What’s Under Bonnell Road in Dearborn County, Indiana

In the 1850s a Railroad Company built a rail line from Cincinnati to Indianapolis. The section from Lawrenceburg Junction, west to Sunman, Indiana was a pretty rugged piece of track. This original line was expensive to maintain and basically followed the West Fork of Tanners Creek up to Weisburg, Indiana and beyond into Sunman, Indiana.

In 1902 the management of the rail line, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, also known as the Big Four Railroad, realized that by straightening the rail line mainly between Guilford and Sunman, Indiana, they could save over 30 minutes in travel time between Cincinnati & Indianapolis.

A decision was made to realign the track, reduce the grade and build 2 parallel tracks as opposed to just one. After the logistics were ironed out, the work began in August of 1903.

After the work was completed, a section of the original track between Ferris Road and the “tunnel”, was vacated and given to the county. Dearborn county took the opportunity to use a flat, developed track and put a county road on top of the old right of way naming it Bonnell Road.

Over the past few years I have explored the culverts and bridge abutments under Bonnell Road which once served the rail line. This video is about that exploration process.

GPS Location: 39º10’18.2″N 84º57’06.1″W