The Cincinnati and Eastern Railway (C&E) was a railroad from Idlewild in Norwood, near Cincinnati, to Portsmouth, Ohio. At its western terminus, it connected with the Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern (CL&N) and the Pennsylvania Railroad Richmond Division (PRR), and to a Norfolk & Western line at its eastern terminus.
The C&E was chartered as the Cincinnati, Batavia & Williamsburg on January 11, 1876, but the name was changed and the projected route was extended to Portsmouth in May. In October 1876, the line was opened from Batavia Junction to Batavia, a distance of 15 miles, and by August of next year, the railroad had reached Winchester, a distance of 48 miles.
In June, a 5.5-mile western extension to the Miami Valley Railroad, later the CL&N Idlewild, was completed. It was constructed to the Miami Valley Railroad, who had promised a narrow-gauge connection via the Deer Creek valley to Cincinnati. When the Deer Creek tunnel project ran into financial difficulties, the C&E found that its connection to Cincinnati was completely useless for four years. The railroad soon went into receivership in January 1879 due to failures to collect stock subscriptions, but exited that in 1881.
The Cincinnati & Eastern at Interstate 71 in Cincinnati. The line has been railbanked from Claire west to Idlewild.
At a meeting in November 1880 the shareholders voted to increase the capital stock from $500,000 to $2 million, and to authorize a bond issue to connect the railroad to Portsmouth and beyond to Gallipolis. In 1882, trackage rights were secured via the Deer Creek valley to Court Street in Cincinnati.
By the end of 1882, the C&E had reached Peebles, 72 miles from the Court Street depot. In May 1883, the railroad had reached Rarden, and Henley in late July. The C&E was completed to Portsmouth in 1884, with a 1,000-foot truss over the Scioto River as its centerpiece.
In 1886, the railroad was sold to the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton (CH&D), which defaulted and was sold to the Ohio & Northwestern Railroad (O&NW). The railroad went into receivership soon after, and in 1889, the railroad completed five miles of the long-projected Gallipolis extension from Portsmouth to Sciotoville.
In 1891, the railroad reorganized under the Cincinnati, Portsmouth & Virginia Railroad (CP&V), which merged with the Norfolk & Western (N&W) in October 1901.
In 1913, the Scioto River Bridge was replaced with a multi-span truss constructed by the American Bridge Company. Other trestle replacements included the construction of a girder span over Dry Run in 1941 by the Virginia Bridge Company.
In 1947, the N&W east of Peebles to Jaybird via Jaybird Creek was realigned when a quarry opened along Plum Run that required the railroad to be rerouted to the north and east. It included a new trestle above Cedar Fork and several miles of new trackage.
In 1982, the Norfolk & Western Railway consolidated with the Southern Railway to form the Norfolk Southern Corporation, and the railroad became the Norfolk Southern. The NS has railbanked the line east of Peebles to Vera Junction at Portsmouth.
The track split from the Cincinnati, Northern & Lebanon to the Cincinnati & Eastern (C&E) at Idlewild.
The Cincinnati & Eastern (C&E) crosses over the Pennsylvania Railroad Richmond Divison (PRR). Behind me is the junction of the PRR and the Little Miami Railroad at Redbank, and to the east of Clare Yard, where the C&E and the Little Miami junctioned.
Winchester.
A view of the Cincinnati & Eastern westbound near the Elk Fork Ohio Brush Creek. The siding has not been used in years and has a derailer. The mainline is not used all that often, unfortunately.
Peebles.
A disused siding, although it is no longer required since the mainline now ends at Peebles and can act as an impromptu siding. It is used by the Tangent Rail corporation.
Peebles. A long disused siding served the silos on the right.
A view of the disused siding at Peebles.
Constructed 1947 by the American Bridge Company, the trestle spans Cedar Fork.
The former alignment travels along this well blazed bed to the quarry.
The current NS at Jaybird, where the former alignment diverted along Jaybird Branch to the quarry east of Peebles.
Rarden.
Near Otway.
A view at Henley, where Ohio Route 73 crosses the Cincinnati & Eastern.
Arion.
we still switch at peebles once a week, l51 ns
Steve, are you referring to that company (whose name I cannot recall at the moment) at Peebles at the end of the line?
<img src="http://www.abandonedonline.net/wp-content/gallery/cincinnati-and-eastern-railroad-seaman-to-peebles/20081127-dsc_5049.jpg" alt="" />
This is a sad site. I visit the peavine about ounce a week. I hope its never ripped up. I like the old infastructure of the system and the setting of it rolling through the hills. I have high-railred it from vera to peebles.It be aewsome to get to see the rest of it.
I wish I could see this line in action. I'm learning so much about the rail history in Ohio now, and remember seeing the trestle at Vera on the way to the Dayton Airshow. I wonder why NS hasn't considered modifying it and running trains from the oncoming South Point intermodal facility to Cincinatti. Anyone have any videos of the track when it was running?
Yes Mike. I just posted one that I found actually on the Abandoned Facebook page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmdAaufJ1UA
You will enjoy this 1994 video of the Norfolk Western 611 as it pulled the final excursion over the Peavine Line from Cincinnati's Union Terminal eastward to Portsmouth and onward!
I wasn't aware that the N&W had railbanked the peavine until recently, me being born and raised in Portsmouth, and my folks being N&W people from the turn of the 20th century until the early 60's. I rode the peavine behind 611 on its second trip into P-town, getting off in Rardon. We were side tracked twice to make room for time freights coming up from Cincinnati (which i thought odd, considering what we were at the time).
So, this is extremely sad news to me, and I'm hoping the N&W decides to open the line again in the near future.
Regards! Mark Cross, Tennessee