Eastern Railroad Discussion > Longest Tangent Of Track In The US - NW Ohio

Is it really true that the longest tangent of track in the US is along the NS/ex-Conrail Chicago line in the northwest corner of Ohio, just west of Toledo? How long is this tangent? TIA!

That stretch of track is just shy of 69 miles. It was the longest stretch of track when constructed, but third longest in the US now (according to "Railroads of Indiana").

Longest in the USA is "78.86 miles on the former Seaboard Air Line Railway between Wilmington and Hamlet, North Carolina." This is from "Guinness Rail - The Records" from 1985.

This book is of course dated, so some of these rails may not be in place anymore.

2nd longest - Former RI between Guymon, Oklahoma and Dalhart Tx. 71.94 miles.

3rd - 68.49 miles on the NYC now NS.

4th - Monon between Brookston and Westville, In. 64.52 miles. This one is no longer, the track is only in from Brookston to Medaryville, In, considerably short of Westville.

5th - IC between Edgewood and Akin Junction, Il. 62.92 miles.

That should be enough for now.

Practice Safe CSX

Though not the longest stretch of tangent track, I would certainly say that the 68.49 miles between Air Line Yard and Butler, IN is the busiest of those tangents.

Interesting fact, however: there is a bit of a shift in the "straightness" around Melbern, Ohio, west of Bryan. Looking east toward Toledo from the old wooden bridge west of Melbern, there is enough of a curve in the alignment of the right-of-way that it is certainly noticeable. Seems to be just as the track starts the climb up Melbern Hill. Just a foot or two; maybe not even that much. It\'s enough that the headlights will "hide" off to one direction.

Years ago I noticed that on a crisp night, you could see the overhead CP signals toward Toledo(Before CR moved a lot of them) for WELL before a headlight would be discerned. One would think that it wouldn\'t be possible to see the reds 40+ miles out, but there they were. Perhaps because some of those signals were so high. On one particularly dead Monday morning (like 2am), the only move between Nasby and Butler was a MAIL9P, and we could see the signals turn on before we heard him go by the HBD at Holland. (Yeah, a guy had his telescope aimed due east).

Ha...back in the 80s while on one of our 24-hour marathon Bryan trips, one of our intelligent travelling companions (let\'s call him Doug) proffered this incredibly astute statement:
"Wow, that train was LONG!" (It was a TV9, before spine cars were so common.) He continued, "I counted cars, and it had 115 flats. How many would that be in HO??!!"

I replied, "Well, uh, that would be 115 flats, let\'s say at a foot long, so like 115 feet, give or take." He looked at me like I\'d just told him the world was flat and the moon was made of green cheese. "That\'s not true", Doug said angrily. "20 cars, tops. No basement could handle a train that long, and I want to model this line, mile-for-mile, in my basement someday."

I said, "For starters, if you do it mile-for-mile, you\'d need a basement about 8/10 of a mile long. Now where you gonna get that? And, who is gonna pay for all that track, with you working as a janitor at Burger King?" He then got that open-mouthed, vacant, hit-over-the-head-with-a-frying-pan look, and said, "Oh. Well, I guess I\'ll stick with modeling the Milwaukee Road then. They weren\'t as big."

It was hard finding quality people to go on an overnight railfan trip in those days.

"whew"

conrail767596 wrote:

> Interesting fact, however: there is a bit of a shift in the
> "straightness" around Melbern, Ohio, Just a foot or two; maybe not
> even that much.

I think it\'s more than just a couple of feet, since it shows up on the DeLorme maps and on topographic maps. If you sight down the lines on the maps, it definitely wows out to the north around Melbern. It would need to shift more than a couple of feet to show on the maps.

I have a question... I think I\'m confusing this with something else. I thought the longest piece of tangent track was on the N&W in Virginia? Or is that the longest continuous tangent grade? Or have I just lost my last marble?

If you find my marble, it is grey in color and a big chip missing out of it. Without it I have no marbles.

LOL... still waiting for the anesthesia to wear off from the dentist!

Take care and God bless!
DTIDave

You\'re right. I just got my DeLorme map out, and that "kink" is right there.

I don\'t even know if that old wooden bridge is still in place west of the crossing in Melbern; last I knew it was plastered with "No Trespassing" signs, and we never went back.


run8 wrote:

> I think it\'s more than just a couple of feet, since it shows
> up on the DeLorme maps and on topographic maps. If you sight
> down the lines on the maps, it definitely wows out to the north
> around Melbern. It would need to shift more than a couple of
> feet to show on the maps.
>

Ha!!

DTI Dave wrote:

> If you find my marble, it is grey in color and a big chip
> missing out of it. Without it I have no marbles.
>
> LOL... still waiting for the anesthesia to wear off from the
> dentist!
>

The former Nickel Plate main is essentially tangent from Arcadia, about 286.8, to Casad, 361.4. That\'s 74.6 miles. There ARE several very small deflections in the 1986 track chart. The 1997 track chart only shows one, at about 320.5 at Kiefersville. This was the old Clinton Airline that was graded in the 1850\'s between Tiffin,OH, and New Haven, IN. The NKP used the part between Arcadia and New Haven. You used to be able to see the cut in the trees east of Arcadia where the grade continued. I think the B&O used part of it to the east of Fostoria. John Rehor\'s book The Nickel Plate Story has several references to it.