I don’t visit the various regions of Ohio nearly enough, but recently I had a chance to visit Chillicothe. While in our first capital, I didn’t have the time to properly explore, but I did check out the old station on Main Street. Even better, I happened to catch a Norfolk Southern freight come by on the Columbus District (seen above). It was one of those moment where I just jumped out of the car, put it on automatic, and prayed. 
The first railroad to reach Chillicothe was the Marietta and Cincinnati in 1852. Because it primarily ran East-West, the railroad complemented rather than competed with the Ohio and Erie Canal. The town became a major transload point, and the canal remained active until 1907. The Marietta and Cincinnati later became part of theB&O System in 1868.
The Scioto Valley Railroad came to town in 1875 and was the railroad responsible for constructing the station. The N&W acquired the Scioto Valley in 1907 and double-tracked their line. At one time the junction contained 8 diamonds, but only 4 mainlines crossed. The station itself is a nice two story brick station. At one time Amtrrak’s Shenandoah passenger trained stopped here (later moved to an Amshak), and you can still see the concrete platforms. Passenger service ended when the Shenandoah was cut in 1981. CSX abandoned much of the former B&O St. Louis main shortly thereafter. Photos can be found here.
The Virginia Tech N&W Photo Collection has a nice shot of the N&W passenger platform at Chillicothe. The station is on the right (looking south). Note that in all these old photos the line is double tracked through the city. Now it is one of two single-track sections on the district. I also found a shot of the B&O Yard Complex. The N&W main runs across the bottom right of the photo. It’s amazing how much the area has changed since the photo was taken. Check out this saitillite view.
Like a lot of the rail buildings around Chilicothe, the station is currently pretty run down. The windows are boarded up and it’s not the best part of town to begin with. The overpass built for main street has especially changed the area, and I don’t think it was for the better. Chillicothe seems like a very nice and historically minded town. I think a restored depot could go well with that. However, from what I understand the depot is currently privately owned, and this could be a hurdle for any major restoration effort.
For those looking to learn more about the current state of things in the Chilicothe area, this forum thread is very interesting.
