Wabash Railroad — Plants in Michigan

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that they were exposed to asbestos while working at Wabash Railroad plants in Michigan. This page documents the Michigan portion of Wabash Railroad’s multi-state operations. For the full corporate summary and plants in other states, see the Wabash Railroad manufacturer page.

Premises Description

Wabash Railroad (founded 1837 as predecessors, consolidated as Wabash Railroad through the 20th century, headquartered St. Louis, Missouri, with Detroit and Decatur as major operational centers; merged into Norfolk & Western Railway 1964; today part of Norfolk Southern) was through the first half of the 20th century one of the principal U.S. Midwest Class I freight railroads. The Wabash system connected Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, Buffalo (via trackage rights), and Des Moines — running across Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Iowa. Wabash’s flagship shop and yard complexes included Decatur Shops (Decatur IL — the railroad’s largest locomotive and car-repair complex), Moberly Shops (Moberly MO), Delray Yard (Detroit MI), Landers Yard (Chicago IL), East St. Louis IL, Fort Wayne IN, and Kansas City MO — all major regional workplaces through the asbestos era. Asbestos operations continued at former Wabash facilities under N&W and then Norfolk Southern into the 1980s.

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) that Wabash Railroad exposed its railroad workforce to asbestos through:

  • Asbestos brake-shoe dust at Wabash rip tracks, car shops, and locomotive servicing facilities
  • Asbestos locomotive insulation on steam-era boiler lagging and diesel engine-room piping
  • Asbestos pipe covering on shop and roundhouse steam mains
  • Asbestos block insulation on shop boilers at Decatur and Moberly
  • Spray-applied asbestos fireproofing on shop structural steel
  • Asbestos ceiling and partition board in shop, roundhouse, and office buildings
  • Asbestos brake dust on freight cars received from interchange partners

Wabash Railroad has been named as a Premises Defendant in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation under FELA — including in cases venued in St. Louis MO courts where the railroad’s corporate headquarters were located. Successor liability has been asserted through Norfolk & Western / Norfolk Southern.

Workers Exposed

  • Railroad car repairmen at Decatur Shops, Moberly Shops, Delray, Landers, and East St. Louis
  • Locomotive engineers, firemen, and hostlers on Wabash trains
  • Railroad shop machinists, boilermakers, pipefitters, sheet-metal workers, and electricians
  • Roundhouse and locomotive-servicing workers
  • Wabash yard switchmen, conductors, and brakemen
  • Shop-building maintenance workers exposed to building asbestos

If You Worked for the Wabash Railroad

If you worked for Wabash Railroad — at any Wabash yard, shop, roundhouse, or facility in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, or elsewhere on the Wabash system during the asbestos era — and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, or another asbestos-related illness, you may have legal rights under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), which is preserved through Norfolk Southern as successor.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956