Indiana Railway Museum recently acquired former Indiana Railroad GP 16 number 1813 as part of a donation/purchase arrangement with the Indiana Railroad.  – Chris Dees

CSX won permission from the National Surface Transportation Board to discontinue service on the 62-mile Bedford-to-New Albany (IN) line as of May 7, following a March 5 hearing in Salem. The only active shipper on the line — L. Thorn Co., a Floyd County manufacturer of bricks, stone and concrete masonry — hadn’t used it at all in 2009, according to board documents.  – Chuck Hinrichs

BOSTON (Reuters) – Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) agreed to buy a U.S. maker of railroad locomotives on Tuesday for $820 million in cash, expanding its rail business from service into new engine manufacturing.

The world’s largest maker of heavy equipment said it was buying Electro-Motive Diesel, which last year generated $1.8 billion in revenue, from private equity firms Berkshire Partners LLC and Greenbriar Equity Group LLC. The new business will be a part of Caterpillar’s Progress Rail operation, which will now compete more directly with General Electric Co (GE.N), another major U.S. maker of locomotives.

The deal is expected to close by the year’s end.   Demand for railroad locomotives has been weak of late, as the recession lowered demand for transportation of all sorts of bulk commodities.

However, U.S. railroads including No. 1 Union Pacific (UNP.N) in recent months have begun to report rebounding profits as volumes begin to grow after a two-year slump. Union Pacific last month said it aimed to boost its capital spending budget this year to $2.6 billion, planning to spend that on intermodal equipment, which enables trains to carry equipment that can also travel by ship and truck.  – Chuck Hinrichs

MADISON, Tenn. — The depot that country music star Johnny Cash saved from demolition will open as a visitors center June 3 in the Nashville suburb of Madison. The 1910 Louisville & Nashville Amqui Station is located at 301 Madison Street; the grand opening celebration will run from 5:30 until 7 p.m.

The station served as many as 40 to 50 daily trains at its peak, but by the 1970s, it had fallen into disrepair. Cash was given the station in 1979 and moved it to his property in Hendersonville, Tenn., then restored it to display his collection of railroadiana.  When Cash died in 2003, Halo Properties purchased the station and donated it to the city of Madison. It was moved back to the city in 2006 and was situated near its original site. A $1 million restoration began last October.  The visitors center will feature a museum dedicated to the connection between music and railroads.  – Chuck Hinrichs