Nostalgia & History > Muskingum Electric

Scanning more slides, I came across my one visit to this gem in southeastern Ohio, in March of 1988.

The first picture is close to the load out at the north end. Above the motor is the boom of Big Muskie.

The other two are closer to the south end.

The line and the mines have all closed and been reclaimed. I had no idea where I was (a friend was driving) and I kept no notes. To look on Google Earth, you could not even tell a railroad had been there if you weren't looking for it. I will have to find some time to try and figure it all out.

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Wow, thanks for sharing. MERR was in such a remote area there are not a lot of pics to be seen. I was very fortunate to have seen it operate in it's final years.

A very interesting operation, ahead of its time in many ways.

The locomotives were automated and monitored by closed circuit television. The track was equipped with inductive sensors that trigger automated horn signals for crossings.

The hopper cars were Cincinnati Ohio's Ortner Freight Car first design of the 'rapid-discharge' design that allowed unloading of 100 tons of coal in 14 seconds or less. They did this by designing the slope sheets with a very high angle, and minimizing the cross section of the bottom of the car (by maximizing the door outlet sizes) by reducing the cross sectional area of the 'transverse ridge' assemblies. These are the 'cross members' that hold the car sides apart and also serve as places for the door hinges to be fastened.

The early designs used an automobile tire that rode up on a stationary rail at the discharge location. The tire actually was an oversized actuator for a limit switch that provided an electric signal to open the doors through a air-actuated solenoid and large pneumatic cylinders. Since this system required a voltage source, the cars also had 'shoes' that picked up 24-48 volts DC to operate the system. Later designs removed the tire, and the polarity of the voltage was used to power the system, and also provide an open signal, and by reversing polarity a close-doors signal.

Ortner had an engineering office in Hyde Park Square (in the Cincinnati suburb of Hyde Park), and a manufacturing plant at 21st and Augustine St. in Covington KY (long gone) and their last operations in the Cincinnati area were at Mt. Orab OH on the N&W's 'Peavine' from Cincinnati to Portsmouth OH.

Ortner was acquired by Trinity Industries in the late 1980's (not sure about the date), and the area facilities were closed.

Engineering Footnote:
The Muskingum Electric project was started in 1966 and became operational in late 1968. The circuitry used was among the first use of solid-state electronics in common use on freight cars. They utilized a simple silicon diode matrix to decode the polarity of the load/unload signal. Through a Cincinnati Railroad Club railfan connection (one of Ortner's mechanical engineers belonged) my late Father built a proof-of-concept model to show that silicon diodes could be encapsulated in epoxy for this application. Ortner adopted his design, and he went on to make over 14,000 of the units before the circuitry was updated from discrete passive components to a microcontroller by Trinity.

When I return home, I will post an image of the pilot model for the switch.

This is a railroad that doesn't show up here or anywhere else enough. My Grandma and I drove out to see the Muskingum Electric in 2000 after I had just go a new Ford Contour. By that time the track and cat were still in but nothing was operating. There were several big washouts that could be seen from the state highway. I regret not ever seeing this in operation.

Jim

intermodalres Wrote:
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>
> The first picture is close to the load out at the
> north end. Above the motor is the boom of Big
> Muskie.

Some of that area is now occupied by "The Wilds" which is associated with the Columbus Zoo. It is a huge animal breeding and refuge facility which you tour on vehicles driving through the facility.


> The line and the mines have all closed and been
> reclaimed. I had no idea where I was (a friend
> was driving) and I kept no notes. To look on
> Google Earth, you could not even tell a railroad
> had been there if you weren't looking for it. I
> will have to find some time to try and figure it
> all out.

Most of the north-south part of the line parallels Ohio 83.

They had a large amount of difficulty in getting the automation to work and for a long time an operator still had to ride the train to override the system at times. From comments in another post, it would seem the automation bugs finally got worked out. The day of the dedication AEP leased some passenger cars from the B&O and took guests for a "tour of the line." During those trips they had a lot of trouble with the engine wanting to follow the automated commands and fight the engineer overriding same.

There was an unconfirmed rumor that the wire was kept energized for a long time after operations ceased. That rumor, unconfirmed, was supposedly to deter thieves from stealing the wire. The story would well be an urban legend.

I haven't been down that way for a long time but the equipment was "trapped" towards the south end at the shop area when several washouts prevented it being pulled back to the connection with the B&O Byesville branch. I think the engines finally were removed by low boy trucks and don't know if the hoppers were cut up or also trucked out.

DaleR