Eastern Railroad Discussion > Kenton, OH car builder question

Could someone give a brief description of the International Car Company, or similar name, that was located in Kenton, OH.? BTW, there is a nicely-preserved NYC depot in Kenton, on the abandoned r-o-w of the Cincy-Detroit line that hosted the "Queen City" and other varnish. Thanks from Jim in Wapak.

International Car Company was a company that built mainly cabeese for many roads. The road that I am a fan of had a couple of series from them. The Seaboard Air Line had 5600\'s and 5700\'s that were built by ICC. They also built other cars but their main business was cabeese. I don\'t know what remains of their facility today though.

There are several models available from Atlas in HO scale of ICC cabs. These would include their wide vision cab and their standard cupola models. Also, my present employeer has many International cabs still running around. They are in the 555XXX number series now. I see several of them every day.

Regards,

Denis F. Blake
NS Conductor
Columbus, OH
TTHOTSNYCSTL8 wrote:

> Could someone give a brief description of the International
> Car Company, or similar name, that was located in Kenton, OH.?
> BTW, there is a nicely-preserved NYC depot in Kenton, on the
> abandoned r-o-w of the Cincy-Detroit line that hosted the
> "Queen City" and other varnish. Thanks from Jim in Wapak.
>
> [%sig%]

International Car Company was a company that built mainly cabeese for many roads. The road that I am a fan of had a couple of series from them. The Seaboard Air Line had 5600\'s and 5700\'s that were built by ICC. They also built other cars but their main business was cabeese. I don\'t know what remains of their facility today though.

There are several models available from Atlas in HO scale of ICC cabs. These would include their wide vision cab and their standard cupola models. Also, my present employeer has many International cabs still running around. They are in the 555XXX number series now. I see several of them every day.

Regards,

Denis F. Blake
NS Conductor
Columbus, OH
TTHOTSNYCSTL8 wrote:

> Could someone give a brief description of the International
> Car Company, or similar name, that was located in Kenton, OH.?
> BTW, there is a nicely-preserved NYC depot in Kenton, on the
> abandoned r-o-w of the Cincy-Detroit line that hosted the
> "Queen City" and other varnish. Thanks from Jim in Wapak.
>
> [%sig%]

Wow, the ICC wide-visions like Chessie had were my favorites, I never realized they made them right there in KENTON! I\'ve made a few trips to Kenton while I lived in Lima but never knew WHERE the facility you speak of could be. So many rail lines ran through town at one time. Just curious, I don\'t remember a depot there. Which one was the Cinci-Detroit line? The one that came into town from the SW and left NNW? Is that the same one that runs north to Dunkirk, North Baltimore and Toledo?
Wow Jim, great question, you really got ME interested in hearing anybody\'s input! Just curious, but who got the old EL yard there in Kenton that used to be Conrail?
OK, no more questions... sorry Jim, I didn\'t mean to steal your post!

Take care and God bless!
DTIDave

The International Car Company was east of Kenton, alongside the Erie Lackawanna, maybe a mile or two east of Kenton, in a couple of corrugated metal buildings. Somewhere, I\'ve slides of brand new N&W cabooses (555 series) setting there, circa 1976. I have no idea what remains there today but it folded with the demise of the caboose.
I believe, if memory serves me correctly, that if you drove south on Ohio State Route 31, and turned left on the first road south of the old Erie, if that road leaves Kenton, east of the CSX Toledo branch (T&OC), you will find where the manufacturer was located.
The depot on the NYC is located on the right of way that one crosses on the near westside of downtown Kenton, on the north side of Route 309. I believe that it is an insurance agency today, much as I\'ve wanted to, I\'ve never stopped to have a closer look.

Hey, dtidave. The NYC Big Four Cin-Det line ran n.e. from Bellefontaine thru Kenton and Carey, to Berwick, where it hooked toward the n.w., thru Fostoria to Toledo. At Berwick, another leg continued to Sandusky, but the Toledo pass. trains made a left toward Fostoria. The NYC line running n.w. from Kenton is today\'s CSX Columbus branch, which was the Toledo & Ohio Central, and is (damnit) the only remaining line thru Kenton, though a tiny bit of Erie track is still in place, I believe. See lew\'s post for the depot location. Leaving Kenton for Lima on 309, the depot is on your right. When this Ice Age ends, I\'m going over to Kenton to try to put the "what used to be" jig-saw puzzle together. Oh, for a time machine.......

NYCSTL8 wrote:

> Oh, for a time machine.......

Can\'t help with the time machine but here\'s a map from 1898

---

NYCSTL8 wrote:

> Hey, dtidave. The NYC Big Four Cin-Det line ran n.e. from
> Bellefontaine thru Kenton and Carey, to Berwick, where it
> hooked toward the n.w., thru Fostoria to Toledo.

Back in \'92-\'93 I ventured to Kenton, but never really made it past town. I never went south of town or east, but I did follow the above mentioned line for a few miles NE of town. At the time, it looked like they may have just pulled the rails sometime in \'90 or \'91. Looked like a pretty high-speed well graded line at one time.

The NYC line running n.w. from
> Kenton is today\'s CSX Columbus branch, which was the Toledo &
> Ohio Central, and is (damnit) the only remaining line thru
> Kenton,

I remember THIS line... IIRC, this is where CSX finally stopped that runaway locomotive that took off from Toledo!

though a tiny bit of Erie track is still in place, I
> believe.

I remember back in \'92-\'93 that Conrail had track leading up to a grain elevator. I want to say it was in McGuffey but the tracks went as far as Alger, but I could be wrong. I think it came out of Kenton to service it, as I remember a small yard on the SE side of town. I think that\'s the only part of the EL still operating if even that today.


See lew\'s post for the depot location. Leaving
> Kenton for Lima on 309, the depot is on your right.

Thanks, lew. Next time I\'m down that way, I\'m gonna have to look for the depot and ICC on the east side of town :-)


When this
> Ice Age ends, I\'m going over to Kenton to try to put the "what
> used to be" jig-saw puzzle together. Oh, for a time
> machine.......
>

Yep, Kenton... another town whose rails have been devasted by the big blue giant. Mind you, I liked Conrail and I know the reasoning for dumping all those lines, but towns like Kenton, Xenia, and Urbana just to name a few have been obliterated and left to die. Get some good pics with that time machine, eh?

Take care, keep warm, and God bless!
DTIDave