Eastern Railroad Discussion > Indiana and Ohio Melvin Stone Train in Norwood Ohio

Indiana and Ohio Railway started out over forty years ago on part of a former NYC branch from Valley Junction in Ohio to Brookville Indiana that was cast off by Conrail. The I & O continued to acquire other cast off branches and former mainlines in Ohio and became the operator for others that were purchased by Port Authorities to maintain rail service. In 1997 the I & O was bought out by RailTex who bought the former D T & I form Diann Michigan to Springfield Ohio, connecting with the Springfield cluster of I & O lines and connecting up Cincinnati via trackage rights over Conrail. For the next decade the I & O operated bridge traffic for Canadian National and could arguably be one of the most interesting times in the I & O's history. Rail America of course took over RailTex after 2000. In 2004 I & O negotiated a long term lease on the CSX Midland Sub from Cincinnati to Columbus, including the former Wellston Sub in Washington Court House Ohio. Rail America management had no clue on how to make local customers happy and of course the road trains disappeared and indeed I thought the whole I & O might go with them. Genesee and Wyoming took over in 2012 and seems to have generated new traffic and increased existing traffic. A huge customer now is Melvin Stone who owns their own cars. Melvin Stone trains run somewhere on the I & O almost everyday according the crews, the challenge for us is to figure out where they are. This afternoon I tuned in the scanner after I got home from work and heard someone clear up a track warrant on the CIND and get the signals lined up for coming to the I & O Midland Sub. I went out to see if anything else was happening around my area then correctly guessed that I would see the I & O train about an hour later, which turned out to be one of the Melvin Stone trains. Seen here getting ready to pass under Section Ave in Norwood Ohio. Above the train is Ohio State Rt 562 but commonly know as the Norwood Lateral To the left of train the wooden poles were where Camaros were loaded from the GM Norwood plant. This train tied down at East Norwood and will likely be taken up the Midland Sub tomorrow or Tuesday at least that is my guess from observation of the I & O. 

Jim 

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Here's a couple pictures from same spot in April 1984 when GM Norwood was still alive and kicking and shipping Carmaos and Firebirds
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/20 05:55 by scraphauler.

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These before and after shots are always fantastic.

Thank you for posting. 

Eric Lanctot
 

Good job, Jim!

Posted from Android

ewlanctot Wrote:
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> These before and after shots are always
> fantastic.
>
> Thank you for posting. 
>
> Eric Lanctot
>
I agree! The Before pictures made this post! The Before pictures were fourteen years before I would move to Cincinnati. The loading facility was more visible then but had already started to return to the Earth. I grew up in nearby Moraine where the now defunct S-10 truck plant was located. In Moraine the new trucks were driven, at a high rate of speed I might add out to the loading area and onto the auto carriers. Of course this was all on GM property and less than a half mile from the plant. So in Norwood did GM drive the new Camaros over to this loadout or did they truck them the short distance over?  Also did they drive them on city streets?

Jim