Cedarville & the Railroad

The Beginning

Cedarville, located in southwestern Ohio, is home to Cedarville University, a large Baptist institution serving over 5,400 students in 2023. Though the university is a central feature of the town today, Cedarville’s history stretches back long before the school’s founding. Among the town’s former institutions, the railroad played a crucial role, leaving its legacy behind in the form of tracks still visible in parts of Cedarville.

Cedarville was founded in 1799 as Milford and officially renamed in 1843. The same year, Columbus became Ohio’s state capital, and in the following decades, the state experienced rapid economic growth. However, Columbus was initially isolated from many other towns, which slowed its development. [2] [10] [22]

The Columbus and Xenia Railroad, established in 1844, connected Columbus with Xenia and passed through Cedarville, which had a population of around 500 people at the time. The railroad's line successfully opened to the public on February 26, 1850, following an experimental run on February 22, 1850. [4][21]

A map of Cedarville from the early 1850's. This is pre-Little Miami, as the line is still labelled Columbus and Xenia in the full document.

The Little Miami Railroad, which connected Cincinnati to Springfield, joined with the Columbus & Xenia in 1853, and by 1869, the C&X had permanently merged with Little Miami, forming a regional network under the Little Miami name. According to Friends Of The Little Miami State Park, the train that Lincoln rode on his way to his inauguration took the Little Miami as part of its route. He stopped in London to deliver a brief speech. [19]

The Little Miami sought further expansion in later 1853, when it signed a deal with the Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati Railroad to establish a three way trackage usage, letting the line extend through the latter line’s namesake cities. [4] At right is a map of Cedarville from the Strobridge collection, dating to 1874. The rail lines are marked as the “Cincinnati and Columbus”, which is probably the previously mentioned Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati Railroad. Cedarville’s railroad played a key role in the Union’s war efforts, facilitating the rapid mobilization of soldiers. In 1862, when Confederate General Kirby Smith threatened Cincinnati, Cedarville sent 118 men on the first train to help defend the city, ultimately deterring the Confederate advance.

“To the Civil War, Cedarville Township sent more soldiers, according to population, than any other township in the county or state. (…) In 1862 [Confederate] Gen. Kirby Smith was marching through Kentucky to destroy Cincinnati. Gov. Todd issued a call to all the militia to grab a gun and rush to Cincinnati on the first train. All the bells in Cedarville were rung. The excitement was intense, and men from the country came rushing in on every road, and by night a company of 118 men were on the train and the first company from Greene County into Cincinnati. Gen. Kirby Smith heard that a big army of 25,000 soldiers had arrived in the city and he retreated. (…) We stayed a week and were discharged.” [5]

Cedarville land plots, 1874

Map of Cedarville, 1896

After acquiring the C&X in 1869 [13], the Little Miami became part of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St. Louis Railroad (PCStL). An 1896 map of Cedarville Township shows the railroad connecting key industries, including Hager Straw Board Co, D.S. Ervin Lime Kilns, and S.N. Mitchell and Co. [18]

The Pennsylvania Years

The Pennsylvania Railroad owned the PCStl, and therefore The Little Miami became a division under the Pennsylvania company, and by extension, the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Little Miami sought improvements to it’s railroad line as a result of the increased traffic. In mid-July 1901, the railroad purchased bonds in order to double track the Columbus-Cincinnati line according to an article published in the Cedarville Herald. [25] The Pennsylvania also hosted special trains headed to the Buffalo, NY, Pan-American Exposition, famed for being the place where president McKinley was assassinated, advertised in newspapers of the day. Below is an example of a typical Pennsylvania passenger train. The year is unknown, but the locomotive, a PRR E type 4-4-2, suggests that this photograph was likely taken circa 1915.

Westbound Cedarville Passenger Train ~1910s

Westbound freight train from the east on Barber Road ~1929

In the background beyond the locomotive, one can see the new double track all the way to Xenia. A majority of the visual railroad documentation of Cedarville is from the collection of the late Harold Strobridge, dates from the 1920s and later, shows the level of involvement Cedarville had with the Pennsylvania Railroad. By the 1920’s, Cedarville had built several structures that supported the nearby tracks, including a switcher/telegraph office.

Looking west down Barber Road we can see the PRR double track, as the train, noted as a freight train from the east on the reverse of the original photograph, passes the telegraph/switch tower. The most important of the Cedarville buildings that served the railroad in that day was Cedarville Station, which formerly stood across from the current Hearthstone Inn and served the people of Cedarville for many decades. It was torn down after the nationwide decline of passenger rail across America in the 1960s.

Cedarville students board a train ~1929

Work at the station, 1929

Timetables from 1929 show that Cedarville had approximately 20 trains a day either run through or stop at Cedarville itself, excluding the freight trains that also ran through or ran operations at the nearby services. The railroad was an incredibly valuable part of the local commerce, hauling goods from Cedarville businesses through the network of the Pennsylvania, facilitated through the station. One photo depicts a train stopped at Cedarville station, of which a note on the reverse of a photograph notes are likely college students, attending the new Cedarville College, only 40 years old. Cedarville also had several freight shippers served by the railroad. The D S Ervin lime kilns produced lime as building materials, the Hagar Straw and Board Co created paper with an input of straw, and the Cedarville Stock Yards produced livestock carried by train.

The PRR fast freights would come roaring down the tracks from Cincinnati and Xenia. The PRR used 2-8-2 steam locomotives for their fast freights, seen in one of the photographs. We can see more freight cars parked on a siding nearby while an eastbound rushes through. The other photograph shows the workers at the station, with several boxcars on the side, likely loaded with feed from the grain tower in the background.

