The precursor of the Fort Wayne and Jackson Railroad was the
Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad, which was incorporated on January 26, 1869. That company consolidated two older companies, the Jackson, Fort Wayne and Cincinnati Railroad of Michigan and the Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad of Indiana. Construction began the same year, and the company completed a from
Jackson, Michigan, to
Reading, Michigan, on November 22, 1869. A further from Reading to
Angola, Indiana, was completed on January 17, 1870. The final from Angola to
Fort Wayne, Indiana, was finished on December 5, 1870.
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway leased the company in 1882. This lease was later assumed by the
New York Central Railroad (1915) and
Penn Central Transportation (1968). Much of line was abandoned in 1973, following the Penn Central bankruptcy: •
Waterloo, Indiana–
Pleasant Lake, Indiana •
Jonesville, Michigan–
Bankers, Michigan •
Haires, Michigan–
Horton, Michigan These abandonments left four sections of the old line: yard trackage within Jackson, a branch from Jonesville to Horton, a branch from Bankers to Pleasant Lake, and a branch from Fort Wayne to Waterloo. In 1976, several small sections within the vicinity of Fort Wayne, Jackson, and Waterloo were conveyed to
Conrail. The lines between Jonesville and Horton, and Auburn and Waterloo, saw little traffic and was abandoned. The new short-line railroad
Hillsdale County Railway took over the section between Bankers and Pleasant Lake. In 1981, the city of Auburn established the
City of Auburn Port Authority to purchase the remaining that connected the city with the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and then leased the line to the B&O (now
CSX Transportation). == Notes ==