Erie Lackawanna Track Removal soon, Ohio City Ohio

"End of the line" of what remains of the Erie Lackawanna in Glenmore, Ohio City and just West of Elgin Ohio. This is a slide presentation of various photos, from both last Fall and recently taken, March 31st, 2010, also some historical photos found on the net. This 10.3 mile section of track is what Van Wert County is taking bids for removal, unfortunately. Track signage was recentlly removed from Glenmore Ohio to Ohio City, to about 1 & 1/2 miles West of Elgin Ohio. The former EL still services the grain elevator at Elgin, numerous tank cars and grain hoppers are parked at or close by. This track runs Southeast to Spencerville where it serves a couple different businesses, then runs almost straight East to Lima Ohio. I am still not sure how long RJ Corman, that took over after the SPEG in 97', continued to run trains as far as Glenmore Ohio, my guess a few years, early 2000's, I don't know for sure, as far as that goes I'm also not sure at what point Corman stopped running trains South out of Ohio City to Rockford Ohio either, that section is more difficult to see firsthand, any input would be appreciated. I know over here towards Decatur, the former Indiana Hi-Rail that ran from Warren, Bluffton, Craigville, Peterson, Decatur, Pleasant Mills Indiana, then into Ohio, Willshire, Ohio City, and on Northeasterly from there was used until the late 96' early 97' time-frame, of course I moved out here, months, yeah months, after they stopped running on it, I could have looked across a few farm fields from here and seen the train. I believe though Corman operated the Indiana Hi-Rail section from Ohio City to Willshire after the 97' time-frame yet servicing the grain elevator there in Willshire, couldn't have been many years though, again any input would be appreciated. NOTE: PICTURE AT :18 IS NOT OHIO CITY, IT WAS TAKEN IN UNIONDALE INDIANA, ERIE

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• End of Erie Lackawanna
• Ohio City

[Barricade360]

wow that track at 1:55 is in dam good shape for maybe a short line, i live in milton-freewater oregon we used to have the walla walla valley railway so many tracks that used to run through the city and now only one mainline track remains which is used by a leasing company i love your video its a dam shame what they are doing to our nations history

[franky98765]

@Barricade360 Yeah, you got that right, it is a dam shame. That track at 1:55 is former Erie,( Erie Lackawanna ), it was double track through this whole area. Back in the late 70's early 80's it all looked just like that, or better, it was bought by L.B. Foster and scrapped... l remember as a teenager at that time thinking what the hell are they thinking???... too late now though. It' like all the railroad workers hard work and dedication are simply forgotten from that whole era now.

[Intocable8306]

This is sad and shows first hand America's crumbling infrastructure. This is happening all over to the railroads that helped make this country what it is or should I say "was". Greenville Michigan seen this same sad thing happen, a once busy place with railroads all over and now nothing.

[franky98765]

@Intocable8306 Same as in Decatur Indiana, where I'm from, double track Erie Lackawanna, Penn Central North-South, as well as the Nickel Plate, later Norfolk Western, all gone, we have one line, a spur basically from Fort Wayne serving Bunge, that's it. It's really sad to look at Google and visibly see "what once was". We lost way too much in the last 30 years now, Railroads, manufacturing, when will it end?, just don't make sense to me, and each town has a similar story.....

[AGDemo]

Can I buy the rails??

[franky98765]

@AGDemo I think someone over there got busted for trying to steal some small pieces of scrap off a pile, around Ohio City. I would have really liked to have the old diamond, Nickel Plate/Erie, would have gave them more then the scrap price to have it, that's for sure....

[CONRAIL1991]

for some railfans this is a nightmare for them. It's sad to see all that gone. I live in Orrville, Ohio and alot of the old PRR lines are gone now, luckily the orrville station and switch signal tower still remains thanks to the orrville railroad heritage historical society preserving them. If i had my own railroad corp, those tracks would be back, but thats just me. i don't like seeing tracks ripped up and gone. its a piece of history that died hard, great vid, but sad

[CONRAIL1991]

for some railfans this is a nightmare for them. It's sad to see all that gone. I live in Orrville, Ohio and alot of the old PRR lines are gone now, luckily the orrville station and switch signal tower still remains thanks to the orrville railroad heritage historical society preserving them. If i had my own railroad corp, those tracks would be back, but thats just me. i don't like seeing tracks ripped up and gone. its a piece of history that died hard, great vid, but sad

[pianomanmaestro]

It's the same way in my town ex Rock Island RR tracks everywhere just sitting there not used allot of them shortline and allot just lonely tracks still allot of old signals and RR Crossing Boxes still intact and some old old old telephone lines, with the greenish blue glass bells still on them...

[Jamersonde]

@franky98765 The worst part is many cities that were once railroad hubs are now down to only one line, if any remain. Logansport is one such city. It had many mainline railroads in it's heyday: The Pennsy, the Wabash, the Vandelia, & more, but now it's just Norfolk Southern.

[Jamersonde]

Kokomo, Indiana has become much the same way, except there tracks are still there on all 3 of the old lines. Thankfully, the Central Railroad of Indiana US Rail Corp., & occasionally Norfolk Southern still operate on the old Pennsy lines. The other trackage, including the old N&W IMC line is either abandoned or currently not is use.

[FWD37]

Thanks for this, I was at this location(Ohio City) in Oct 2007 and took many photos.

It would be great if there were some vintage films and/or still photos of trains at Ohio City available. It must have been a great location to rail fan in the 1950s!!!! A member of our RR Museum grew up in Ohio City and used to deliver newspapaers to the former station there.

[fredstuckmann]

Nice shots Franky, was down there in Nov. 2010, looks pretty much like you showed it here. Thanks for posting.

[Boss302fan]

I like this video. I did some work for both SPEG and IHRC over the years. Still do some work for R/A. These shots bring back memories. I remember pulling tankcars in storage off the SPEG one afternoon. Took all day just to fish out the ones we needed.