The Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad (B&O SW) Spring Grove Industrial Track was located in Cincinnati, Ohio and is currently out-of-service.
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The Brimstone & New River Railroad is a disused railroad from the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway (CNO&TP, Cincinnati Southern) at New River, Tennessee southeast to Lone Mountain. Chartered as the Brimstone Railroad by the W.M. Ritter Lumber company of Virginia, the logging line followed Brimstone Creek and featured lightweight, unballasted track. The line came to fruition after Ritter purchased the New River Lumber Company. The railroad featured a branch within nearly every hollow, with tracks that ascended the mountains via switchbacks. The Brimstone, from Slick Rock north, was paralleled by the earlier Knoxville and New River Railroad (K&NR). The line operated three shay locomotives.
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Construction of the Central Ohio Railway, which was proposed to connect Columbus, Ohio to Bellaire, began in June 1850. On November 21, 1866, the Central Ohio concluded a deal with the B&O for a term of 20 years, during which the B&O would operate the railroad.
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The former Chesapeake & Ohio Dawkins Subdivision extends from Dawkins, near West Van Lear, to Evanston, Kentucky and is 36.13 miles long. The former coal-hauling branch has since been abandoned, although it may be converted into a rail-to-trail. It featured three grades of one to one and a quarter percent, and two tunnels.
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The Chesapeake and Ohio abandoned the steep rail grade that traveled from Ansted to Hawks Nest, West Virginia from 1890 to 1972. Today, the graveled and dirt trail features two trestles and views of the old mines and support functions for the railroad.
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Chesapeake and Ohio Middle Creek Subdivision is owned by CSX Transportation and is located from the Big Sandy Subdivision at Prestonsburg to David, Kentucky. It has not been abandoned, although the line has not been used in years.
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The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (USEC), located in Piketon, Ohio, was part of a United States government program to produce highly enriched uranium to fuel nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Two railroad spurs were constructed from both the Chesapeake and Ohio and from Norfolk and Western.
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The Chicago, Cincinnati & Louisville was the shortest route between Cincinnati and Chicago. Today, much of the line has been abandoned.
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.
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The Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley connected the cities of Morrow, Wilmington, Washington Court House, Circleville, Zanesville and Trinway in Ohio.
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The Cincinnati & Westwood was a short lived suburban railway from the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton to Westwood, then a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. It carried very little traffic from its inception to its closure in 1941.
The Cincinnati, Columbus and Hocking Valley Railroad is a defunct railroad that was later purchased by the Ohio Southern, and was a route extending from Sedalia to Kingman via Jeffersonville, Ohio. It was once proposed as a connection between Columbus and Cincinnati generally along what is now the Interstate 71 corridor.
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The Cincinnati and Portsmouth Railway Company was incorporated in March 1873, tasked with constructing a railroad from Cincinnati, Ohio eastward to Portsmouth along the Ohio River. It was later renamed to the Cincinnati, Georgetown and Portsmouth Railroad, although the railroad only reached Russellville, east of Georgetown, before running out of funding.
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The Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway (CL&N) was a railroad in southwest Ohio, connecting Cincinnati to Dayton via Lebanon.
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The Cincinnati-owned and financed Cincinnati Southern began operations at King's Mountain, Kentucky, and extended north to Cincinnati and south to Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is part of the Norfolk Southern line today. A modernization project that began in the 1960s has left many tunnels and alignments abandoned.
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The Cincinnati Street Connecting Railway was a short 2.5 mile line along Cincinnati, Ohio's riverfront, connecting the Indianapolis & Cincinnati and Little Miami.
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The Coal and Coke Railway (C&C) was a railroad that stretched from Charleston, West Virginia to Elkins, and included branches that connected to many coal fields and coke ovens.
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The College Hill Railroad was a line connecting the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton at Spring Grove Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio, to the College Hill and Mt. Healthy neighborhoods to the north. An extension to Ross was once planned but never constructed. Due to competition from an adjoining streetcar line, the railroad was electrified and became an interurban, before succumbing to financial troubles in 1938.
The Covington and Lexington Railroad later became part of the Louisville and Nashville and then CSX. While it is an active line, the gallery includes the abandoned Paris, Kentucky depot and other scenes from the railroad's past.
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The Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway (DSS&A) served the upper peninsula of Michigan, namely to carry iron or cooper ore to smelters and docks along the shores of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.
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The Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad (DT&I) is a defunct railroad that had its beginnings as the Iron Railroad Company, which connected Ironton to the coal and timber reserves in southern Ohio. Through acquisitions and mergers, the DT&I stretched for over 370 miles from Ironton to the automobile manufacturing plants in Michigan.
