The 3.7 mile line was originally part of a New York Central main line between South Bend and Niles, Mich., with a 1.5 spur to the university. Eventually the line north of the university spur was abandoned, leaving just 3.7 miles of track to serve the university’s coal-fired power plant,which last saw rail service in 1995. The spur also crossed the front lawn of St. Mary’s College along Douglas Road.
The abandonment was instituted in 2011 by the city of South Bend and the universities, which coveted the unused right-of-way for a trail. The Surface Transportation Board approved the abandonment in April 2012.
The university spur, widely known as the Notre Dame & Western, was named by Brother Borromeo Malley, the university’s director of utilities, and never incorporated as a common carrier. The university owned a center-cab Porter switcher, No. 5332, to handle switching duties at its coal-fired power plant. In the 1970s the plant received about 1,000 cars of coal annually.
