Quote Originally Posted by kc7jty
How many eye teeth would one give to go back in time and ride that puppy?
Approximately 300yds from where I'm sitting at the moment is/was a main rail corridor:

2x B&O/C&O/Chessie/CSX lines; N-S. Now down to one.

2x Erie Lackawanna lines; E-W. Railroad is defunct; one track torn out and the other right of way sold to the Akron-Barberton Belt RWY (more on this in a bit).

2x ABB/AC&Y/W&LE lines - one has been torn out years ago. The former ABB bought one of the E-L right-of-ways in order to extend its trackage rights to Rittman and nearby towns.

As a young kid, I used to sit on the banks of the Ohio Canal and watch the trains...there were as many as 6 at one time on occasion running through the area simultaneously! (Yes, I know "it ain't prototype".) What's more amazing is the amount of abandoned track which was torn out in the 50s and 60's before I moved here; there were at least 8 parallel rail lines run through here at the railroads' heyday. I keep digging around here and there in the woods and find evidence of yet another spur or shunt which has long since been removed, and recently came across photos of an interchange between the mainline B&O northbound route and the ABB line which is roughly 400 yards from it.

Yes, they ran passenger "excursions" on the line:



This accident happened at the crossing near my residence. Off to the right - beyond the passenger car - one can make out some of the trackage which comprised the B&0/ABB interchange. There is another, more detailed photo of the interconnect somewhere on line; I cannot find it at the moment.