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Well, I have a question. I am very familiar with the traffic patterns that PC implemented when the OC Western Branch went over capacity and they began running Toledo-Berwick-Kenton-Ridgeway to alleviate congestion. I realize the connection was in Kenton and going there and looking, well, I couldn't find where it was. Where was it? I'm thinking as "northbound" trains on the Western Branch approached the overhead NYC bridge it was well before the bridge, but I just couldn't find it. I found the older connection track way north of town (SB on the Western Branch to SB on the NYC) but that's been gone for years.

Thanks for any info! Merry Christmas!

I would imagine the development right there obliterated the connection?

Yes I found that connection. Is that the one? If you follow it you can only go Toledo Branch southbound to the NYC southbound, and vice versa. So to go Ridgeway-Kenton-Berwick, did the power have to run around the train?

Thanks.

The connection was 40 or so feet west of the South Detroit St crossing were the Fuel Mart now sits. It was used mainly for southbound traffic. The Kenton local would use it to reach Rockwell and Durez Chemicals on the Southside of town. Also stone trains from Carey used the connection. Northbound empty stone trains sometimes needed a push up the connection. The local yard unit was used as the helper and was cut off on the fly once they passed the US 68 crossing. Ken

Ken, thanks. I'm still trying to figure out how traffic came south off the NYC from Berwick to the OC to Ridgeway when the connection is not oriented that way.

Ken, sorry. Do you mean downtown where Detroit crosses the OC? If so you answered my question and that would make sense!

bdconrail29 wrote:Ken, sorry. Do you mean downtown where Detroit crosses the OC? If so you answered my question and that would make sense!

Yes, between the Scioto river bridge and the Fuel Mart. Ken

h2466 wrote:

bdconrail29 wrote:Ken, sorry. Do you mean downtown where Detroit crosses the OC? If so you answered my question and that would make sense!

Yes, between the Scioto river bridge and the Fuel Mart. Ken

Thank you Ken. I got it now. Boy that sure is hard to imagine today!

Anyone have any idea of the track layout at Berwick?

Thank you Ken. I got it now. Boy that sure is hard to imagine today![/quote]
Not a problem, I wish I would have taken pictures of the manned block station that was located there. It was a small 6'x10' structure that was white with PC green trim, it had a model board that controlled the signal and derail from the branch onto the mainline. Sorry Joe but I have now idea of the track layout at Berwick. Ken

JoJames wrote:Anyone have any idea of the track layout at Berwick?

You could go all four directions except north on the Big 4 to South on the T&OC. (Big 4 being the Sandusky line and T&OC being the Stanley-Thurston line)

I would recommend checking out a website called Historic Aerials. There are Google Earth style aerial photos for a majority of the state of Ohio dated back to the 1950s.

Thanks a-holes for making me stay up until 2 am looking at historical aerials and then falling asleep at work.

JoJames wrote:Anyone have any idea of the track layout at Berwick?

I do someplace...I also have several GRS stock photos of the northern part of the line after the installation of CTC from Stoney Ridge to Berwick.

Also seems to me I have a video of NYC/PC action on both lines...I'll see if I can find the title for you.

CG Tower

bdconrail29 wrote:Thanks a-holes for making me stay up until 2 am looking at historical aerials and then falling asleep at work.

You too ! Since reading this, I've covered most of the state myself. And have discovered a lot railroad ghosts.

Not railroad related but if you look in big cities like Columbus, look at the large number of neighborhoods demolished to construct the interstates. That's amazing.

bdconrail29 wrote:Not railroad related but if you look in big cities like Columbus, look at the large number of neighborhoods demolished to construct the interstates. That's amazing.

I'm assuming you saw the houses/farms that were where Buckeye Yard was built? Makes you wonder how much the railroad paid property owners to move out.

Also how even in the 70s, after some 20 years of the interstate highway system, how fragmented some routes still were. I-70 was not built west past the 315 interchange just west of downtown Columbus.

Speaking of Columbus, I really enjoyed tracking the Big Four all the way through town out to Miami Crossing (original NYC) as well as all the Panhandle yards east of High Street. I like doing the 1957 vs. current aerial photos for those areas.