Cincinnati Portsmouth & Virginia Rairoad (later
to become N & W RR) freight depot Portsmouth
This freight station was on the corner of Waller and 10th Streets.
It was on the north side of the tracks on the east side of Waller.
Cincinnati Portsmouth & Virginia Rairoad was incorporated June
24, 1891. This company was formerly the Ohio and Northwestern Railroad
Company, organized February 12, 1886. The line of this road extended from
Idlewild, Ohio, to Sciotoville, Ohio, a distance of 108 miles. On
November 14, 1899, the Cincinnati, Portsmouth and Virginia Railroad leased
the track of the Cincinnati Connecting Belt Railroad for 99 years,
renewable forever, guaranteeing the payment of the $200,000 first mortgage
5 per cent gold bonds of the Cincinnati Connecting Belt Railroad, dated
July 1, 1899, due July 1, 1929.
Here is some history on
the C&E. It was chartered as the Cincinnati,
Batavia & Williamsburg on January 11, 1876, but the name was changed
and the projected route was extended to Portsmouth in May. In October
1876, the line was opened from Batavia Junction to Batavia, a distance of
15 miles, and by August of the next year, the railroad had reached
Winchester, a distance of 48 miles. In June, a 5.5-mile
western extension to the Miami Valley Railroad, later the CL&N
Idlewild, was completed. It was constructed to the Miami Valley Railroad,
who had promised a narrow-gauge connection via the Deer Creek valley to
Cincinnati. When the Deer Creek tunnel project ran into financial
difficulties, the C&E found that its connection to Cincinnati was
completely useless for four years. The railroad soon went into
receivership in January 1879 due to failures to collect stock
subscriptions, but exited that in 1881. At a meeting in November
1880 the shareholders voted to increase the capital stock from $500,000 to
$2 million, and to authorize a bond issue to connect the railroad to
Portsmouth and beyond to Gallipolis. In 1882, trackage rights were secured
via the Deer Creek valley to Court Street in Cincinnati. By the end
of 1882, the C&E had reached Peebles, 72 miles from the Court Street
depot. In May 1883, the railroad had reached Rarden, and Henley in late
July. The C&E was completed to Portsmouth in 1884, with a 1,000-foot
truss over the Scioto River as its centerpiece. In 1886, the railroad was
sold to the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton (CH&D), which defaulted
and was sold to the Ohio & Northwestern Railroad (O&NW). The
railroad went into receivership soon after, and in 1889, the railroad
completed five miles of the long-projected Gallipolis extension from
Portsmouth to Sciotoville. In 1891, the railroad reorganized under
the Cincinnati, Portsmouth & Virginia Railroad (CP&V), which
merged with the Norfolk & Western (N&W) in October 1901. In
1913, the Scioto River Bridge was replaced with a multi-span truss
constructed by the American Bridge Company. Other trestle replacements
included the construction of a girder span over Dry Run in 1941 by the
Virginia Bridge Company. In 1947, the N&W east of Peebles to
Jaybird via Jaybird Creek was realigned when a quarry opened along Plum
Run that required the railroad to be rerouted to the north and east. It
included a new trestle above Cedar Fork and several miles of new
trackage. In 1982, the Norfolk & Western Railway consolidated
with the Southern Railway to form the Norfolk Southern Corporation, and
the railroad became the Norfolk Southern.
The NS has railbanked the line east of Peebles to Vera Junction at
Portsmouth.
|
Portsmouth C P & V passanger station with Junction Hotel to left
|
N & W Vera Bridge high water 1997 |
Vera Tower was located behind the current AEP building at the
Portsmouth City Limits. The tower hand operated the switch for trains
coming and going on the Cincinnati and Columbus districts. That area is
still called Vera. |
|
N & W # 611 at Vera (behind AEP & Stag Bar) headed toward
Cincinnati |
Picure taken back in the 80's. The 611 coming into Portsmouth over the
Scioto River
Norfolk and Western 611 Cincinnati
to Portsmouth 1994
N&W 611 pulls the final excursion over the
N&W Peavine Line. Both the engine and the railroad are out of service.
Includes one scene from the next day's run ...
|
N&W RR on the Portsmouth west side and also showing the old
Ohio & Erie Canal bed |
Portsmouth west side train picture |
|
N & W #611 at Rushtown abt 1993 during making of Lee
Jeans commerical. |
McDerment Depot
The first depot was built by the narrow-gauge Cincinnati & Eastern
around 1876 and used until replaced by N&W in 1905. The
N&W in 1905 built this depot out of stone from a nearby quarry.
It was closed May 10, 1968 and razed April 1969. This station was on
the south side of Barker Street at the intersection with McDermott Pond
Creek Road (formerly part of Maple Street). |
N&W Depot, Henly, Scioto Co., OH about 1900 |
|
Henley Depot |
N &W Otway depot
This station was originally located on Walnut Street on the NE
side of the tracks. It was relocated a short distance away from the
original location to the intersection of SR 348 and SR 73. Torn down in
late September of 1999. A new mini-mart gas station was built on this
site. |
|
N & W Otway Freight Station |
|
N & W Frozen water tower at Rarden winter 1917-1918. Building lower
left is the Kizer Sawmill built in 1880
|
This Rarden depot was on the SE side of Taylor Street (ironically, now
called Depot Street). |
Taken near the Scioto Valley RR depot, which was along Chillicothe
Street just a few yards south of where Dairy Queen is today. Picture
taken prier to July 1890 as that was the date the N & W took over the
Scioto Valley Railroad. The Scioto Valley Railroad in 1876, started
as a Columbus, Circleville, Chillicothe short line that was extended to
Portsmouth in 1878.
