Eastern Railroad Discussion > Vera Jct. to Plum Run, OH

Several YouTube videos of the Cincinnati Eastern had me curious about the old N&W Peavine between Portsmouth and Cincinnati, OH. The Cincinnati Eastern system map stops at Plumb Run, OH just past what appears to be a quarry.

Following the line on Google maps shows it to be intact all the way to Vera Jct. with the active NS main. Does NS still maintain and operate out to Plum Run or is that Cincinnati Eastern too?

Lastly, I vaguely recall that some bridge issue near Vera Jct. prompted NS to deemphasize the line. If so, any idea what the bridge problem was?

Line is still in, belongs to NS, and is out of service.  STB issued NS a discontinuance of service a couple years ago.  Line is blocked by a couple washouts and the switch at Vera Jct was removed a year or two ago. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/20 16:22 by scraphauler.

Sad. I remember riding behind 611 in the mid 90s on that line. Scenic but one curvy bit of railroad.

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It's all still in, but nature is taking over.  Here is a before and after gallery I made in January.  https://flic.kr/s/aHsmL1kkv6
 

Lawshe and Macon in Erik's fine pictures are still in service with Cincinnati Eastern.  Line in Macon currently see's service couple times a week, to serve a scrap yard there in Macon and an elevator just east of there in Winchester.  East of Winchester line currently used only for car storage, which is busy right now, however quarry at Plum Run will start shipping later this year, along with sister quarry north of Winchester who will truck to and transload to rail at Macon. 

K8DTI Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's all still in, but nature is taking over. 
> Here is a before and after gallery I made in
> January.  https://flic.kr/s/aHsmL1kkv6

Thanks for sharing those pictures.

I was fortunate to make a couple of roundtrips with locomotive cab rides in the mid-1970s during my N&W years. I wish that somehow the Peavine could be brought back as a through route.

Anyhow, the phrase "up and down and all around"  pops in my mind whenever I think about the Peavine.

Great (but sad) comparative photo series. Thanks for compiling and sharing.

Anyone know of the alleged bridge issue near Vera Jct. that was used/blamed for starting this series of events?

The big bridge across the Scioto River and it's approaches. It was built across the flood plain which usually floods every Spring from both the Scioto and backflow from the Ohio.

As much as I would like to see it in operation again the Cincinnati District usually required doubling most anything except Intermodal. Their are clearance issues which restrict double stacks. Going up the Columbus District to the Dayton District really didn't add much time since no doubling is required.

Jim

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Bridge needs a lot of maintenance - for one thing a new deck needed before any appreciable traffic runs over it assuming you want to hold gauge. All normal day to day stuff. But in NS’s mind, regardless of how much money you spend on bridge, you are left with a functionally obsolete, clearance and capacity limited bridge. Even if you spent big and replaced bridge, you still have a roller coaster, twisting, high maintenance, limited capacity “Pea Vine” of a line. And for what reason? Just so you can save one crew by running Cincinnati Portsmouth direct vs Cincinnati - Columbus - Portsmouth, a route that has no clearance issues, is heavy duty, and is no where near capacity.

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