Norfolk Western Portsmouth, Ohio Depot
3 Responses to “Norfolk Western Portsmouth, Ohio Depot”
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Your website is interesting. The former N&W Cincinnati main line is cut due to weight limits on the Scioto River bridge near Portsmouth. This is a main line which may be pulled up before too long. One of the counties east of Cincinnati completed a study on the line for possible use for commuter service as well as some marginal freight. The study indicates the line is difficult with grades, tight curves and not suited for modern long haul freight trains. Fortunatly NS has left the line in place for possible future use. This is not what CSX did with significant main lines such as the former B&O through southern Ohio. There might have been a line through Appalachian Ohio by linking some routes and forming one shared line. The N&W might have been part of such a plan. It may not have been the best choice as the B&O was a better line.
I think you are referring to the Clermont County Transportation Improvement District's work:
http://tid.clermontcountyohio.gov/CPLRailLineEval…
It's interesting that NS maintains the track, spraying for weeds and cleaning any debris on the track, even though it has been railbanked since… 2002?
I have a companion article on that very railroad:
http://www.abandonedonline.net/railroads/cincinna…
These are very sad photos. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to sit in the dispatchers office in this building when Clarke Hale was the Scioto Division superintendent and watch trains being controlled on both the peavine to Cincinnati and the Columbus river line north out of Portsmouth.
It was a dark, busy room that smelled of old cigars and had the constant clack of the mechanical switches being thrown on the CTC boards as well as the recorders with their magnetic tapes recording every move and recording each dispatcher did at his board.
A memory that I'll always carry with me. I hate to see this is what happened to the old station before it was torn down 'in the name of progress'.
Regards! Mark Cross, Tennessee