Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad: Map, Rosters, History

Last revised: October 25, 2026

The Indiana Harbor Belt is one of the three terminal railroads that grew up in the 1890s to move freight through Chicago. The Belt Railway of Chicago was one. The Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal was the other. Out beyond them, the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern swung a wide arc around the whole city. The Harbor’s slogan was “Connects With All Chicago Railroads,” and the railroad is still in that business. The company that carries the name was incorporated in Indiana on May 16, 1896, as the East Chicago Belt Railroad Company, and it was renamed the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company on June 29, 1907.

The first 5.520 miles, from the Illinois–Indiana state line to Grasselli, went into operation during 1897. Headquarters are in Hammond, Indiana. The reporting mark is IHB. The company describes itself as the largest switch carrier: 54 miles of main line, 24 of them double track, 266 miles of yard track and sidings, and 16 miles of trackage rights to Burns Harbor and Portage.

Indiana Harbor Belt switchers, mostly SW1500s, running light eastbound across Blue Island Junction on October 6, 1996

A string of Indiana Harbor Belt switchers, mostly SW1500s, run light as they rattle eastbound across the busy diamonds at Blue Island Junction on October 6, 1996. Wade Massie photo.

On this page: The inner belt · Hammond · Blue Island to Franklin Park · The company · At a glance · The Kankakee Line · Owners · Ice and the humps · Lightning stripe · The run-through years

The inner belt

Chicago in the 1890s was filling up with trunk lines, and the approaches downtown were choking on the interchange. A belt railroad could classify the cars and hand them off, which is the work the Harbor settled into. It sits closer to the city than the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern, across the Calumet industrial district, close enough to switch the plants and far enough out to pass a through train around the worst of the congestion.

The connections justified the slogan. They reached the Alton, later the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio; the Santa Fe; the Chicago & Eastern Illinois; the Baltimore & Ohio; the Chesapeake & Ohio; the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin; the Burlington; the Chicago Great Western; the Erie; the Monon; the South Shore Line; the Rock Island; the Soo Line; the Nickel Plate; the Pennsylvania; the Pere Marquette; and the Wabash.

Hammond

Before it was that belt, the property was a packer’s railroad. George H. Hammond had built a meat business on ice-cooled refrigerator cars, and the city of Hammond, Indiana, carries his name. The Chicago, Hammond & Western was chartered in April 1896 and backed by that firm. It was planned at about 39 miles, from the Whiting refining district through Blue Island to the Milwaukee Road at Franklin Park.

An English syndicate afterward took the property and bought the Hammond & Blue Island, a line of the mid-1890s, about 14 miles, from Whiting through Hammond to Blue Island. The valuation measured the pieces at 3.470 miles from Whiting to the state line and 10.590 miles from Blue Island back to that line, both built in 1896.

The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad logo. Author’s work.

Blue Island to Franklin Park

Another railroad had already built from south of Chicago up to McCook. That was the Chicago & Calumet Terminal, chartered in 1890 and backed by the Wisconsin Central while the Northern Pacific controlled that road. In 1897 the Calumet Terminal was folded into the Chicago Terminal Transfer. The transfer company went into receivership in 1910. The Baltimore & Ohio bought it and, on January 6, 1910, renamed it the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal.

The two belts agreed on October 9, 1896, to stop building duplicate track. The term was 99 years. The Harbor uses the Chicago Terminal’s line from Blue Island to McCook, 13.59 miles. The Chicago Terminal uses the Harbor’s line from McCook to Franklin Park, 11.56 miles. The Harbor’s own piece, Franklin Park to McCook, was finished on June 30, 1897, 10.520 miles, built by the Chicago, Hammond & Western. A further 1.040 mile, Mannheim to Franklin Park, dates from 1898. The split is still there. Blue Island to Superior, just north of McCook, is the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal, now a CSX subsidiary. Superior to Franklin Park belongs to the Harbor.

The company

The surviving corporation is the East Chicago Belt. It was incorporated in Indiana on May 16, 1896. The original line, from the state line to Grasselli, in East Chicago, opened during 1897 to reach a chemical plant. On June 29, 1907, the company took the name Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company. It has operated its own property from the start.

On October 31, 1907, it bought two more properties. One was the Indiana Harbor Railroad Company of Illinois. That company had been incorporated on April 17, 1896, as the Terminal Railroad, and it was renamed on January 25, 1905. Its line ran 10.620 miles, double track, from Argo to Morgan Street, a way into the Union Stock Yards. The Michigan Central operated it from January 24, 1897, until February 3, 1905. From February 4, 1905, until April 9, 1906, a different company, the Indiana Harbor Railroad of Indiana, a New York Central predecessor, operated the same line. The Illinois company is the one the Harbor bought in 1907.

The other purchase that day was mileage the Chicago Junction Railway already held, the Chicago, Hammond & Western property described above. By October 31, 1907, that mileage was the Chicago Junction’s to sell.

An Indiana Harbor Belt timetable of stations and mileages, circa 1910. Author’s collection.