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The Flemingsburg and Northern Railroad was a standard-gauge railroad that existed from the Louisville & Nashville line at Flemingsburg Junction, Kentucky to Flemingsburg. It was financially plagued and reorganized on seven different occasions before being abandoned in 1955.
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An overview of the Hocking Valley Railway, including the Gallipolis, McArthur & Columbus Railroad and the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway in southeast Ohio.
The Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad is an iron ore hauler in northern Michigan. All of the lines east of Marquette were abandoned in 1979, with the exception of 5 miles of track that connects with the ex-Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad to a paper mill in Munising.
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Chartered as Ohio's second railroad, the Little Miami connected Cincinnati, Ohio to Xenia and Springfield. It later connected with Columbus. The Little Miami was one of the most profitable railroads in the United States, although its usage and importance declined after World War II. After consolidations and mergers, the Little Miami was dismantled in 1976, and was revived less than a decade later as the longest rail to trail in the United States.
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The Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington Railroad connects Louisville, Kentucky to Cincinnati, Ohio. It later became part of the Louisville & Nashville and is part of the CSX Transportation system today.
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The Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad (M&C) is a defunct railroad that connected Cincnnnati, Ohio to Parkersburg, West Virginia. Through acquisitions during the 1800s, the M&C commanded over 270 miles of railroad, from Cincinnati to Marietta and south to Portsmouth and Hillsboro. The line was later absorbed into the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern, and some of the route has been dismantled.
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Michigan Central Station, located in the Corktown district of Detroit, Michigan, was constructed in mid-1913 for the Michigan Central Railroad at a cost of $15 million. Replacing an earlier passenger rail depot that had burned, the station boasted decent ridership until post-World War II. Attempts were made to sell the station during the 1950s and 1960s due to sharply falling passenger counts, and was nearly closed until Amtrak renovated the station in the 1970s. The last train rolled out in 1988.
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The Norfolk & Western, as part of the Ohio Extension from Elkhorn, West Virginia to Coal Grove, Ohio, snaked through the mountainous canyons throughout the rich coalfields. A part of this alignment, from Lenore to Wayne, West Virginia, was abandoned in 1933 when improvements were made to the line along the Big Sandy River.
The Oneida & Western Railroad is an abandoned rail line between Jamestown and Oneida, Tennessee. The line served vast pockets of virgin timber and coal mines before it was abandoned in 1954 after many years of financial troubles.
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Hocking Valley Railway, Wellston & Jackson Belt Railway
Have you ever heard of The Lake Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad? Check website “Ohio Railroad Page”. Thanks. Please leave opinions/feedback.
Anyone out here ever hear of RattleSnake and Ramsey, aka, The Lorain, Ashland & Southern? Began 1906, from Lorain to Wellington, Ohio, as direct competition to Wheeling and Lake Erie project, Lorain & West Virginia. L,A,&S sat unused from 1906 to 1915, when half interest sold to each Pennsylvania, & Erie railroads. Continued from Wellington to Ashland,Ohio where connection to exsisting railroad was made, resulting in L,A,& S. Operated sum total of ten years, being abandoned in 1915. Sat unused for remaining years between 1915 and 1942, when rails were torn up for war effort. Much of old grade remains, including ties and some spikes, remains of concrete bridge where railroad crossed Black River, north of Wellington, right beside L&WV crossing of same river. Publication of history of railroad available, with book entitled same as above. Good Reading! Thanks, John Thompson
Correction to LA&S. Railroad operated till 1925, not 1915, before being abandoned. Removed 1942. Remains still can be seen all along route from west end of steel plant in Lorain to “Custaloga”, more a spot on the map as an actual location, which is just east of Big Prarie, Ohio
I once worked at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant from 1974 until 1986, and have seen photos of the first converters that were delivered to the plant on flatcars, being pulled by C&O GP-9′s. At the time the converters were some of the most classified pieces of equipment in the U.S., and they arrived under tarps and the guns of armed guards.
I wasn’t aware the tracks had been removed, but then I haven’t been around the plant for over 20 years or more.
Regards! Mark
John ,
I grew up about a mile east of Custaloga Junction (Rattlesnake Junction) on SR226.Nancy Davenport said that her grandmother used to walk to Shreve from Big Prairie and stop at the water tower to get something to drink at Custaloga .The junction was approximately behind Lee Otto’s property starting on the north side of the todays Norfolk southern track that runs through Big Prairie and Shreve.The junction sat on land that was owned by Willis Horst (todays time period),but his son in law works the land and runs the farm.Some of the railroad bed can also be seen off of Mc Fadden road bordering the west side of Reull (Ed) Foote’s property.I heard that the reason it was called Rattlesnake Junction,was because of the swamp rattlers in the area. Was it true I don’t know.
Regards,
Denny