The B&M filed for abandonment of the branch in March 1979; hearings were held a year later. The Interstate Commerce Commission soon gave permission for the B&M to stop running freights on the line. Common power on the branch at that time was SW # 1227. The last freight train to ply the line was hauled by a GP9, with 23 cars. According to one source the final trip was in 1980, and the same year the tracks were severed from the main line. Another source gives the date of the final run as January 31, 1981.