One advantage of the Mad River & Nickel Plate museum I neglected to discuss last month is their location next to a busy Norfolk Southern mainline. In the photo above you can see W&LE SD40-3 #3067 leading a train east into Bellevue. Following it is EMD #6381, a SD40-2 that was leased and then purchased by the W&LE in April 2002.
W&LE in Bellevue
Cinci Station Moves to Lunken
At this point I don’t think the ink is even dry yet on Amtrak’s 3C Report but already the politicians have started their meddling. I was recently pointed to this article announcing the temporary station will now be located at Lunken Airport. Residents complaining about the proposal at city hall had this to say:
At a City Hall meeting last week, residents, developers and others complained that the Riverside Drive site that state transportation officials were leaning toward would undercut decades of effort aimed at enhancing Cincinnati’s riverfront, jeopardizing hundreds of millions of dollars in existing and planned development.
I’ll do my best to not go on the lengthy rant I want to, but someone needs to point out to these misguided people that these are passenger trains we’re taking about and not 100-car coal drags. Even then, current plans only call for no more than 2 per day at that. If anything I would imagine being located within walking distance of the station would in fact raise property values.
Instead, as typical of Cincinnati, we’ll have an out of the way station at Lunken Airport, and the only major city on the 3C line with a station outside of their downtown.
High Speed Rail in America
The Infrastructurist has an interesting overview article of how America should build its high speed network. They site a report from America 2050 which ranks potential high speed rail corridors. Not surprisingly, New York to Washington shows the most potential for a true high speed route (the Acela not withstanding).
The map from the report ends up looking very similar to the Ohio Hub. A number of the routes also mention Ohio cities. A Chicago-Columbus route ranks #13th nationwide in potential corridors.
In other passenger rail news, Amtrak has come out with their feasibility study (pdf link) on the 3C Corridor.
Here is the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s version of the story.
The initial plan calls for stations in Ohio’s major cities (Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, Cleveland) and 2 other small stops along the route (Sharonville and Southwest Cleveland).The service could be up and running as early as 2011 and Amtrak projected initial ridership at around 400,000 per year. Revenue from the trains would be around $12 million per year and the state would be expected to pick up $17 million of the operating deficit. This is in-line with Amtrak’s other long distance passenger routes.
The startup cost for the service is priced at $500 million. Most of this is due to Amtrak’s requirement of Ohio paying for and purchasing their own equipment. 4 consists would be purchased, and sadly locomotives don’t come cheap. The service is expected to be push-pull without the need for turning facilities. Cost of station buildings was also not included, as the communities themselves are expected to supply and maintain them.
At this moment Amtrak is planning on using Cleveland’s Lakefront Station, the Columbus Convention Center, and the Montgomery Inn Boathouse for major station stops. Amtrak decided that using 16 miles of the I&O’s Oasis Line (from Sharon Yard to the Riverfront) a better alternative than trying to navigate the freight congestion of Queensgate in an attempt to stop at Union Terminal. With signal and track improvements the Oasis Line is expected to be able to handle 49 MPH trains. Eventually they would like to connect the Oasis Line with the Riverfront Transit Center, but this is not included in the startup study.
Some of the major improvements Amtrak suggests for the service to operate efficiently is a bypass track at Sharon Yard, a new connection to the Oasis Line, a new station track under the Columbus convention center, and other signal and track upgrades. Undercliff yard will most likely be used as the Cincinnati layover point.
At this point the future of the 3C Corridor will be determined based on how much money the federal government is willing to contribute. Right now, there are hundreds of projects with combined costs of 100 billion competing for 8 billion dollars of rail investment money. If you’re at all interested I suggest reading the PDF of the report. It’s relatively free of the jargon that one would normally expect in such things and includes a detailed description of what track would be used where.
Middletown Depot & Updates
Today we’re going to talk a little bit about Middletown. The Middletown and Cincinnati Railway Company was originally built in 1890 as a standard gauge railroad to connect the industries of Middletown with the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Little Miami route. The businessmen who financed it believed everyone should have a connection to the “Standard of the World” PRR and the increased competition would have benefited their rates.
When the M&C was built it crossed the narrow gauge CL&N at Hageman. In 1894 the line, funded mostly on borrowed money, went into receivership. It emerged two months later reincorporated as the Middletown and Cincinnati Railroad Company. In 1902 the line was bought for $400,000 and folded into the CL&N System.
After getting some emailed comments and some new maps (pictured above), I went ahead and made some corrections to my interactive CL&N map. The line now traces the old ROW almost certainly from University Blvd to the station. I’m still looking for some more resources on the line through AK Steel, as it was almost certainly relocated when the steel works expanded.
