The Muskingum Electric Railroad was a private coal-carrying

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

owned by

American Electric Power American Electric Power Company, Inc. (AEP), (railcar reporting mark: AEPX) is an American domestic electric utility company in the United States. It is one of the largest electric utility companies in the country, with more than five mi ...

, and started operation in 1968. MERR shuttled coal in two trains from the mine to the Muskingum River Power Plant at Relief, Ohio (across from Beverly, OH), a distance of 20 miles (32 km). The trains were driverless and powered by automated

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

E50C's. The road also owned two private cars, Dover Fort and Oak Lane. The line is now defunct as the captive coal mine has since run out of economically recoverable coal. The coal was extracted by the largest

dragline A dragline excavator is a heavy-duty excavator used in civil engineering and surface mining. It was invented in 1904, and presented an immediate challenge to the steam shovel and its diesel and electric powered descendant, the power shovel. ...

ever to be built, "

Big Muskie Big Muskie was a dragline excavator built by Bucyrus-Erie and owned by the Central Ohio Coal Company (formerly a division of American Electric Power), weighing and standing nearly 22 stories tall. It mined coal in the U.S. state of Ohio fr ...

". The railroad closed in January 2002. The line was the first automated railroad in the U.S.

References

External links

Elwood's Fallen Flags Page for MERRBig Muskie Dragline fan page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muskingum Electric Railroad Defunct Ohio railroads Electric railways in Ohio Railway companies established in 1968 Railway companies disestablished in 2002 1968 establishments in Ohio American Electric Power Mining railways in the United States Transportation in Washington County, Ohio Coal mining in the United States