Little Miami and the B&O SW Spring Grove Industrial Track

 

Two rail lines in Cincinnati, Ohio frame today's Abandoned update. Covering the Little Miami Railroad -- the second railroad in the state and the Baltimore and Ohio Southwest Spring Grove Industrial Track, both present a bit of history that is becoming long forgotten.

 

Chartered as Ohio's second railroad, the Little Miami connected Cincinnati to Xenia and Springfield. It later connected with Columbus. The Little Miami was one of the most profitable railroads in the United States, although its usage and importance declined after World War II. After consolidations and mergers, the Little Miami was dismantled in 1976, and was revived less than a decade later as the longest rail to trail in the United States.

 

The following photographs are from the end of the line at the Montgomery Inn Boathouse east of downtown Cincinnati to the Undercliff Yards. Fellow historian Jeffrey Jakucyk, of Cincinnati Traction History, gave additional background to the railroad, which is penned below.

 

Lancaster Street is actually a sidewalk that connected Eastern Avenue (now Riverside Drive) to Salutaris Avenue at the top. It is severed by Columbia Parkway.

 

This underpass was constructed in 1914.

 

 

 

This is the Little Miami at Lancaster, or milemarker 2. Note the abandoned trackage; only the rightmost track is currently used.

 

The abandoned Torrence Road station at Eastern Avenue. All that remains of the multi-story station and crossover is retaining walls and bricked up structures.

 

 

 

 

Original retaining walls from 1842.

 

A siding was recently removed that served oil storage tanks at St. Andrews Street and Eastern Avenue, now Riverside Drive. Note the abandoned trackage; only the rightmost track is currently used.

 

 

Note the abandoned trackage; only the rightmost track is currently used.

 

The former Pendleton Yards between St. Andres Street and Delta Avenue.

 

 

 

Undercliff Yards near Beechmont Avenue has shrunk in capacity greatly since the route into Kentucky was terminated.

 

 

The leftmost track is not used.

 

The second feature is small and modest. The Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad (B&O SW) Spring Grove Industrial Track was located in Cincinnati, Ohio and is currently out-of-service.

 

The former single-track alignment split from the mainline at the B&O SW Coleraine Avenue underpass, and proceeded south east of Spring Grove Avenue. By 1912, the line extended south to Brashears Street, but was extended as far south as Monmouth Street, where the trackage split to service two customers.

 

The rail line once served the manufacturing center of the Crosley Radio Corporation. It has been out of service for over a decade, with all track crossings removed.

 

Office of Coast Survey Historical Map & Chart Project, City of Cincinnati, Sheet 35, 1912.

 

A view of the trackage alongside Brashears Street at Arlington Street.

 

 

A view of the B&O SW industrial track at its end east of Monmouth Street.

 

Original blog entry --

http://www.abandonedonline.net/index.php?q=blog&id=97

Really interesting. Is Undercliff Yards over near Lunken? I've never seen it or heard about it, but it looks like it could be over in that industrial area near Kellogg and Lunken.

Yes, the yard is located here, although it is just a shell of its former self.

Neat.