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Indiana Harbor Belt. Illinois and Indiana. Reporting mark IHB. Class III switch carrier
Headquarters	Hammond, Indiana. Principal office at the valuation, Gibson, Indiana
Incorporated	East Chicago Belt Railroad Company, May 16, 1896. Renamed Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company, June 29, 1907
First operation	5.520 miles, the state line to Grasselli, during 1897. The company has operated its own property since
October 31, 1907	Purchased the Indiana Harbor Railroad of Illinois, Argo to Morgan Street, and mileage from the Chicago Junction Railway
At the valuation	Owned road 44.818 miles. Second main 28.856. Yard tracks and sidings 138.287. Trackage rights about 80 miles. Gauge 4 feet, 8½ inches
Today	54 miles of main line, 24 of them double track. 266 miles of yard track and sidings. 16 miles of trackage rights to Burns Harbor and Portage
Main line	Indiana Harbor and Gibson, through Hammond and Blue Island, to Franklin Park. Kankakee Line toward the lake. East dispatcher and west dispatcher. No divisions
Owners	Conrail Shared Assets, 51 percent. Canadian Pacific Kansas City, through the Soo Line, 49 percent
Slogan	Connects With All Chicago Railroads
Steam	182 locomotives built since 1900. Roster
Diesels	202 frames, each once. Roster

The Kankakee Line

A third Indiana Harbor Railroad, built in 1901 along the lakefront, took the name Chicago, Indiana & Southern in 1906. Its line ran south from Indiana Harbor toward Danville, the Egyptian Line. The New York Central leased the Harbor the northern piece, from the lakefront to Highland, about seven miles. That is the Kankakee Line. The Central merged the Chicago, Indiana & Southern in 1914. The lease south of Osborn is now held by Norfolk Southern. The Harbor reaches Burns Harbor on trackage rights over that former Central main, including Indiana’s International Port.

The Harbor also operated the New York Central’s Gary & Western, 8.08 miles from Ivanhoe to Gary & Western Junction, and 19.18 miles of Central track under the 1906 lease. It held a half interest in the Calumet Western Railway with the Rock Island and the Pennsylvania. On its own account it built from Wolf Lake to Sheddfield in 1908, 2.140 miles, and from Grasselli to Cudahy in 1909, 1.570 miles. The Shedd Estate track, Sheddfield to Roby, 1.49 miles, was leased for 99 years from November 14, 1906.

Gibson Yard was the Michigan Central’s double hump, west of the crossing with the Chicago, Indiana & Southern. The Harbor did the switching. When the Central absorbed the Chicago, Indiana & Southern in 1914, the shops, roundhouse, and coaling tower at Gibson came with that property. Trackage rights over the Michigan Central into Gibson dated from 1913. The yard was formally leased after the Michigan Central was downgraded in the Calumet, following 1960. At the valuation the owned road measured 44.818 miles, with 28.856 miles of second main, 138.287 miles of yard tracks and sidings, and trackage rights of about 80 miles.

An official 1940 system map of the Indiana Harbor Belt. Author’s collection.

Owners

At the start the Michigan Central and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern each held half. In 1911 the Milwaukee Road and the Chicago & North Western each bought 20 percent, to improve their own interchange. After the Lake Shore disappeared into the New York Central in 1914, the split in 1915 was Central 30 percent, Michigan Central 30 percent, North Western 20 percent, and Milwaukee Road 20 percent. The Central’s grip, counting the Michigan Central, was 60 percent.

In 1961 the North Western sold its 20 percent. The Central’s interest was set at 51 percent and the Milwaukee Road’s at 49 percent. Penn Central inherited the Central’s share in 1968. Conrail inherited it in 1976. The Milwaukee Road’s 49 percent passed to the Soo Line and then to Canadian Pacific. When Conrail was divided in 1999, Conrail Shared Assets kept the 51 percent. Norfolk Southern and CSX sit in those board seats in equal parts and, under the Surface Transportation Board’s ruling, act together. The 49 percent that came from the Milwaukee Road is now Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s, through the Soo Line. The Board’s stipulation kept the Harbor’s standing as a quasi-independent railroad for five years. That period ran out in July 2004.

An official 1966 system map of the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad. Author’s collection.

Ice and the humps

Blue Island’s hump yard was built in 1926. It was a 44-track classification yard with a large icing deck for the refrigerator cars. Eastbound transfers left Blue Island for Gibson, then went east on the Michigan Central or north on the old Chicago, Indiana & Southern to the Water Level Route at Indiana Harbor. Gibson was the westbound end of the same move. Livestock and the ice-cooled perishable business were mainstays of the belt, and both were virtually gone by 1965. The Union Stock Yards closed in 1972.

The steam roster counts 182 locomotives built since 1900. Forty-nine are 0-6-0s, four are 2-6-0s that stayed moguls, sixty-five are 0-8-0s, and sixty-four are 2-8-2s. Twenty-four of the Mikados, class H-6a, had been sold by 1923. The three class U-4a switchers, Brooks of 1927, numbers 100–102, were three-cylinder engines with a tender booster. Simple tractive effort was 74,400 pounds, and the booster was rated at 12,000 pounds more, a figure above the Harbor’s Mikados on the same list. The last steam fire was out by 1951.

