The Cincinnati District is a
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
line owned by the
Norfolk Southern Railway and operated by Cincinnati Eastern Railroad in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. The line runs from
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...
southeast to
Portsmouth, Ohio
Portsmouth is a city in and the county seat of Scioto County, Ohio, United States. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky, just east of the mouth of the Scioto River. ...
along a former
Norfolk and Western Railway line. Its southeast end is at the
Columbus District near
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
, while its northwest end is in
Mariemont, Ohio
Mariemont (pronounced ) is a village in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. It includes two overlapping historic districts, Village of Mariemont and Mariemont Historic District. Named for its founder, Mary Emery, Mariemont exhibits English ...
, where it meets the
Indiana and Ohio Railway
The Indiana and Ohio Railway is an American railroad that operates of track in Ohio, southern Michigan, and parts of southeastern Indiana. It is owned and operated by Genesee & Wyoming, who acquired the railroad in the 2012 purchase of RailAmeri ...
's
Midland Subdivision and
Norfolk Southern
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, ...
's
Dayton District.
Pre-1900 History
Connecting the cities of
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
and
Williamsburg, the Cincinnati, Batavia & Williamsburg Railway (CB&W) was chartered on January 11, 1876. The name was changed to the Cincinnati & Eastern Railroad (C&E) and the eastern terminus was changed to
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
by May. The main reason behind building the C&E is that it was projected to become a primary coal-hauling route from the
Jackson County coalfields. Construction began almost immediately on the C&E and by October 18, 1876, the route was open for between Batavia Junction and
Batavia
Batavia may refer to:
Historical places
* Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands
* Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...
. By August 4, 1877, the line had reached
Winchester, a distance of . The C&E opened of a branch towards
New Richmond from the Cincinnati, Georgetown & Portsmouth Railway at Richmond Junction to Tobasco on March 1, 1878.
A western extension of the C&E to the Miami Valley Railroad (MV) was completed in June. The MV had proposed a narrow-gauge connection to Cincinnati via a tunnel through the Deer Creek valley, but after the Deer Creek tunnel project ran into financial difficulties, the C&E found that its connection to
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
was useless thereby forcing the carrier to enter into bankruptcy on January 27, 1879. Nonetheless, the New Richmond branch was extended to
Blairsville by early 1880 and to
New Richmond on March 1, a distance of . Excited by the prospects of connecting the C&E with the vast coal reserves of the southern part of the state, shareholders voted to increase the capital stock from $500,000 to $2 million and authorized a bond issue to finish the railroad from Winchester to Portsmouth, and to then build an extension to
Gallipolis on November 21, 1880.
The C&E exited receivership on March 1, 1881. In February 1882, the railroad signed an agreement with the Cincinnati Northern to use of its line between
Idlewild and Court Street via the Deer Creek valley to provide the C&E with a direct connection to its Court Street depot in downtown Cincinnati. The C&E began operations with daily runs to
Irvington,
Winchester, and
New Richmond from Court Street on April 4, 1882. The C&E mainline had been finished to
Peebles
Peebles ( gd, Na Pùballan) is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in June 2018 wa ...
by the close of the year, to
Rarden
The L21A1 RARDEN ("Royal Armament, Research and Development Establishment" and "Enfield") is a British 30 mm autocannon used as a combat vehicle weapon. The Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE) and the Royal Small Arms ...
by May 1883, and to the Scioto Valley Railway at Vera Junction just north of
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
in August 1884, which included the erection of a 1,000-foot crossing of the
Scioto River
The Scioto River ( ) is a river in central and southern Ohio more than in length. It rises in Hardin County just north of Roundhead, Ohio, flows through Columbus, Ohio, where it collects its largest tributary, the Olentangy River, and meets t ...
. The high expense of the bridge and building an alignment through the Scioto Brush Creek valley caused the C&E to enter bankruptcy again on September 14.
