Eastern Railroad Discussion > Saturday on the Indiana and Ohio Railway Midland Sub

This Morning I tuned the scanner in on the Indiana and Ohio Railway channels. A little after 9 am IORY 4082 toned the St Albans Dispatcher and received a Track Warrant made complete at 9:13 am. I was actually looking at TO when this occurred so I sprung into action, put on street clothes and grabbed the tripod and camera sac and went to nearby Madieria Ohio. After waiting around for ten minutes or so I asked the guy in the meat market that is now in the former depot and found out that I must have barely missed the train there. I wasn't sure how fast the Midland Sub runs, it had a lot of slow orders but I&O has been doing a lot of work on it as you will see in some of the pictures so I went a ll the Blanchester. From Blanchester I got he shot coming off the former Chillicothe Sub onto the Midland Sub. Up until 1989 when the Chillicothe Sub was abandoned east of Thrifton and shortlined to the IOCR east of Midland City the Midland Sub only started at Midland City. I continued chasing all the way to Melvin Ohio which is at MP 62 a mile short of the Track Warrant. Many of the pictures did not come out because I didn't realize I had my shutter speed still set slow.
1) Midland City Ohio. The track behind the depot is originally Marietta and Cincinnati, later to become the B&O mainline from Cumberland to St Louis. The Midland Sub ran from here to Columbus Ohio before 
2) Lazenby Rd, northeast of Midland City on the Midland Sub. This was not intentional but the shutter speed set too low why throw out every shot.
3) Melvin Ohio, the 4082 only came here with 13 hot boxcars!

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The crew made it from Oakley to Melvin around Noon. I talked to the crew who told me they had to set out some Bad Order cars and then return with a loaded stone train. Melvin Stone trains have become big business for the I&O. I drove back to Wilmington for food then returned to Stone Rd.
4) Video (may end up out of order) at Melvin Ohio at Stone Rd. They left Melvin around 2:30 pm.
5) Cuba Ohio crossing the trestle across Cowan Creek. This scene gets more treed in every year. 

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While I was standing on the guardrail on the US 68 bridge across Cowan Creek another fan honked. I talked to him for a couple minutes at Cuba Rd. 
6) Cuba Ohio, Cuba Rd.
7) Midland City Ohio. Looking at the west end of the depot, which somehow continues to resist falling over.
8) Midland City Ohio looking west. This was at 3:20 pm. 
I&O took out the connecting track that allowed coming off the original Midland Sub and into what was the westbound main. Up until the end of CSX operation of the Midland Sub on October 15 2004 the2.9 miles to BN Jct were still treated as two main tracks.

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From Midland City I easily made to Blanchester again. The skies had become overcast and I really didn't end up with as good a shot as I had hoped for. From Blan I went Cozaddale and Hill Station. The double track went all the way from Midland City to Cincinnati at one time.  
9) Behind the train is the unit for the Blanchester Local. I tried to figure out how to get it, the Indiana and Ohio Railway sign and the downtown in the background but ran out of time before the train came.
10) Cozaddale. I&O replaced the 122 lb Chessie System rain with 115 lb in the crossing and dumped some new ballast here. (4:15 pm)
11) Hill Station with Gibson Rd in the foreground. (4:30 pm)

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Chessie System did a major upgrade to the route all the way to Cumberland for the Amtrak Shenandoah, including replacing a lot of codeline poles and crossarms, circa 1980. A year later the Shenandoah was discontinued and around five the last through trains to Parkersburg and east operated. The Shenandoah actually stopped at the station in Loveland at the end of it's short life. I continued to chase on west since I was going home anyways although I did stop at Tender Towne for their Double Downtown​. (Pictures available upon request.)
12) Hill Station looking west. 
13) Coming by the Loveland depot and getting ready to cross the Little Miami Bike Trail which used to the Pennsylvania Railroad C&X Branch. (4:47 pm)
14) Finally, after the stop at Tender Towne I got my picture of the Madeira Station. (5:13 pm)

Thank you for looking!

Jim

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Definitely like all photo in your posting.  However Photo 2 is especially neat.
Railfanned that area once about 30 years ago; your photos brought back memories.
A big thank you for your photo posting.
ALLEN

I lived in Loveland for 5 or 6 years and spent some time chasing the predictable CSX trains through that area. Love the shot at Hill Station, and am jealous you had a meal at Tender Town. Good stuff!

Posted from Android

Great series of pictures on a seldom seen line.

Posted from Android

A nice series. I like your framing of the train in photo #6.
John

Very nice..!!

Thank you for all the comments!

P Wrote:
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> I lived in Loveland for 5 or 6 years and spent
> some time chasing the predictable CSX trains
> through that area. Love the shot at Hill Station,
> and am jealous you had a meal at Tender Town.
> Good stuff!

I live a little over ten miles from Tender Towne but still save it for special occasions only, otherwise I could easily get addicted!

Jim