Passage: The first trains to run in Warren County operated on portions of the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway (later the Wabash Railroad) in 1856.  The railroad entered the county near Williamsport and was built westward, reaching the western border at State Line City by 1857.  West Lebanon was the only other settlement near the railroad's path, but the line bypassed it by about a mile; the town subsequently moved northward to be nearer the station.  In 1869 the Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western Railway was built across Mound Township in the southern part of the county.  A few years later, in 1872, a branch of the Chicago, Danville and Vincennes Railroad (known as the "Pumpkin Vine Railroad") was built from Bismarck, Illinois, southeast through Warren County; it was built specifically to carry coal from the mines south of Covington.  A labor riot at the mines in the late 1870s interrupted the flow of coal, and this combined with the poor financial state of the railroad led to the removal of most of the track by 1880; the remaining portion was removed a few years later.  At about this time, in the early 1880s, the Chicago and Indiana Coal Railroad began operating a north–south line through the county.  It became part of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad but was abandoned in 1920 due to financial difficulties; a new company operated the line as the Chicago, Attica and Southern Railroad starting in 1921, but financial problems affected the new company as well and the rails were removed in 1946.  Another line, part of the New York Central Railroad, was built through the area in 1903; locally, it ran northeast from Danville into Warren County, then turned north through the small towns of Sloan and Stewart and continued north into Benton County.  In the 1970s it became part of Penn Central, then Conrail; operations on the line ceased in the 1990s and the tracks were removed, though a portion running north from Stewart remained and became the Bee Line Railroad which serves the grain processing facility in Stewart.The Wabash Cannonball was a passenger train that ran on the Wabash Railroad between Detroit, Michigan and Saint Louis, Missouri, starting in 1949.  On September 19, 1964, the southbound Cannonball struck a truck loaded with concrete blocks at a crossing in Johnsonville.  The driver of the truck was killed instantly, but although the train derailed, no other lives were lost.  On the train, the driver and fireman were severely injured when the engine caught fire, and about half of the 50 passengers were injured.  Over 1,000 feet (300 m) of track was torn out, and the damage was estimated at over $500,000.  The last run of the Cannonball was in 1969.After peaking in the late 19th century, the county's population declined during the 20th, in common with much of the rural Midwest. The widespread adoption of the automobile in the 1920s undercut small-town businesses, which were threatened further by the Great Depression of the 1930s.  World War II and the economic revival of the late 1940s and 1950s drew people to better jobs in growing regional cities, and this further diminished small towns.  The population shrank again in the 1980s due largely to the effects of the "farm crisis" of low crop prices, high farmer debt and other economic causes.The first county fair involved both Fountain and Warren counties and was held in Independence on September 6 and 7, 1853.  In following years, the fair was held in Fountain County, and participation by Warren County farmers diminished.  In 1856, farmers in the northern part of the county held a fair just east of Pine Village, and this continued each year through 1864.  West Lebanon became the next site of the county fair, and it ran successfully through 1883; the fairgrounds just to the northwest of town were well-developed.  Later, the fair was held at the county seat of Williamsport, and this continues through the present day; it is now a 4H fair.One location in the county, near the small town of Kramer, once had an international reputation: the Hotel Mudlavia.  Built in 1890 at a cost of $250,000, it drew guests from around the world to nearby natural springs that were said to have healing qualities.  People such as James Whitcomb Riley, John L. Sullivan and Harry Lauder are known to have stayed at the hotel, which burned down in 1920.  Later, water from the springs was bottled and sold by Indianapolis-based Cameron Springs company, which was acquired by the Perrier Group of America in 2000 for about $10.5 million.  As of 2008 the water was still being sold and was marketed under a variety of names.
Output: What became part of Penn Central, then Conrail in the 1970s?