Abandoned Railroads, Buildings, Cars and Locomotives

A gallery of abandoned railroads, depots, supporting buildings, cars and locomotives in the United States.

Indiana

Ohio

Gaseous Diffusion Plant Branch

A branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad served the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (USEC) in Piketon, Ohio. The facility was part of a federal program to produce highly enriched uranium to fuel nuclear reactors and weapons.

Operations at USEC began in 1954 and ended when enrichment operations were consolidated with a facility in Paducah, Kentucky in May 2001. Transfer and shipping operations were moved to Paducah in 2002. USEC today is home to the American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility and the American Centrifuge Plant, a next-generation uranium enrichment facility.

USEC was served by a branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad deviating from the mainline at Germany. It was constructed prior to the USEC’s opening in 1954 and included a significant trestle above Happy Hollow. The branch was dismantled circa 2001. USEC continues to be served by a branch from the Norfolk Southern mainline.

Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad (Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant Spur)

Lake Shore Electric Railway Cars

The Lake Shore Electric Railway (LSE), formed in 1901, grew to encompass 60 miles by the 1910s. The Niles Car & Manufacturing Company of Niles, Ohio manufactured most of the LSE cars, while the LSE Sandusky Shop handled others. The Great Depression took its toll on the interurban and the LSE was abandoned in 1938.

Spring Grove Industrial Track

The Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad (B&O SW) Spring Grove Industrial Track was located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The single-track branch split from the B&O SW mainline at Colrain Avenue and proceeded south and east of Spring Grove Avenue, eventually ending at Monmouth Street. It once served the manufacturing center of the Crosley Radio Corporation.

Tennessee

Coster Repair Shops

The Coster Repair Shops were named after Charles Henry Coster, founder of the Southern Railway System, in 1894. ¹ The advent of diesel engines caused a decline in work orders and the repair shops were closed in 1995.