Sandusky OH Railroad History

[bwparker1]

I'm spending the week in Sandusky OH. what was the arrangement of trackage along the waterfront? I'm seeing a bunch of trackage on old maps that is clearly no longer.

[shlustig]

IIRC, from east to west:

LS&MS (NYC) from the mainline to the waterfront;

B&O original mainline on a south / north line that crossed the NYC mainline at CP-240;

Big Four - nee Mad River & Lake Erie (NYC) from SW to NE that crossed the NYC mainline at Bay Jct. - CP-242; and

CS&H (PRR) also SW to NE that also crossed at Bay Jct. - CP-242.

At the waterfront, there was a joint trackage arrangement.

LE&W (NKP) crossed the CS&H at Bay Jct. and used shared trackage to get to the waterfront. The NKP yard was on the south side of the NYC mainline.

At the east end of the waterfront there is an historical marker for the original B&O mainline.

Hope this helps.

[bwparker1]

IIRC, from east to west:

LS&MS (NYC) from the mainline to the waterfront;

B&O original mainline on a south / north line that crossed the NYC mainline at CP-240;

Big Four - nee Mad River & Lake Erie (NYC) from SW to NE that crossed the NYC mainline at Bay Jct. - CP-242; and

CS&H (PRR) also SW to NE that also crossed at Bay Jct. - CP-242.

At the waterfront, there was a joint trackage arrangement.

LE&W (NKP) crossed the CS&H at Bay Jct. and used shared trackage to get to the waterfront. The NKP yard was on the south side of the NYC mainline.

At the east end of the waterfront there is an historical marker for the original B&O mainline.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply.

I'll have to look for the marker, I'm camping at the Sandusky Sailing Club as part of week long regatta. Some of the old maritime maps show quite the arrangement of trackage that is absolutely vanished. Did the B&O line run on the street to the south or just adjacent to it (Warren St.) absolutely no sign a railroad ran through that area today.

[shlustig]

If you go on SR-2 from US-250 westward, there is a bridge over the B&O right-of-way which ran N/S.

The B&O crossed the nYC mainline on a bridge over Columbus Ave. From there, the B&O ran in a fairly straight line to the waterfront, crossing Warren.

Much of the B&O r-o-w has been built on or otherwise used.

[lstone19]

I'm not convinced the railroads even knew who owned what. I worked for the N&W (ex-PRR Columbus to Sandusky line) in Sandusky for a couple years 30+ years ago. By that time, the Big Four and LE&W SW of Sandusky was gone but the Big Four spur to the waterfront was still there coming off a hand-throw switch from the CR (ex-NYC/LS&MS) BUF-CHI main west of CP-242. Geographic north of CP-242, the ex-Big Four heading northeast to the waterfront and the ex-PRR heading geographic northeast (but timetable west to really confuse things) to the coal dock shared a few hundred feet of track. Our timetable indicated it was our track but CR could use it; Conrail's said just the opposite. Since it was all within yard limits and dark, it was all first-come, first-served with no one to authorize movement. In all my time there, I don't think I ever saw CR go down there. I think east of the coal dock was shared at one time between Big Four and PRR but we (N&W/ex-PRR) had no reason to ever go down there anymore. CR could get there from the east with an easier move from their yard so why go from the west.

[cbehr91]

IIRC, from east to west:

LS&MS (NYC) from the mainline to the waterfront;

B&O original mainline on a south / north line that crossed the NYC mainline at CP-240;

Big Four - nee Mad River & Lake Erie (NYC) from SW to NE that crossed the NYC mainline at Bay Jct. - CP-242; and

CS&H (PRR) also SW to NE that also crossed at Bay Jct. - CP-242.

At the waterfront, there was a joint trackage arrangement.

LE&W (NKP) crossed the CS&H at Bay Jct. and used shared trackage to get to the waterfront. The NKP yard was on the south side of the NYC mainline.

At the east end of the waterfront there is an historical marker for the original B&O mainline.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply.

I'll have to look for the marker, I'm camping at the Sandusky Sailing Club as part of week long regatta. Some of the old maritime maps show quite the arrangement of trackage that is absolutely vanished. Did the B&O line run on the street to the south or just adjacent to it (Warren St.) absolutely no sign a railroad ran through that area today.

The B&O crossed right at CP 240. The B&O right-of-way has pretty much been obliterated through town. The LE&W and the Big 4 paralleled each other into the west side of town, crossing and tying into the Chicago Line at CP 242. The current line to the docks and compass south to Bellevue was PRR until 1964, which also crosses the Chicago Line at 242.

[lstone19]

An interlocking diagram of Bay Jct. (eventually NYC CP242) as of 1957 can be found at http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/Prr/M ... ay_jct.gif.

By 1980 when I was there, CP242 consisted of nothing but the 4 ex-NYC tracks crossing the 2 ex-PRR tracks (yes, a 4x2 crossing - today I believe it is 2x1). All NYC crossovers were gone. The only power switch left was the 111 switch on the PRR Main (east) track leading to the "Brewery Track". There were also power derails on the PRR. Big Four and LE&W SW of the plant were gone and the connection to the waterfront (switch 19) was hand-throw as was the whole second plant north of the main crossing (home signals 76, 97, 101, 106, and 107). The southern-most fifth track (switch 28) was also gone and the outer NYC tracks had been downgraded to controlled sidings and were little if ever used.