Lightning stripe

There was little doubt which owner set the tone. The new Electro-Motive switchers wore a lightning stripe in Pacemaker green and orange, the New York Central’s colors, with the herald under the cab window. Brunswick green, with white lettering, arrived in May 1969. In 2019 a lightning stripe returned on the rebuilt switchers.

The diesel roster counts 202 frames. Eighty NW2s and forty SW7s did the first big diesel job, and seven SW9s followed in 1953. Two Fairbanks-Morse H10-44s and nine H20-44s were the other early switchers. The road locomotives came later: GP38-2s, two SD38-2s rebuilt from SD40-2s, GP40-2s, and the National Railway Equipment gensets. A renumber, and a rebuild of a frame already in the table, is the same locomotive.

Indiana Harbor Belt SW7 8871 with a New York Central bay-window caboose at La Grange, Illinois, on August 2, 1965. Marty Bernard photo.

The run-through years

Pre-blocking and intermodal traffic cut the old transfer job, and the belt became a run-through conduit. About one train in four on the main line is a Harbor movement. The main line runs from CP Ivanhoe, the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern crossing, through Gibson, Calumet Park, Dolton, and Blue Island, and west to Franklin Park. The Kankakee Line runs out to Highland. East of Blue Island is the East Dispatcher. West of Blue Island is the West Dispatcher.

Gibson closed as a hump in the late 1970s and early 1980s and reopened in the 1990s as an auto-rack facility, about a third the size of the old yard. The Harbor does the switching. The East Chicago Belt is abandoned except about a mile. The stockyards branch came up in the 1980s except a short piece near Argo, and the Harbor reaches that district on a parallel Belt Railway line. A couple of miles of the Gary & Western remain. The Port of Indiana at Burns Harbor opened in the early 1970s, and the Harbor switches it, on the 16 miles of trackage rights to Burns Harbor and Portage.

The company states its railroad as 54 miles of main line, 24 of them double track, and 266 miles of yard track and sidings. It is a Class III railroad, mark IHB, with headquarters in Hammond. Conrail Shared Assets holds 51 percent. Canadian Pacific Kansas City, through the Soo Line, holds 49 percent. The Harbor is still the inner belt.

Sources

Interstate Commerce Commission, Valuation Reports, Volume 28, Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad. East Chicago Belt incorporated May 16, 1896. First 5.520 miles opened during 1897. Renamed June 29, 1907. October 31, 1907 purchases of the Indiana Harbor Railroad of Illinois and of Chicago Junction mileage. Terminal Railroad incorporated April 17, 1896, renamed January 25, 1905. Michigan Central operation January 24, 1897, to February 3, 1905. Indiana Harbor Railroad of Indiana, February 4, 1905, to April 9, 1906. Franklin Park–McCook completed June 30, 1897. Mannheim–Franklin Park, 1898. Hammond & Blue Island pieces, 1896. Trackage rights with the Chicago & Calumet Terminal, 99 years from October 9, 1896. Owned road 44.818 miles, second main 28.856, yard tracks and sidings 138.287, trackage rights about 80 miles. New York Central tracks 19.18 miles from April 9, 1906, and Gary & Western 8.08 miles. Wolf Lake–Sheddfield, 1908. Grasselli–Cudahy, 1909. Shedd Estate track from November 14, 1906. Half interest in the Calumet Western. Principal office, Gibson, Indiana.
Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company, “About Us,” ihbrr.com. Headquarters in Hammond. Largest switch carrier. 54 miles of main line, 24 of them double track, 266 miles of yard track and sidings, and 16 miles of trackage rights to Burns Harbor and Portage, including Indiana’s International Port.
Indiana Harbor Belt Archive, Bill Gustason, history. Chicago, Hammond & Western chartered in April 1896, about 39 miles, backed by the G. H. Hammond firm. English syndicate and the Hammond & Blue Island. Chicago & Calumet Terminal chartered in 1890, into the Chicago Terminal Transfer in 1897, and the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal on January 6, 1910. Chicago, Indiana & Southern of 1906 and the Kankakee Line. Ownership from the Michigan Central and the Lake Shore, through the 1911 purchases, the 1915 split, the 1961 realignment to 51 and 49 percent, Penn Central, Conrail, the Soo Line, and Conrail Shared Assets. The five-year stipulation expired in July 2004. Gibson, Blue Island in 1926, livestock virtually gone by 1965, last steam fire by 1951, and the run-through years. The lease south of Osborn is now Norfolk Southern’s.
Indiana Harbor Belt Archive, locomotive paint. Lightning stripe in Pacemaker green and orange. Brunswick green with white lettering from May 1969. A lightning stripe returned on the rebuilt switchers in 2019.
Indiana Harbor Belt Archive, steam locomotives built since 1900, and the all-time diesel locomotive roster. The counts are the steam roster, 182, and the diesel roster, 202.
Wikipedia, “Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad,” as of October 15, 2026. The 49 percent that came from the Milwaukee Road is now Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s, through the Soo Line.

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