Madison and Indianapolis Railroad
| Locale | Indiana |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1866–1890 |
| Predecessor | Indianapolis and Madison Railroad Jeffersonvile Railroad |
| Successor | Pittsburg, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Headquarters | Indianapolis, Indiana |
The Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad (JM&I) was formed in 1866 as a merger between the Indianapolis and Madison Railroad and the Jeffersonville Railroad.
The JM&I predecessors were as follows:
The Ohio and Indianapolis Railroad was chartered February 3, 1832, to build a line from Indianapolis south to the Ohio River at Jeffersonville, Indiana. The company was not organized until March 17, 1848, and on February 3, 1849, it was renamed the Jeffersonville Railroad.
The first section, from Jeffersonville to just north of Memphis, Indiana opened in 1850. The next year it leased the Knightstown and Shelbyville Railroad, starting to operate it in 1852. The line opened north to Columbus in August 1852, and on September 1, 1852, it began operating the Rushville and Shelbyville Railroad under lease.
Indiana's first railroad to actually be built was created on June 20, 1836, by act of the Indiana General Assembly as the state-owned Madison and Indianapolis Railroad. Construction began on September 16, 1836. After building only 27.80 miles (44.74 km) from Madison to Queensville (just northwest of North Vernon in Jennings County) by 1841, the railroad was transferred to private ownership on February 26, 1843, as the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad Company. This entity completed the remainder of the line from Queensville to Indianapolis, a distance of 57.99 miles (93.33 km), by 1847. Successful for more than a decade, the railroad went into decline and was sold at foreclosure in 1862, and renamed the Indianapolis and Madison Railroad (I&M). That company abandoned the M&I's 10.08 miles (16.22 km) of trackage between Columbus and Edinburgh in 1864 and began running over the Jeffersonville Railroad's nearby tracks.
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