The Dayton District is a

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 ...

line owned and operated by the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. The line runs from

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...

southwest to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

along former

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

and

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

lines. Its east end is at or near the Columbus District,

Sandusky District The Sandusky District is a railroad line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway in the U.S. state of Ohio. The line runs from Columbus north to Sandusky along a former Pennsylvania Railroad line. At its south end, it junctions or come ...

, and West Virginia Secondary; its south end is in Ivorydale, where it meets the

Indiana and Ohio Railway The Indiana & Ohio Railway is an American railroad that operates of track in Ohio, southern Michigan, and parts of southeastern Indiana. It is owned and operated by Genesee & Wyoming, who acquired the railroad in the 2012 purchase of RailAmerica ...

Midland Subdivision The Midland Subdivision is a railroad owned by CSX Transportation and operated by Indiana and Ohio Railway in the U.S. State of Ohio. The line runs from St. Bernard, Ohio to Columbus, Ohio for a total of 107.0 miles. At its west end the line con ...

, and just past that in Winton Place, where it meets

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

Cincinnati Terminal Subdivision The Cincinnati Terminal Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Kentucky and Ohio. The line is part of the CSX Transportation Louisville Division and the Northern Region. There are seven sections to th ...

. Along the way, it junctions the

New Castle District The New Castle District is a railroad line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway in the U.S. states of Ohio and Indiana. The line runs from Evendale, Ohio, Evendale northwest and north to Fort Wayne, Indiana along former Pennsylvania R ...

at Evendale.Trackside Guide No. 1: Cincinnati,

Trains A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

, September 2002

History

The oldest part of the line is from

west to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, was opened in 1850 by the

Columbus and Xenia Railroad Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...

. In 1851, the Springfield and Dayton Railroad opened from Springfield southwest to

Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

. The

Springfield and Columbus Railroad Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queensla ...

opened in 1853 from London west to Springfield. The Cincinnati and Springfield Railway opened the final piece, between Dayton and Bond Hill (part of Cincinnati), in 1872. The Columbus and Xenia Railroad became part of the

system, while the rest became

lines. The two companies merged to form

Penn Central Transportation The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals, the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

in 1968 and were taken over by

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...

in 1976. What was then known as the Cincinnati LineConrail System Map Showing The Proposed Allocation Of Conrail Lines & Rights
{{Webarchive, url=https://archive.today/20120707010403/http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/Conrail/ , date=2012-07-07 , July 9, 1997 was assigned to Norfolk Southern in the 1999 breakup of Conrail.

References

Norfolk Southern Railway lines Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad lines Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway lines Rail infrastructure in Ohio