[N&W] Re: N&W in SE Ohio

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

[Harry Bundy replies:]

Scott:
New Athens, Carrollton, St. Clairesville were all in what was loosely defined
by N&W as "The Eighth Mine District".  Prior to Dec. 1, 1949 the area was
served by Wheeling & Lake Erie and Pittsburgh & West Virginia.  W&LE
became a part of NYC&StL (the Nickle Plate Road) on that date, NKP was
merged into N&W in 1964.  A good source of W&LE and NKP history is
John A. Rehor's "The Nickel Plate Story".

There are two tunnels near Hopedale -- Hanna Tunnel on the P&WV main line
and Rexford Tunnel on the former W&LE branch between Pittsburgh Jct. and
Adena.  The problem with these tunnels is they aren't  (or weren't) stable.
In the
70's, it wasn't unusual to have rocks drop from the tunnel ceiling.  N&W
posted
24-hour watches on Rexford Tunnel in the 70's. I suspect that the NEW W&LE
has found a cheaper way to do it.

The transit time for the trip mentioned MAY have resulted because TWO
railroads
were required -- the Adena Railroad St. Clairesville to Adena and the Adena,
New Athens & Cadiz between Adena and New Athens.  Both were subsidiary
companies of the W&LE.

[Then later, Harry submits the following correction:]

Scott:
My apologies -- Carrollton was NOT on the Adena Railroad, but was on W&LE's
Canton-Sherrodsville line.  W&LE No. 30 (Cleveland-Sherrodsville) offered
passenger service until 1927.  W&LE abandoned the Carrollton-Sherrodsville
portion in 1935. Continuing --Sherrodsville to Jewett (Fairview) on W&LE
No. 6. Because the Adena, Cadiz & New Athens wasn't opened  until 1917,
passengers apparently transferred to the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis
at Jewett for a ride to Cadiz Junction and there transferred to another
PC&StL train for Cadiz.  I have no information of PC&StL passenger service.

------------------------------------------------
[Gary Rolih writes:]

Regarding the Harrison County in Ohio question, the main railroad in that
area was the Pan Handle division of the PRR.  The Pan Handle main ran
double-tracked from Steubenville on the Ohio River to Mingo Junction,
Miller, Cadiz Junction, roughly eight miles north of Cadiz, Hopedale, then
on to Dennison, Newcomerstown, Coshocton, then Newark, where the PRR ran on
joint B&O/PRR track to Columbus.  The Pan Handle started in the early
1850's as the Steubenville & Indiana; it was the PRR route to Columbus,
Indianapolis and St Louis with a significant branch down to Cincinnati.  It
handled traffic nearly as great as the PRR Pittsburgh-to-Ft.
Wayne-to-Chicago route.

At the end of PC, the traffic was routed to the ex- NYC line.  Conrail sold
the line to the Columbus & Ohio River which operates it as single track
from Dennison to Weirton Junction.  The Ohio Central runs on the west end
around Dennison and Coshocton.

To the east of the Cadiz Branch, the Wheeling and Lake Erie cutting to the
southeast from Jewett to Unionvale and Dillonvale.  It crossed the Cadiz
Branch at a location named Halls Folks on my 1902 Ohio Railroad map.

The N&W got this line in the 1964 NKP merger.  Today the W&LE is
independent, again.

The Pan Handle had numerous tunnels on the line, the one you see is most
likely one of the second track tunnels.

For references see the PRRT&HS "Keystone" articles written in the 1990-91
time frame.  These were available as back issues a few years ago; I do not
know if they are available today.  Also, search recent back issues of
TRAINS for an ad advertising Cecil G. Howard's book "the Building of the
Pan Handle Division of the PRR".  It is an amateur publication but has
useful history in it.

CLEAR BLOCK Productions has an eight or nine volume video series on the Pan
Handle Division covering the 1970-1985 time period.

A nice-to-have antique is the Ohio Railroad Map published yearly by the
Ohio Commissioner of Railways and Telegraphs from around 1870 to 1914.  The
series was printed in color ( except the really early ones) on linen which
folded up into a leather booklet.  Later copies were also printed on
Onionskin paper.  The younger ones are not uncommon but do not come up for
sale often.  The show all of the railroads and all of the interurbans for
given year.

Today, a similar map is published by the Ohio Railway Development
Commission in Columbus, Ohio.  The N&WHS handed out the second-to-last
version at the Columbus Convention in 1997.  The latest post-Conrail was
published about two months ago.