Eastern Railroad Discussion > Cleveland Confusion

I am still trying to digest Cleveland operations 

Questions (* note, I work best off traditional names of railroads..... )

Going east from Vermilion on the NYC, now NS line one crosses over the NKP then to a wye. What is the wye and does the north tail go to the old Lorain Ford ? - and what for now ?

Further east on the NYC line is a diamond east of Elyria - this line is ? / was ?? and is now how active ?

At the east edge of Olmstead Falls was there a now long gone line headed northwest ?

Following the Big Four out of Rockport Yard east , what is the wye and where does the line to the east go ? - this is south of Denison Ave.

Thanks for any help.

You have asked multiple questions about two lines: NYC & NKP

NYC: crosses B&O in Elyria (CSX).  Elyria Wye has northbound track north to Lorain steel plants.  At Berea it meets the Cleveland Short Line (CSX) and heads northeast.  At CP Max big wye at west end of Rockport Yard.  Line continues northeast into downtown Cleveland and Cuyahoga drawbridge.  After "Draw" the PRR tracks head southeast, while NYC tracks continue northeast to Collinwood.

NKP: continues along lakeshore through Lorain, crossing B&O and meeting steel company switching trackage.   Line crosses under NYC on west side of Cleveland and parallels RTA tracks to downtown.  At Cloggsville a connecting track was built between NYC & NKP so that trains can move east-west to and from NKP tracks and Rockport yard.  After Cloggsville NKP track crosses Cuyahoga River and meets up with Cleveland Short Line at 105th St.  At Superior the NYC (Cleveland Short LIne) goes north to Collinwood, while NKP continues northeast to Euclid.  

I suggest you get a railroad atlas showing abandoned tracks to fully understand the Cleveland scene.

There was to be a line going NW from Olmsted Falls that was graded from Sheffield Village down but was never finished due to insufficient land use (swamp) from what I read once. This may have been the Lake Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad but my mind isn’t certain right now.

RAILOH Wrote:
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> There was to be a line going NW from Olmsted Falls
> that was graded from Sheffield Village down but
> was never finished due to insufficient land use
> (swamp) from what I read once. This may have been
> the Lake Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad but my mind
> isn’t certain right now.

Yes, Lake Erie & Pittsburgh. The steel industry in Lorain was a big traffic magnet in the early 1900's, with rumors of plant expansion. All the major roads were interested. LE&P was in the NYC camp. NYC ended up serving Lorain via their runner from Elyria. That track is now unused, pending any future plans.

The Lake Erie and Pittsburg was planned to cross the NYC in Olmstead Falls.  The route is now used for high voltage power lines.  The line was orginally intended to link the port of Lorain with the steel mills of Youngstown.  Grading occurred from Lorain into the Berea area.  There are bridge piers in the Rocky River in Olmstead Falls, but never held a bridge.  The line was purchased jointly by the NYC and PRR, and then built along the east side of the Cuyahoga River valley from Marcy to Brady Lake.  This became part of the NYC route from Cleveland to Youngstown that used trackage rights on the PRR and B&O.  After the PC merger, this line was downgraded and abandoned and now hosts a bike trail.  The portion in Sheffield briefly supported rails from where it crossed the NKP South Lorain branch to Cromwell Steel on the west side of Lorain.  The NKP also had a spur to Cromwell off their main line and where these two connected became a joint ownership.  Cromwell was built during WW1 and did not last much after the war.  My records show the line was removed in the 1930s.  There are bridge piers in French Creek park and the main road for the park is built in the LE&P ROW.  While it is fairly easy to trace the route from Lorain to Olmstead Falls, and then from Marcy to Brady Lake, I have always been curious how they originally planned to cover the area in between.  Probably lost to history.