N&W B&O

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

OK Harry here goes what little I know about the interurban between Portsmouth and Ironton actually at least to Coal Grove.

Correct that you operated alongside the abandoned r/w roadbed as can still be discerned lying between the SUPER MAIN and US 52. Creek bridge abutments are the most noticeable relics but the unnatural line of a roadbed is easily seen just east of the county road overpass at Haverhill. 

There are pictures (not many) showing single car movements but the one I know best is not identifiable as to location. The most interesting picture is a recent hanging in the RAX restaurant at IRONTON that shows THREE BRIDGES crossing ice creek as you pass between IRONTON and COAL GROVE
with the interurban being between the Hwy and the N&W. My grandparents lived in the second house inside COAL GROVE from 1926 thru my grandmother's death at age 97 in 1985. The homeplace is now gone. But I find more questions when I see the picture than I do answers and at this time there is no one living to get direct info concerning all those wonderful questions that your own hometown begs asked, i.e. the grade of the three bridges defies logic when you stand there today ?? .

IRONTON has history that is simply amazing for such a small town. 8 Steel furnaces inside the town along a three mile river front with foundries mixed in between. And the B&O owned land and planned an Ohio River crossing in the east end to access Kentucky coal fields. At the time ARMCO STEEL was in IRONTON not ASHLAND, KY. 

There are pictures showing where Henry Ford started a bridge across the Ohio River in downtown IRONTON for the same desire to reach his huge holdings of coal land in PIKE COUNTY, KY. 

As my computer skills a very low I will see if I can get a 13 yr old wiz to help and send these pictures. The pictures are part of a collection that a good friend has been collecting for generations, his father collected local history and he is carrying on the project. For those who look for new history sources our own county historical society is a real advanced group with the completion of a new research building this past summer. 

Anyone in the area should always feel free to contact me. This being the center of so much historic industrial activity with the added rail component it can make for an interesting visit if we can arrange for the right guide. Some of industry had their own rail operations and even Carlyle Tile's mule power operations alongside the N&W at COAL GROVE.

Harry as you can see it takes little to charge me up.

Oakie


----- Original Message ----- 
From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 8:12 AM
Subject: Re: N&W B&O


OK, OAKIE, you've told us about B&O,  now tell us about Portsmouth's
3rd rail.  There's a picture in the archives showing what appears to
be an interurban line just west of the Little Scioto  River.  >From my
recollection, there's an abandoned road bed that can be seen on the
north side of the N&W between New Boston and Haverhill.  Maybe
the line competed with N&W for passenger traffic between Portsmouth
and Ironton  ?
                                                     Harr Bundy   


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