Ohi-Rail switcher No. 135 is shown heading westbound in two unidentified locations, but both probably are near Minerva. The images were made in 1982, the year that Ohi-Rail began operations.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Posts Tagged ‘short line railroads of Ohio’
Ohi-Rail Two for Tuesday
January 24, 2023Patriot Rail to Acquire Pioneer Lines
August 9, 2022Short line operators Pioneer Lines and Patriot Rail have announced plans to merge.
The announcement said Patriot will acquire Pioneer in a transaction that will give Patriot 31 railroad systems. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Patriot currently has 16 rail lines, although none of them are located in Ohio or its surrounding states.
Pioneer has 15 rail lines including Elkhart & Western (Indiana), Gettysburg & Northern (Pennsylvania), Indiana Southwestern (Indiana), Kendallville Terminal Railway (Indiana), Michigan Southern (Michigan), and Napoleon Defiance & Western (Ohio and Indiana).
Aside from its short line properties, Patriot operates tank car clearing, transloading, contract switching, and railcar storage, among other services.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.
An Ohi-Rail Triple Play
April 3, 2022
Ohi-Rail Nos 47 and 7547 are working at the east end of the OHIC yard in Minerva on Sept. 26, 2013. The industrial facility seen in photo two is no longer there. Ohi-Rail itself has since been acquired by Genesee & Wyoming. The former OHIC property is now operated as part of the Mahoning Valley Railway, which is part of the Ohio Central System.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
Ohio Short Line Gets ORDC Grant for Track Work
November 20, 2021The Napoleon Defiance & Western will receive a grant of $687,623 from the Ohio Rail Development Commission to be used for rail replacement.
The track to be replaced is located east of Defiance, where the short line owned by Pioneer Lines interchanges with CSX and Norfolk Southern.
In announcing the grant the ORDC noted that derailments on the 45-mile line that operates between Napolean and Woodburn, Indiana, have been frequent due to years of deferred maintenance.
The track work is expected to enable longer trains carrying heavy loaded rail cars.
The work will involve replacing and resurfacing three miles of track with 112-pound rail. Workers will also install tie plates and joint bars salvaged from another Pioneer-owned railroad in another state.
ABC on CSX in Akron
May 21, 2021
Akron Barberton Cluster GP40 No. 4005 is eastbound on CSX in Akron on May 12, 2021. The unit was acquired in July 2019 and rebuilt at the Wheeling & Lake Erie shops in Brewster. It was released for revenue service in January 2020.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Ohio Short Line Added to Ready List
October 1, 2020Short line railroad holding company OmniTRAX has added the Northern Ohio & Western to Rail-Ready Sites program.
The move is an effort to boost the efforts of the Tiffin-Seneca Economic Partnership in northwestern Ohio.
In a news release, OmniTRAX said the Rail-Ready program helps connect companies looking to improve supply-chain performance with railroads.
OmniTRAX and the economic group will market three initial sites on the NO&W, with property parcels ranging from 14 to 72 acres.
NO&W interchanges with Norfolk Southern and CSX and hauls such commodities as limestone, lime and pressed board.
Vestige of the Rock on the ABC
September 24, 2020
On Wednesday I caught the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway local returning from Ravenna. it had GP40 No. 4005, which was formerly Rock Island 4700. It is shown passing the former Erie Railroad passenger depot, now a restaurant named Treno, in Kent.
Photograph by Todd Dillon
W&LE Gets Grant to Rebuild Bridge
March 29, 2020The Wheeling & Lake Erie has received a grant from the Ohio Rail Development Commission to be used to repair a bridge on its Carrollton branch.
The grant of $235,225 will be used to rehabilitate the century-old Oneida Bridge at milepost 16.78 in Oneida.
In a news release, the ORDC said the project will ensure the bridge is in safe working condition.
The release said the W&LE has committed to maintaining the bridge in operable condition for 10 years after completion of the project.
Jeff Sunderland, the W&LE’s assistant vice president, business development, said in the news release that the railroad will continue to provide service to new and current customers in Carrollton.
Among them is Griffeth & Son, a trucking company that is extending a rail spur to be used to unload carloads of crushed limestone.
The ORDC gave the trucking company a $100,000 ORDC grant and it also received an award of $200,000 from JobsOhio and $50,000 from the Carroll County Community Improvement Corporation.
The W&LE will bring in the stone to the unloading facility on a weekly basis once the project is completed.
The limestone is now being trucked to Carrollton from a quarry near Carey.
James Griffeth told the The Repository of Canton last October that the number of trains bringing limetone to Carrollton might increase to two or three a week if demand rises.
The ORDC news release said work on the Oneida bridge is expected to be done this year.
The Repository story of last October said at the time that Carroll County did not have any active rail shippers.
Seeing Red on the Grand River Railway
December 26, 2019
The Grand River Railway uses a caboose as a shoving platform during its moves.
It is former Conrail N2 class No. 21202 and was owned by CSX before joining the GRR roster.
Earlier this year it was repainted red, given GRR markings and roster number 21.
It is shown near the Morton Salt facility north of Grand River earlier this week.
Photographs by Edward Ribinskas
Y&S Completes Purchase of Line it Operates
November 6, 2019The Youngstown & Southeastern Railroad has completed acquisition of a 36-mile rail line that runs from Youngstown to Darlington, Pennsylvania.
The rail line was sold by Mule Sidetracks, an affiliate of MarkWest Energy Partners, which had purchased the line in 2013 from the Columbiana County Port Authority for $3 million.
Although the sale price of the railroad to Y&S was not disclosed, The Business Journal of Youngstown reported that public records show Mule Sidetracks sold land along the tracks in Columbiana County to Y&S for $1,815,507 and sold Y&S 14 parcels in Mahoning County for $809,153.
MarkWest, which is based in Denver, had acquired the rail line with the expectation of developing business related to exploration of the Utica shale oil and gas fields.
The Port Authority was hoping that MarkWest would construct a processing plant in Columbiana County.
Y&S has been providing rail service on the line since 2006 under lease from the Port Authority and later by contract with MarkWest.
Y&S is an affiliate of Indiana Boxcar Corporation of Connersville, Indiana. The Class III railroad has annual revenue of less than $5 million.
It connects with NS in Youngstown and CSX in Lowellville.
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