Topper Wants The Rat Hole

The Wall Street Journal reports that NS will purchase the CNO&TP from its owner, the City of Cincinnati.

Fair Use:

Norfolk Southern Corp. said it plans to acquire Cincinnati Southern Railway, a railway line that it currently leases from the city of Cincinnati, for around $1.62 billion.

The Atlanta-based railroad said the link is one of the highest-density segments of the company’s network, with as many as 30 trains a day traveling the route. The purchase of approximately 337 miles of railway line that extends from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, Tenn., eliminates uncertainty around future lease costs, Norfolk Southern said.

During the "Dark Ages", or circa '65, the SRY made substantial "Leasehold Improvements" to this line. As reported by TRAINS, this involved "daylighting" or "digging out" the numerous tunnels along this line named the "Rat Hole".

While the lease provisions are private between the parties, if some portion of them is tied to any revenue activity, this will likely be considered a smart move by Topper.

"Once upon a time", this route hosted the New Royal Palm"; a Detroit-Miami train.

I'm surprised it took this long to purchase.

One of our active participants on TrainSim.com is a retired P.E. who had that as part of his territory when he worked for the Southern. He's since built out virtually large sections of the mainline. It's an impressive ride virtually, and having seen portions of the route in person (from an ATV), it would be a great ride if service were ever restored along it.

My brother-in-law owns property near the mainline, and there are numerous tunnels remaining in Tennessee. At least one of the pre-1965 tunnels were abandoned as the SRY straightening out some of the curves and built replacement tunnels. One is now a very popular Jeep/ATV attraction.... I've driven thru it several times.