sold the surplus station at Leiters to Wilma and Woodie McGlothin, a local couple.