This was original Scioto Valley depot built in 1877, N&W took it
over when they bought SV in 1890 and used it until 1903. It was located on
the west side of Chillicothe Street at the intersection with 15th
Street. |
|
1887 Scioto Valley RR map |
Norfolk And Western Terminals in Portsmouth, Ohio |
N & W Round House workers at Portsmouth in 1906 |
1906 View of Rail Road Tracts in Scioto County
Note the interurban tracks from Portsmouth to Ironton on the far
left |
N&W Trains, Portsmouth, Ohio about 1908 |
N&W Railroad Portsmouth area about 1908 |
About 1908 N&W Photo, Portsmouth, OH |
1913 Depot at Portsmouth, OH located at 10th & Waller Street
This building with odd roof shape was constructed by CP&V in
1901 at the northwest corner of North Waller and E. 10th Street while
negotiations were ongoing for the N&W takeover of that line, which
occurred in March of that year. N&W moved into it in 1903 and used it
as a passenger station until 1931 when the "art deco" building opened,
this building remained in use as storage by the signal department until
razed in 1968.
The 1916 B&O timetable lists the main B&O station at
Market Street and also lists a passenger stop at Waller Street so the
CP&V depot was shared for some period of time by the
B&O. |
Portsmouth N & W Station during 1913 flood |
N&W Depot, Portsmouth, Ohio about 1913 located at 10th &
Waller Street |
1914 N&W Depot at Portsmouth, OH located at 10th & Waller
Street |
N&W depot at 10th & Waller Streets to give a proper send-off to
Portsmouth's Company 'K' troops leaving for World War I. Picture is dated
October 14, 1917 |
|
Portsmouth Old N&W Passenger Station at 10th and Waller circa
1920 |
|
Portsmouth train station and crowd |
|
1920s N&W Terminals |
Portsmouth abt 1920 man on the right is N&W Conductor D.G.
Bandy |
January 1927 new 6 tract N&W 2000 ton storage capacity locomotive
coaling and gravity sand handling plant |
N & W RR map 1927 note location of the Portsmouth Stove &
Range Company at right hand bottom of map. |
|
N & W view from tower # 4 March 19, 1928 |
|
N & W view from tower # 5 March 19, 1928 |
|
N & W view from tower # 9 March 19, 1928 |
|
N & W view from tower # 10 March 19, 1928 |
N & W Depot under construction at Portsmouth in 1930
|
Portsmouth new N&W station in 1931 |
N & W passenger station 7 Oct 1932 Portsmouth. At
the other end of the station was a separate building housing the
Railway Express Agency and independent company owning their own baggage
cars which would have to be attached by switchers to the train.
|
|
Portsmouth N & W Station about 1933 |
N&W tracts on the Scioto River levee during the 1937 Flood
|
N & W #1142 switching at Portsmouth station 1948
|
Portsmouth N & W round house about 1948 |
N & W train yards about 1948
|
N & W just in from Williamson run, Portsmouth
July, 1948 |
N & W #1335 Portsmouth 1948 near passenger station
|
|
N & W Yard about 1948 |
N & W Powhatan Arrow at Portsmouth 1950 |
N & W Caboose # 557534 in 1952 at Portsmouth |
Portsmouth Norfolk & Western (N&W) - 4-8-0 #444 mid-1950s
|
Portsmouth Norfolk & Western (N&W) 2-6-6-2 #1331 mid-1950s
|
Norfolk And Western Terminals in Portsmouth, Ohio 1955 4-8-0
|
N & W # 444 in Portsmouth yards Oct 1957 |
N & W # 220 at Portsmouth yards 30 Oct 1958 |
N & W # 603 last passenger steam engine at station on Scioto
division 20 July 1958 |
N & W # 2141 a 2-6-6-4 Portsmouth 12 Jun 1959 |
|
Lucasville Dept was opened September 13, 1877 by the Scioto Valley
Rail Road. The first scheduled train making the trip from Columbus to
Portsmouth was a special excursion created for for George C Chapman
builder and manager of the rail road on December 28, 1977 with more than
100 guests. The N & W acqired the rail road in 1890. The octaganoal
tower was remove in 1926 when the depot was remodeled. An addition
extended the building from 40 feet to 70 feet inorder to make room for
more freight. Passanger service ended with the last run of the Pocahontas
in 1968. The building was razed in 1969. |
N & W depot at Lucasville 13 Nov 1968. Note tracks are on east
side of depot |
|
N & W taken in November 1968
photo by Tom Dressler |
N&W Depot Portsmouth 1972 |
978 N&W Train in Portsmouth, Ohio
photo by Jim Herold |
N&W Railway Station torn down about 2007 |
N & W class A #1207 northbound just north of
Lucasville |
N & W # 1224 at Portsmouth |
N & W steam engine # 2006 |
N & W Station at Sciotoville was closed and razed in 1968 for
highway widening project. |
N & W train with a 2-8-0 engine headed east bound crossing the
litlle Scioto River at Sciotoville. Note the Rt 52 covered bridge in the
back ground.
c 1900 picture from the Tom Dressler
colection |
|
Wheelersburg N & W Depot
Building to the right in the photo is a flour mill that caught
fire on May 30, 1920, burning it and the depot down to the ground. Station
of similar design was rebuilt on same site (flour mill never
rebuilt). Depot was closed on Sept. 16, 1968 and razed
immediately thereafter. The station was located off River Road (Center
Street). |
N & W car Yard in Portsmouth |
|
N & W steam engine # 102 
N & W steam engine # 451 |
N & W steam engine # 1420 |
|
N & W steam engine # 600. Look at its size compared to the
men working on it. |
|
|