The C&E began preparation to convert its route from narrow-gauge to standard-gauge shortly after the completion of its railroad to Portsmouth. However, by February 1885, its finances had not improved and another receiver was appointed for the railroad. The C&E east of Winchester to Vera Junction had been converted to
standard gauge by May, but no money had been appropriated for
standard gauge cars. A court authorized receiver approved the expenditure of $180,000 to convert the line west of Winchester to standard gauge, but the collapse of the 800-foot Nineveh trestle on the
New Richmond branch on August 8 scuttled those plans. The disaster greatly aggravated the railroad's financial issues and another receiver was appointed who felt it was necessary to reconvert the
standard gauge from Winchester to
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
back to
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
in order for the line to generate a profit.
By early 1886, the C&E was once again
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
. The railroad was sold to a representative of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton (CH&D) on September 1, however, it defaulted on payments and the railroad was resold on January 5, 1887, to H.B. Morehead who formed the Ohio & Northwestern Railroad (O&NW). Separately, the New Richmond branch was sold to William P. DeVou on September 1, 1886, who reorganized it as the Cincinnati, New Richmond & Ohio River Railroad (CNR&OR). DeVou planned to extend the CNR&OR east to
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
but the line had ceased operations by July 1889.
The O&NW moved immediately to
standard gauge the ex-C&E mainline between Cincinnati to Portsmouth which was completed by November 1887. The O&NW then shifted its western terminus from the Cincinnati Northern depot to the Little Miami Railroad depot. Like its predecessors, the O&NW became insolvent and went into receivership on June 15, 1888. Under receivership, the O&NW completed of its long-awaited Gallipolis extension between Portsmouth and Sciotoville in February 1889. The O&NW was sold on March 13, 1890, and reorganized as the Cincinnati, Portsmouth & Virginia Railroad (CP&V) on June 24, 1891.The
Norfolk and Western Railway merged with the CP&V in October 1901, and the
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
to
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
segment becoming the N&W Cincinnati Division with the nickname of the Peavine.
Subsequent History to Current Day
The Scioto River crossing at Vera Junction was replaced with new multi-span truss bridges fabricated by the American Bridge Company in 1913. The mainline between was realigned in 1947 when a quarry opened along Plum Run required the line to be rerouted, which included the erection of a new trestle above Cedar Fork and the laying of several miles (km) of new track. The quarry became the primary source of ballast for the
N&W and added a significant amount of traffic to the Portsmouth Branch until the mid-1980s. Because of the Portsmouth Branch's sharp curves, steep grades, and a lack of customers,
Norfolk Southern
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, ...
railbanked
A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...
the Peavine between
Peebles
Peebles ( gd, Na Pùballan) is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in June 2018 wa ...
and Vera Junction in 2001. On March 21, 2014, the CCET, a subsidiary of Frontier Rail operating under the trade name Cincinnati East Terminal Railway (CCET) filed with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to lease and operate the Portsmouth Branch between Clare (Mariemont) and Williamsburg. CCET took over operations on April 27.
In late 2016, the CCET renamed itself the Cincinnati Eastern Railroad and filed with the STB to lease and operate more of the Portsmouth Branch between Williamsburg and Plum Run east of Peebles for the storage of cars. The railroad filed with the STB to extend the lease with the goal of restarting railroad operations at the Plum Run quarry in 2019.
[Re: Docket No. FD 36370.” Received by Cynthia T. Brown, 10 Dec. 2019.]
Further reading
Cincinnati & Eastern Railwayat Abandoned
ABOUT THE REAL PEAVINEat Western Ohio Railway
Cincinnati Eastern Railroadat Cincinnati Eastern Railroad
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cincinnati Eastern Railway
Defunct Ohio railroads
Predecessors of the Norfolk and Western Railway
Railway companies established in 1876
Railway companies disestablished in 1887
3 ft gauge railways in the United States
Narrow gauge railroads in Ohio