These maps are also interesting because they show some of the original Armco plant. Today there’s nothing more than a dirty field where the rolling mill stood. You can also see the central office building, which still stands today. American Rolling Mills (Armco) was founded in 1900. AK Steel is its corporate successor.
In other Middletown news, you might have noticed the postcard at the top of this post. This was the CL&N Station in downtown Middletown. The postcard itself was postmarked 1915 and originally from Mike Havron of Lebanon. It was forwarded to me and as far as I know it is the only depiction of the station out there (no photos exist that I’ve seen).
Middletown is often forgotten as part of the CL&N System. If you know anything I do not feel free to email me.
Hyde Park Branch to Close
According to sources posting on the CincyRails newsgroup the end appears to be near for norfolk & Southern’s Hyde Park Branch. The branch, which runs from Red Bank Road through Hyde Park to Montgomery Road may have seen its last train run on 8/28. The bulk transfer facility at the end line appears to be empty and closed. It was only a few months ago we reported about a car getting hit by the local working this section of track.
The Hyde Park line was originally part of the N&W mainline from Cincinnati to Portsmouth. It was originally built by the Cincinnati and Northeastern, a narrow gauge railroad which eventually reformed as the Ohio & Northwestern. The O&NW had no enterance of its own into the city of Cincinnati, and used trackage rights on both the PRR’s Little Miami line and the CL&N on various times throughout its history.
Around the turn of the century, the successor of the O&NW the Cincinnati, Portsmouth, & Virginia built the Cincinnati Connecting Belt Railway, a line that ran from Idlewild Jct to Ivorydale Yard. This connected the railroads running down the Millcreek Valley on the west side with the railroads running in on the east side. Norfolk Southern filed for abandonment of this line about a year ago, with some of the terminal land being sold to Xavier University and the Right-Of-Way sold to SORTA for future light-rail use (Source).
The terminal of the Hyde Park Branch was in Idlewild where there stood a junction with the CL&N. The 1934 PRR timetable shows that at one time this junction was busy enough to warrant 1949 electric signals. The junction made for some interesting switching, as proceeding from the mainline through Hyde Park to the Connecting Belt required a switchback move in a relatively small yard, all while trying to avoid blocking Montgomery Road.
It’s amazing to look at the old maps and see the amount of industrial customers along the track through Idlewild and Norwood. Today the increasing commercialization of the old industrial buildings in Norwood really put a hurt on this line. Spurs that use to run into industries today dead end into brand new parking lots. Even now before this news no trains would cross Montgomery Road, the rest of the old track standing unused.
At this point I would expect Norfolk Southern to attempt a sale of the ROW to SORTA before fully abandoning the line. At any rate, I wouldn’t expect them to continue to pay property taxes on a forgotten branch line for much longer. This line looks to be another victim in the decline of Cincinnati’s east side railroads. For a detailed tour of the Hyde Park Branch check out its page on Cincinnati Traction History.
Big Four in Clyde
Here’s an interesting shot from Clyde, Ohio. The building in the foreground was built on a triangle shaped lot formed by the tracks and a nearby roadway. The structure has been here a number of years, with the wide end on the far side narrowing into the short end you can see.
The track is a small remaining segment from an ex-NYC (nee-Big Four, nee-Mad River & Lake Erie) mainline from Sandusky south. Most of the line is abandoned, but this part is used by Norfolk Southern to access a grain storage operation (seen below) from their ex-Nickel Plate mainline.
When the storage silos are being switched the train apparently ties up the roadways for some time. Signs put up by the city point to a “Train Detour” around the area.
DL&C in 1912
Photo Credit: Dayton Daily News
I few weeks ago I was made aware of this slideshow published by the Dayton Daily News. It features the complete souvenir book published by the DL&C. The PRR and made part of the CL&N.
The promotional booklet was found by Joni Knopp in a box bought at auction. Some of the photos I had seen before, especially in reproduction postcards, but some of the photos are new to me and might have never been published before.
The booklet, officially titled “The Dayton, Lebanon and Cincinnati Railroad and Terminal Company and Tributary Industries”, features photos of most of the major industries along the line. Highlights include the limestone quarries in Centerville, a couple coaling spurs, and Lebanon’s brand new Shoe Factory.
This would be a great resource for someone wanting to model this line. The booklet even includes an interior shot of the Oregonia Bridge Company’s plant as well as the only known shot of the Kilpatrick-French Motorcar Company in Lebanon. It helps put a face on previously blank structures known only from old maps.
If you’re the least bit interested in local railroad history I encourage you to check this booklet out. It’s well worth your time to click through the 50 or so photos.