The Cincinnati, Columbus & Hocking Valley Railroad, later owned by the Ohio Southern, is a defunct railway between Sedalia and Kingman via Jeffersonville, Ohio. It was once proposed as a connection between Columbus and Cincinnati generally along what is now the Interstate 71 corridor.
The Waynesville, Port William & Jeffersonville Railroad was organized on December 9, 1875, 5 as a narrow gauge route between the Little Miami Railroad (LM) at Claysville Junction to Jeffersonville, where it would junction with the Dayton & Southeastern, 2 and parallel the Little Miami south to Waynesville. 1 The name was changed to the Columbus, Washington & Cincinnati Railroad on November 27, 1876. 5
Grading began at Allentown (now Octa) on June 1, 1877, and the line was completed to Bowersville by September, Port William by October, Glenwood by December, New Burlington in April 1878, and the LM at Claysville Junction in July. 5 The railroad was reorganized on February 15, 1881, as the Cincinnati, Columbus & Hocking Valley Railway (CC&HV), and later in the year, the line was converted to standard gauge and extended to Jeffersonville. 5
The CC&HV was shut down in July 1887, but in 1894, the track from McKay’s Station to Jeffersonville was acquired by the Ohio Southern Railway in order to complete a Columbus to Cincinnati route on a different alignment, especially as it descended into the Little Miami River valley. 2 5 The portion from the LM at McKay’s Station to Claysville Junction was abandoned in 1887, and it was proposed that a new alignment would diverge from McKay’s Station to Kingman. The Ohio Southern was only able to build 31.1 miles of its route from Jeffersonville to Sedalia, and from McKay’s Station to South Kingman, before funding was exhausted. 3
The Ohio Southern went into receivership on May 9, 1895, 2 because very little of the railroad had been completed and the portions that were built were isolated. 1 because of a northerly extension of Lima proved to be too much of a financial strain.2 The railroad was acquired by the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad (DT&I) on October 15, 1898. 1 The DT&I abandoned the line between Jeffersonville and Kingman on November 18, 1932, 1 4 just short of the LM connection at Waynesville, 2 and the section from Jeffersonville and Sedalia was abandoned in 1941, 2 short of a connection to the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railroad.
Share
Sources
- Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad Company. “HISTORY OF THE DETROIT, TOLEDO AND IRONTON RAILROAD.” DT&I Modelers Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. Article.
- Pletz, William C. “The Railroad That Went No Place.” Inside Track 1979: n. pag. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. Article.
- “History of the DT&I Taken From DT&I Railroad News.” The Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 1-6. Print.
- “History of the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad.” The Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 1-6. Print.
- “Cincinnati, Columbus & Hocking Valley Railway.” Railroad.net, 31 Dec. 2008. Forum.
