[Date Prev][Date Next]
[Chronological]
[Thread]
[Top]
Re: (rshsdepot) Exploring Railroad Relics in East Ohio
- Subject: Re: (rshsdepot) Exploring Railroad Relics in East Ohio
- From: "James Kelling" <james.kelling_@_nara.gov>
- Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:06:38 -0500
I believe the former B&O bridge across the Ohio River at Bellaire, Ohio
has been severed at the western end, per my visit last summer. But
nearby Barnesville does have an excellent restored station.-
J. Kelling
>>> I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com 1/28/2009 7:31 AM >>>
From the Aurora Advocate.
Original article with photo at:
_http://www.auroraadvocate.com/news/article/4513766_
(http://www.auroraadvocate.com/news/article/4513766)
Bernie Wagenblast
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Kaleidoscope: Exploring railroad relics in East Ohio
by Ken Lahmers
Editor
Having become a "rail fan" -- the term used to describe a train
enthusiast
- -- I'm always looking for things to do relating to motive power.
With forecasters predicting an unusually warm weekend Dec. 27-28, I
decided
to hunt relics on long-abandoned railroad lines in Eastern Ohio.
Although rails along many of the routes through Tuscarawas, Jefferson,
Harrison, Belmont and Guernsey counties have been pulled up, some
remnants remain
and make good subjects for viewing and taking photos.
Not only did I visit some interesting spots, my trip ended near
Cambridge
with a 1 1/2-hour talk with a man who really has a passion for
railroading.
More about him in a future column.
Bridges, yards, tunnels
With a map of old rail lines and some books of steam locomotives
operating
on them on the seat beside me, I rolled out of Kent at 8 a.m. that
Saturday.
First I headed to Gnadenhutten in Tuscarawas County, where I've always
wanted to photograph the twin highway/railroad bridges along Route 36.
I traversed the highway bridge many times when I was growing up down
there.
The truss-style steel bridges span the Tuscarawas River. It's difficult
to
get both of them in the same shot when leaves are on the trees, but
this time
of year is perfect.
The highway bridge is painted a light green, but the RR bridge on the
Ohio
Central System -- old Pennsylvania RR Panhandle Line -- is either
painted a
dark color or is just plain rusty.
I couldn't have been luckier. As I stood on the single track at one end
of
the RR bridge, I saw the headlight of a train approaching in the
distance.
I stood away from the track and watched as five engines and about 50
empty
hopper cars passed, coming from the upper Ohio River valley.
Only one engine was pulling the train; the other four had no operators
and
were just along for the ride to another location.
As I walked back to my car, an elderly fellow waiting to pull out from
a
county road onto Route 36 asked me if I was a train buff. Ironically,
he told me
he once was a telegrapher on a railroad.
NEXT, IT WAS on to Adena in Jefferson County, where Wheeling & Lake
Erie and
later the Nickel Plate Road and Norfolk & Western once had a large
yard
where coal trains were assembled for their journey to the Lake Erie
shore.
I have a handful of books with several photos taken in the late
1940s-early
1950s at the yard, and wanted to see if I could recognize anything.
I was overjoyed as I passed an old wooden trestle that I recognized in
a
photo. I spent 30 minutes checking it out and climbing to the track bed
at one
end of the 200-foot long span over a creek.
The trestle once was part of the Adena branch to Neffs, which joined
the
main line in the yard a few hundred feet away.
No signs are visible of the old yard. It was situated beside the old
football field for Adena and later Buckeye West high schools.
The concrete stands, built as a WPA project in 1937, remain. I covered
a
couple of football games there in the mid-1970s, when I worked for The
Times-Leader in neighboring Belmont County.
Norfolk & Western coal trains were still being assembled in the yard
then,
and activity on the now out-of-service main line was brisk during
Friday night
football games.
About a mile from the old yard is the 500-foot long Adena tunnel. I
wanted
to walk through it, but getting there required going across private
property,
so I refrained.
I HEADED east to Dillonvale, keeping an eye on the W&LE rails. There
once
was a busy yard there called Pine Valley, but it also has disappeared
in the
last 25 years.
I followed the Adena branch a few miles south into Belmont County,
where it
once passed through the 1,148-foot long Harrisville tunnel, the longest
bore
on any of the original W&LE tracks.
I drove through Barton, a former Youghiogheny & Ohio Coal Co. town,
where
the Eastern Ohio branch of the B&O once was prominent. All track has
been
removed, and the mighty Y&O is no longer in business.
The Barton tunnel is hidden somewhere in the hills, but I couldn't find
anyone in town old enough to pinpoint its location so I could explore
it.
On my way to St. Clairsville, I went under a couple of impressive old
bridges on the Adena branch, and eventually came to the St. C. tunnel
under the
National Road.
When I lived in St. C., I passed over the tunnel dozens of times, never
knowing it was there. A drugstore sets about 60 feet atop the tunnel,
which was
built in the late 1800s.
The 532-foot long, 40-foot high bore is part of the 4-mile National
Road
Bikeway, the only rail-to-trail facility in Ohio which features a
tunnel. After
several years without train traffic, the line was converted to a trail
in
1997.
Other railroad relics
After staying overnight in St. Clairsville, I headed to Bellaire, where
an
old truss bridge spans the Ohio River to Benwood, W. Va.
The former B&O bridge was built in 1870 and is still used by W&LE.
Leading
up to the bridge is a magnificent 1,433-foot long stone arch viaduct,
with 43
arches each 35 feet high.
Part of the viaduct is still used and links with a steel trestle which
takes
W&LE traffic north toward Bridgeport and Martins Ferry. Another part
once
took B&O trains to the western part of Belmont County and on to
Cambridge.
Twelve miles south along the Ohio River to Powhattan Point and 10 miles
west
to Alledonia I encountered modern day RR activity.
Along Route 148, coal was being loaded into hopper cars at the tipple
of
Ohio Valley Coal Co.'s huge Powhattan No. 6 underground mine, which
annually
produces 4 million to 5 million tons.
As I paused beside the highway, the loading operation had just started
and
the first hopper was being filled. There probably were 40 to 50 more
cars
waiting behind it. The coal goes east to the Ohio River docks.
Heading toward Guernsey County, I stopped to admire and photograph the
former B&O depot in Barnesville. Built in 1917, the brick structure has
been
restored and sets along what is planned to be a rail-to-trail
conversion.
E-mail:
_klahmers_@_recordpub.com_ (mailto:klahmers@recordpub.com)
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3155
**************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2
easy
steps!
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1215855013x1201028747/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072%26hmpgID=62%26bcd=De
cemailfooterNO62)
================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of
existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
To Unsubscribe: http://lists.railfan.net/rshsdepot-photo/unsub.html
=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
To Unsubscribe: http://lists.railfan.net/rshsdepot-photo/unsub.html
------------------------------
End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1838
********************************
=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org