The Ashland Railway is a Class III railroad shortline railroad operating within North Central Ohio and based in Mansfield, Ohio. Since its inception in 1986, Ashland Railway has grown to provide service 24 hours a day 7 days a week along 55 miles of track in two segments, to industries within Ashland, Huron, Richland and Wayne counties. ASRY interchanges with the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

in Mansfield, the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

and

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

(CSXT) in Willard. The line runs southeast from Willard through Plymouth and Shelby, to Mansfield. From Mansfield the line runs northeast through Ashland and terminates in West Salem. The shortline operates on two separate lines that connect in Mansfield, Ohio. The "original" Ashland mainline, which began operations in 1986, was purchased from

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

. This line's heritage goes back to the Erie Lackawanna Railway (EL) and was a segment in their Chicago - New York main line. After Conrail took control of the Erie Lackawanna, most of its trackage was deemed redundant and removed in large sections. The portion east of West Salem and the portions west of Mansfield were removed around 1984. Conrail retained ownership of the EL line between Mansfield and Ontario, to service a GM plant. The crossing with the Conrail (former

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

) Ft. Wayne Line was removed, and spur tracks were built to interchange traffic on either side. The second portion of the Ashland Railway is the Willard to Mansfield section. This was operated by the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

as a line between the docks on Lake Erie to south-central Ohio, including the city of

Mt. Vernon, Ohio Mount Vernon is a city in Knox County, Ohio, Knox County, Ohio, United States. It is located northeast of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The population was 16,990 at the United States Census 2010, 2010 census. It is the county seat of Knox County. H ...

. Because of economic downturns in the 1980s, freight traffic declined drastically on this line and it was later reduced to a branchline between Willard and Mansfield. By 1990, the new

was ready to part with this line, and sold it to the Ashland Railway as well. Before the purchase of this CSX line, the Ashland was limited to only one interchange, with Conrail in Mansfield. In the village of Plymouth, the line passed the former

Plymouth Locomotive Works Plymouth Locomotive Works was a US builder of small railroad locomotives. All Plymouth locomotives were built in a plant in Plymouth, Ohio until 1997 when the company was purchased by Ohio Locomotive Crane and production moved to Bucyrus, Ohio ...

plant, shuttered since 1999. The railway has built a spur line to serve an industrial park in Ashland. In 1924, the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond t ...

was considering buying the Ashland Railway, a separate company from the current one by that name.

References

External links

HawkinsRails - Ashland Railway
{{Ohio railroads Ohio railroads Railway companies established in 1986 1986 establishments in Ohio