[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

PC: PC in Knox County Ohio



During the last couple of weeks I have gone back over some ODOT work I did
right out of school back in 1995.  The engineering firm that I worked for
"contracted" me out to ODOT for a few bridge jobs in Knox county, Ohio.
This included a quick trip through the area at twilight to photograph my
bridges that I worked on two weeks ago.  I was hoping to get more searching
in and more photos, but my mom had to putz around earlier in the day.....

One of the projects was a small culvert on US 36 just east of "downtown"
Howard, Ohio.  The original highgway bridge was an old concrete bridge about
20' long built by either WPA or someone of the like.  We were making it into
a box culvert and would change the topography of the area so guardrails and
the like would not be needed.

Anyhow, on the south side of the culvert (towards the Kokosing river) was an
almost un-identifiable (not even signs of a bridge til we started digging)
RR roadbed.  The plans had "Penn Central" on them for this chunk of
property.  This track split off of just south of Howard and went east, and
my county and De Lorme atlas show the track stoping just south-east of the
US 36/SR 715 intersection.  (near Millwood).

My father can remember vaguely in 1972 or so seeing a passenger car sitting
on this line during a trip up to Gambier (I was on that trip, but being only
a few months old at the time...).  The ex-PRR? line that it split off of
south of Howard (if you are in the area, stop and look at the very
impressive stone arch bridge that carries US 36 over the ROW by the mill,
the main line is a bike trail now) and ran from Westerville to Holmesville
and stoped according to the county atlas that I have, I am sure it continued
north from there orginally.  There was an interchange with the B&O in Mt.
Vernon and I assume that this line crossed the T&OC in Sunbury (my map does
not show the T&OC so this is a guess bassed off of the line out of Utica
which I do know (also a bike trail).

My questions are these:

Did PC run anything on this line (the atlas I have shows this under Conrail
ownership)?

When did the track get pulled out from Westerville to Holmesville?

Did PC run all the way out of Columbus? Any interchange with the B&O in Mt.
Vernon?  Did PC keep any locos in MV?

When did the track that ran along the Kokosing and US 36 get pulled?

What was its purpose (mill, rock pit...) in the time I worked there I NEVER
drove the 1.5 miles on down to see where it ended.......

Did PC run north of Holmesville?

Who were the primary customers in the area?

When did the T&OC out of Newark to ?? get pulled (I was told that this
strech was built to route heavy coal drags around Columbus.....is this
correct?)  My father can remember watching a PC SW pulling a few cars down
around Buckeye lake/ I-70 around the time I was born.....

Thanks in advance-

Garrett Rea





Home | Main Index | Thread Index