Greenville Ohio

Who operates the last remaining remnants of the CN and PRR trackage in Greenville? Who uses rail service in Greenville anymore?
When was the old B&O abandoned south of Greenville?

Greenville used to be quite a rail town. It has been many years since I have been there. In 1982, I travelled there weekly and the B&O was still in place, but rarely used between Arcanum and Greenville, at the time. For several years, B&O (later CSX) served a large grain elevator west of Arcanum (SE of Greenville on the B&O line) on what was left of the old NYC (Conrail) line that ran from Springfield to Indianapolis. Conrail left in the track from where it crossed the B&O westward out of Arcanum to the Grain facility. I remember seeing many, very long grain trains during the 1980's between Dayton and the elevators west of Arcanum. B&O service North of Arcanum to Greenville was very limited at that time and I am guessing it was all gone and ripped up back to Dayton before 1990.

Most of the Conrail (Ex-Pennsylvania and Cincinnati Northern south of Greenville) tracks were removed around 1980, give or take a year or so. I believe, but may be wrong, that R.J. Corman currently operates the old Cincinnati Northern (ex NYC) line extending north out of Greenville. Maybe someone in that area can fill in the gaps on this. I am not sure what industry still uses rail there.

I lived about 25 miles SE of Greenville in Englewood, OH from 1973-1982. Don't get up that way much anymore.

From 1974-1999 when I lived in Sidney, OH the Arcanum-Greeneville line was operated by CR as part of the old Big Four Indianapolis line. A CR local worked west from Sidney to Arcanum and south to Greenville 3 days a week. I moved away in April 1999 but I would imagine control of this line went to CSX along with the rest of the Big Four line. I don't know if CSX uses it as much as CR did.

nycrick:

In above post....

Do you mean Ansonia instead of Arcanum? Conrail (Penn-Central?) was totally out of Arcanum (SE of Greenville) in the early 1970's. The Conrail line out of Sidney goes west to ANSONIA, not Arcanum. Just wondering if you got these mixed up? The Conrail line from Piqua to Greenville, through Bradford and then to Richmond, IN was gone (ripped up) by 1980 or so. In 1970-ish, B&O (Old Dayton Union RR) and NYC still served Arcanum. NYC was gone (ripped up) by 1973-74 when I moved into the area. This line ran from Springfield to Indianapolis. B&O lasted longer from Greenville to Dayton, crossing old NYC at Arcanum. I believe the only active line into Greenville today comes Southward from Ansonia into Greenville. This was formerly the Cincinnati Northern, NYC, Penn-Central and Conrail. I am not sure, but I think R.J. Corman owns and operates this line (Ansonia-Greenville) now.

Yes, I do mean Ansonia. I'm getting old sometimes I forget where I was yesterday. Sorry about that.

I'm in Toledo at UT now, but grew up 20 minutes north of Greenville, close to Corman's other line in west-central Ohio, and yes, RJ Corman does operate the line south from Ansonia to Greenville on the Cincinnati Northern. How frequently, or what business is online, I'm not entirely sure. Where 127 goes over the ex-PRR, there's always a number of covered hoppers sitting around on both sides of the overpass. The times I've seen this train, it's been mostly covered hoppers with maybe a tank car too. Sometimes, there will be a cut of hoppers sitting to the south of Ansonia on the CN too.

Not sure when the B&O was torn up. The crossing of those tracks on 127 is still very visible as well. Taking a guess, I'd say early 1980's. I was just a baby then...

South of Greenville you can still see where the old NYC Springfield to Indy branch crossed the highway. There is a post of somekind that i asume might have been part of the westbound facing approach signal for the CN crossing in Savona.. The whole area around Greenville is rich with rail history. Abandond lines everywere. BTW the PRR Bradford line concrete overpass was still in place north of Greenville as of November of 2004.