Beech Grove Shops

The Beech Grove Shops is a railway maintenance facility in Beech Grove, Indiana, outside Indianapolis. Beech Grove is Amtrak's primary maintenance facility.^[1] It also contains a very large freight yard.

History

The shops were originally constructed in 1904–1908 by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis Railway (the "Big Four"), servicing a network stretching across the Midwest into Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. The facility was used as the company's repair shop for steam locomotives and passenger and freight cars.^[1]

The Big Four was acquired by the New York Central Railroad (NYC) in 1906, but operated as an independent business until it was formally merged with its owner in 1922.^[2] The facility passed to Penn Central Transportation in 1968 when the NYC merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Penn Central declared bankruptcy in 1970.^[1] Amtrak purchased the facility from the bankrupt Penn Central in April 1975.^[3]^[4]^[5]

On September 20, 2002, an F2 tornado hit the shops, damaging Coach Shop 3, which was going to be torn down after the tornado; it had been used to overhaul Superliner passenger cars until 2000.^{[citation needed]}

In the early hours of May 2, 2021, two storage buildings on the site were destroyed by a fire.^[6]

Gallery

Amtrak P42's under repair at Beech Grove
Damaged Amtrak P42 #8 at Beech Grove after a collision with a Norfolk Southern freight in 2007.
Amtrak equipment at Beech Grove shops.
The shops in the 1980s

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Beech Grove shops- Amtrak: History of America's Railroad". Amtrak. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
^ Beech Grove HEP Conversion Program Results in Like-New Car for Passengers Amtrak News August 1, 1980 page 10
^ Beech Grove Purchase Gets Green Light Amtrak News March 15, 1975 pages 1, 8
^ Miracle at Beech Grove Railway Age February 1985 pages 53, 56
^ Amtrak (August 27, 2012). "Beech Grove shops". Retrieved 2012-11-25.
^ "News photos: Fire destroys buildings at Amtrak's Beech Grove shops (updated)". Trains. Retrieved 2021-12-22.