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.

Rebuilt GE P40DCs 817 and 824 at Beech Grove in 2010.

History

The shops were originally constructed in 1904–1908 by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and 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.

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. 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 1975.[2]

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.


References

  1. "Beech Grove shops- Amtrak: History of America's Railroad". Amtrak. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  2. Amtrak (August 27, 2012). "Beech Grove shops". Retrieved 2012-11-25.


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