E-L Youngstown-Cleveland Line

Have heard that this line was mostly scrapped at some time after ConRail. How far does it presently extend to out of both Youngstown and Cleveland, if at all?

Going east from Cleveland:

Gone from the Riverbed Docks (NYPANO) to West End Tower;
In use from West End of former von Willer Yard to Solon;
Railbanked from Solon to end of track at Chamberlain Rd., Aurora;
Gone from eot to Leavittsburg.

Not sure about the east end to Brier Hill and Youngstown.

Hope this helps.

[quote="shlustig"]Going east from Cleveland:

Gone from the Riverbed Docks (NYPANO) to West End Tower;
In use from West End of former von Willer Yard to Solon;
Railbanked from Solon to end of track at Chamberlain Rd., Aurora;
Gone from eot to Leavittsburg.

Not sure about the east end to Brier Hill and Youngstown.

Hope this helps.[/quote
Here's a shot of EOT what used to be Carlon plastic now its called Cantex.All materials come in by truck. No rail service since at least 1996.NS sill goes up to Nestle/Stouffers weekly.Any trackage east of Harper Road still in place.

This is more recent.This is west of Randall yard by Richmond Rd.

Nice photos. I photographed E-L trains 28 & 29 at Mantua and Aurora circa 1970s. Sad to see most of the line gone.

TB--

Name of the line was Mahoning Divn's 1st Sub Division. Cleveland Line or Cleveland Branch is improper. Route was a high density line and double tracked for the most part until later days.

East of Aurora the line is gone as far as Niles. For about a mile in Niles the Ohio Central purchased and uses it several times a week to service GE and a lumber customer. They access this portion via trackage rights from Girard to Niles (and Warren) over NS.

Ohio Central also relaid about a mile of track in the vicinity of Girard to serve Syro Steel. That line continues east to a point between Worthington Street and West Federal Street, through what is known as Brier Hill Yard. That line serves North Star Steel, the Y&A RR connection, one or two scrap plants and a few other busineses. This portion is used daily by OHCR and they have a crew and engines assigned to the East End of Brier Hill Yard. Total length in service in the Brier Hill area is just short of 3 miles. About MP 63.40 to MP 66.30 +/-. Abandoned again as far as Hubbard. From Hubbard to Pymatuning the line is part of the NS Meadville Line and sees daily local freight service, plus NS unit coal trains to Meadville and the WNYP for the power plants in New York State. CSXT also has trackage rights over this portion of the line to access the B&LE (CN) at Shenango.

SMT

Is there any reason why the track was left in-place from Harper Rd in Solon to Chamberlain Rd? Are there plans to re-establish service in the form of a commuter rail?

Word on the street that the Randall secondary is being sold to the Cleveland Commercial Railroad.Von Willer Yard to Solon

According to the latest news I've heard, which included a link to an STB filing, starting Monday, June 15th, the Cleveland Commercial Railroad assumes operations on what is now known as the Randall Industrial Track.

NS still owns this line, but CCR is leasing the line in its entirety, from E 39th St where the "west end" is all the way to Cantex plastics. Any re-activation of the line east of Harper Rd. however is entirely on CCR now.

For a while W&LE was supposedly outright going to buy the line, but that was back in the Conrail days.

I noticed as I was driving along Rt 43 in Chagrin Falls, that a recent housing development had installed new flashers and gates on Flanders Dr. They appear new since the devices are spotless and soil looks recently dug up around them. This is south-east of Harper Rd. As far as I know, the line is only active up to Harper Rd and in-active east of Harper to Chamberlain Rd. Any ideas why they'd install flashers and gates on the in-active portion of the line? I haven't seen any new activity on that portion of the line. Still appears to be heavily grown over and un-used.

This article seems to support using the line as a commuter rail in the future:
http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Ra ... nefits.pdf

I found the information that discusses Cleveland Commercial Railroad and it's lease agreement with NS to lease the line all the way out to Chamberlain Rd (milepost 27.5) in Aurora:

"Cleveland Commercial Railroad Company, LLC (CCR), a Class III rail carrier, has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR 1150.41 to lease and to operate, pursuant to a lease agreement (Agreement) entered into on May 13, 2009, with Norfolk Southern Railway Company

(NSR), approximately 25.3 miles of NSR's rail line between milepost RH 2.2+/- at Cleveland, OH, and milepost RH 27.5+/- at Aurora, OH.

CCR states that it will interchange traffic with NSR at a track in the vicinity of Von Willer Yard in Cleveland. CCR also states that it interchanges traffic with the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company"

http://regulations.vlex.com/vid/lease-c ... y-57986159

**Milepost 27.5 is the Chamberlain Rd crossing. I also noticed construction signs on Pettibone Rd indicating the road is closed at the railroad tracks. I wonder if they're opening the crossing again?

bluestreak81 wrote:I noticed as I was driving along Rt 43 in Chagrin Falls, that a recent housing development had installed new flashers and gates on Flanders Dr. They appear new since the devices are spotless and soil looks recently dug up around them. This is south-east of Harper Rd. As far as I know, the line is only active up to Harper Rd and in-active east of Harper to Chamberlain Rd. Any ideas why they'd install flashers and gates on the in-active portion of the line? I haven't seen any new activity on that portion of the line. Still appears to be heavily grown over and un-used.

This article seems to support using the line as a commuter rail in the future:
http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Ra ... nefits.pdf

That's the Thornbury (sp) development in Solon.More than likely the developers had to put them up regardless if the tracks are being used or not.

Pettibone Road is closed west of North Market Place Drive (west of the railroad crossing). They are rebuilding the road in Solon. The Pettibone Road crossing is in Bainbridge Township (Geauga County). Also, the crossing was paved over a couple of years ago, when they put in the new shopping complex nearby. The flashers was removed sometime in 2003.

Here's the link from the PUCO website that shows the "new" crossing being installed on the old NS line in Solon on Flanders Rd. You can see new rails, ties, and crossing padding being installed. Although no trains have ever used this crossing. But the flashers and gates do look good. I still see this line come up in newspaper articles as far as the possibilities of it being converted into a commuter rail.

http://198.234.129.13/item.php?ID=2283& ... L&Reason=3

Nothing new here as the PUCO photos are many years old.

The file was updated in response to notification that the file was misidentified as confirmed by the Solon PD. If you check that website, you will find many crossings with incorrect and/or outdated information. Just another example of 2 state agencies -- ORDC and PUCO -- being unable to manage what should be a very simple registry.

A recent article from 2012 discussing the possibilities of using the "Randall Secondary" line from Solon to Mantua as part of the RTA Blue Line extension.

"In the long term, the vacant Syms warehouse could be demolished to expand the park-n-ride into the south end of the property, next to Norfolk Southern’s Randall Secondary between Cleveland and Mantua, now leased by Cleveland Commercial Railroad. This rail line has been rated by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency as one of the region’s most promising for commuter rail."

http://allaboardohio.org/2012/01/30/aao ... sion-plan/