with the intersecting Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (better known as the Big Four, a part of the New York Central Railroad system until 1968). Tracks east of Crestline went to Norfolk Southern, which also obtained trackage rights west of that Ohio city. At the western end of the route, the original PFW&C line has been abandoned from Buffington (an area of far northwestern Gary, Indiana, abutting East Chicago) northwest for a little over four miles to Whiting, Indiana; at both of these locations there are connections to the parallel tracks of the old Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (New York Central Railroad). Northwest of Whiting, the LS&MS itself disappears, and the present-day line goes back to using the old PFW&C tracks, which run the rest of the way into Chicago, carrying both Norfolk Southern freight trains and several Amtrak passenger services. On August 1, 2004, the Chicago Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad, a new short line owned by RailAmerica, leased the western part of the line, from Crestline, Ohio, west to the Gary, Indiana, neighborhood of Tolleston, from CSX. It also obtained overhead trackage rights along the formerly out-of-service line from Tolleston, at the junction with the old Michigan Central Railroad (now CSX), northwest to Clarke Junction (also in Gary, just north of the Gary-Chicago International Airport), and then west along the former Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (now CSX) to Blue Island, Illinois. Norfolk Southern continues to own the line east of Crestline, Ohio, as well as the part west of Whiting, IN. References Citations General references Railroad History Database PRR Chronology Corporate Genealogy - Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Pennsylvania Railroad Company Inspection of Physical Property By Board of Directors November 10-11-12, 1948 Surface Transportation Board - Central Railroad Company of Indianapolis--Lease and Operation Exemption--CSX Transportation, Inc. Arrivals & Departures, Trains September 1994 Companies affiliated with the Pennsylvania Railroad west of Pittsburgh Defunct Pennsylvania railroads Defunct Ohio railroads Defunct Indiana railroads Defunct Illinois railroads Railroads in the Chicago metropolitan area Railroads transferred to Conrail Predecessors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Railway companies established in 1860 Railway companies disestablished in 1976 4 ft 10 in gauge railways in the United States Transportation in Pittsburgh 1852 establishments in Ohio American companies established in 1860