Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad

Columbus & Hocking Valley Railroad (1869)

Columbus & Toledo Railroad (1877)

Chesapeake & Ohio Northern Railroad (1910)

       The C&O was a coal hauler.  It started as the Columbus and Hocking Valley Railroad bringing coal from southern Ohio to Columbus.  Once Columbus couldn't absorb all the Ohio coal the Hocking Valley had to offer, the Columbus & Toledo Railroad provided access to Lake Erie.  Then in 1910 along came the C&O seeking an outlet for Pocahontas coal from Virginia and West Virginia.  The C&O acquired the Hocking Valley Railroad and built a new line from Southern Ohio to just south of Columbus to connect the two.  That new line was not totally complete until 1930 requiring the C&O to use the N&W RR part way to Columbus.  Acquiring the Hocking Valley allowed C&O coal to be taken to the Lake Eire coal docks at Toledo as well as interchanging with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Columbus.

        The C&O had one first class passenger train, The Sportsman.  Both eastbound and westbound Sportsmans came through Columbus at night making it difficult to photograph.  It was fun to watch the southbound (eastbound) Sportsman blow through Linworth, just north of Columbus, at about 10:30pm.  It was rarely late.  Since the C&O tracks were west of Union Station the Sportsman had to back about a mile into Union Station using the Pennsy's Bradford line, a time consuming operation. 

        Parson Avenue yard on the south side of Columbus was the focal point of C&O activity and today (2009) is still used as a CSX yard.  In the Hocking Valley days before Parson Avenue Yard was built the main yard and servicing facilities were on the Whittier Peninsular near Mound Street and called the Mound Street Yard.  There was also a small yard, Yard A, west of Union Station used as a coach yard at one time. 

        The C&O was the first line through Columbus to completely dieselize which occurred in August 1952.  Before the diesels came the road engines through Columbus most often seen were the 2-10-4 Texas type class T-1 and 2-6-6-6 Allegheny class H-8 locomotives.  From Columbus to Powel, 14 miles north of Columbus, the northbound grade out of the Scioto/Olentange river valley required a helper engine, usually a T-1.  A short distance north of Powel was Powel Wye where the helper was turned for the return trip to Columbus.

        Fortunately there is an excellent book, The Hocking Valley Railway, By Edward H. Miller, that tells the complete story the Hocking Valley.