Eastbound fast freight from Xenia, also July 18, 1936

Workers (Left to Right, Bud McFarland, Asa Jones, Jim Webster, and J Hider(?)) wait for the train, July 18, 1936

Fred Kaiser working as a PRR flagman, 1936

Flagman's shanty on S Miller St.

The double track, upgraded to the PRR’s main line between Columbus and Cincinnati, saw frequent passenger trains heading to Xenia, Cincinnati, and beyond to cities like Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

The railroad granted many job opportunities in Cedarville, ranging from services that directly impacted the railroad itself or carried by the railroad. The following photo depicts Fred Kaiser and Herb Myers's job as a railroad flagman, helping the train cross South Main St. Note the keystone on the locomtive, designating it as a passenger locomotive.

A Pennsylvania employee timetable from 1954 is very illuminating about railroad life in Cedarville. The Pennsy's proud fleet of steam locomotives served the tracks at Cedarville but signs of the diesel age had just reached Cedarville, with the timetable designating the first generation diesels such as the famous streamlined hood units and new switchers. Alongside the list of the locomotives permitted are the industries they served. Noted is the Cedarville Paper Mill, the Dolomite Quarry, and an outpost of the Shell Oil Co. The Abel Magnesia company had closed its doors (1942) and the rules specifically noted that only small switching engines are permitted on the tracks that serve the industries. Further along, the speed of the individual trains are noted, with freight permitted up to 50mph, and passenger up to 70mph. [15] The only industry that had survived by the next surviving PRR timetable, 1961, was the Paper Mill. [16] As the Pennsylvania continued to decline, it folded into Penn Central, which, relevant to Greene County, was combined with New York Central, with the still present line from Springfield through Dayton. Penn Central, plagued by mismanagement and deteriorating infrastructure, experienced a major derailment in Cedarville on April 5, 1968. A 55-car freight train (DJ-3) [3] bound for Cincinnati derailed as it passed through town.

Penn Central And Later

1968 Penn Central wreck, south side of the tracks east of town.

Opposite side of the tracks, note the vintage Chevy PRR maintenance truck.

The cleanup from the 1968 derailment highlighted the worsening condition of the track. By 1975, Cedarville still received limited service, with timetables listing tracks available for use. [14] The paper mill still remained, but as the railroads continued dieselization, steam had disappeared as the table listed only diesels, including the cab units that had served Cedarville for many years. The double track on the Columbus & Xenia was ripped up, as by acquiring the New York Central, Penn Central had a double line to Dayton, therefore not needing the use of the double track. The second generation of diesels had arrived, with EMD GP units and GE "U-Boats". [20] As Amtrak had formed by 1971 they were also runnning trains through Cedarville to Dayton. The two rails that had been laid down at the beginning of the century lasted through the 70’s, but at some point the eastbound tracks were torn up. Some time in the 70's the depot originally built by the PC&Stl was taken down. As the Penn Central underwent the largest bankruptcy of any railroad up until that point, in 1976, the US Government stepped up to take care of the ailing lines of the Midwest. [7] This included the Cedarville line who began to receive Conrail freight traffic. A 1981 track chart shows Cedarville on milepost 47 with two sidings, indicating the mill continued to receive service. [8]

1984 Conrail Consist

A Conrail train, photographed on June 22, 1984, heading towards Cedarville, included a variety of equipment, such as an L&N caboose. This marked the final years of Cedarville’s railroad service, which would end less than a decade later. Photographic evidence exists of the stock yard in Cedarville still being used a storage siding, but on March 14, 1986, Conrail submitted a proposal to the FCC to abandon the line between Xenia and South Charleston OH, sounding the death knell for Cedarville’s railroad service, and by extension, isolating Xenia from rail traffic. [6] The final train was a September 14, 1986 local freight, purported to have been delayed because a boxcar had derailed on the poor quality track.[17] The line was formally abandoned in 1986, ending 136 years of railroad service to the town of Cedarville, Ohio. In October 1988, Conrail finally tore up the track, leaving a pair of cabooses and a pair of boxcars on the south side of the tracks. Sources state that the torn up rail was used to build Conrail's New York Southern Tier Division. The signals went to what is now the Marion Branch, before then being ripped out again and likely scrapped. [39]

When the Rails Left

Conrail Cleanup Train

Conrail Cleanup Train, note the station foundations in the foreground.

Above depicts the leftover train in 1990. As a perhaps unintentional nod to Cedarville’s former patrons, one of the Cabooses, Conrail 22875, is a former PRR N5 Caboose, built in 1941 as PRR 47725. The other cabooses is CR 18649, formerly Lehigh Valley A95088. The identity of the boxcar is unknown, but the stock car can be seen parked against the stockyards in old photos. Beyond the 1988 abandoment, there slowly began a period of gradual decay. As the rails were gone, not much happened. The cabooses were moved at some point from South Main Street, to 21 Miller St. Reportedly, the C&O 903277 caboose joined the Conrail cabooses in 2005.

Chessie 903277, 2022

CR 22875, 2022

CR 18648, 2022

As of 2024 all the cabooses had left Cedarville, where the Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania caboose is being restored to its original paint scheme by a private owner, and the Chessie System C3277 caboose is being transformed into a Airbnb in nearby Xenia OH, less than a mile from the former PRR and B&O (later Chessie) train yard in Xenia. The right of way was transformed into a bike path called the Ohio to Erie Trail, and if one looks closely, one can find the telephone poles and mile markers. Only about 2 1/2 miles of track remains in regular use, as a storage track in South Charleston.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse