Just wondering if and when Ohio Terminal Railway Co (OTRC) might start operations from Hannable Ohio to Powhatten Point Ohio and stretch of track 12 miles long and where their termimal\equipment will be stored. I understand this is a new class III rail road.
The aluminum company that owns the old Omal plant, has owned this stretch of railroad for years. They purchased it to keep the rail line intact in case they had a need for it. No trains have moved over this line for probably 10 years or more.
About half of the aluminum facilities were idled some years ago, and the rest of it lives from year to year on life support. I believe the closed part of the plant is what is now the new industrial park.
I hope the oil and gas boom can provide new life for this old Pennsy line.
FYI: At one time, there was talk of completing this line down along the Ohio river to Marietta. There, it could have had a connection to the old Marietta Branch of the Pennsy. When Interstate 77 was built in Marietta, a large metal culvert-type railroad tunnel was installed under the embankment going up to the bridge over the Ohio River. The line never was built, but that old tunnel remained for 20 or 30 years before it was filled in.