Ashland Railway
The Ashland Railway (reporting mark ASRY) is a Class III railroad shortline railroad based in Mansfield, Ohio and operating within North Central Ohio.[1] Since its inception in 1986, Ashland Railway has grown to provide service 24 hours a day 7 days a week along 55 miles of track to industries within Ashland, Huron, Richland and Wayne counties.
ASRY interchanges with the Norfolk Southern Railway in Mansfield, the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway in Plymouth, and CSX Transportation (CSXT) in Willard. The shortline operates on two separate segments that connect in Mansfield. One line runs northeast through Ashland to terminate in West Salem; the other northwest to Willard through Plymouth and Shelby.
Ashland's "original" main line, which began operations in 1986, was purchased from Conrail. This line's heritage goes back to the Erie Lackawanna Railway (EL) and was a segment in its Chicago - New York main line. After Conrail took control of the Erie Lackawanna, large segments of its trackage were deemed redundant. The portions east of West Salem and west of Mansfield were removed around 1984. Conrail retained ownership of the EL line between Mansfield and Ontario to service a GM plant. The crossing with Conrail's Ft. Wayne Line (former Pennsylvania Railroad) was removed, and spur tracks were built to interchange traffic on either side. The railway built a spur line to serve an industrial park in Ashland.[2]
The second portion of the Ashland Railway is the Willard to Mansfield section. This was operated by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as a line from the docks on Lake Erie through the city of Mt. Vernon to south-central Ohio,. Because of economic downturns in the 1980s, freight traffic declined drastically on this line and it was later reduced to a branch line between Willard and Mansfield. By 1990, the new CSX Transportation was ready to part with this line and sold it to the Ashland Railway. Before the purchase of this CSX line, the Ashland had been limited to only one interchange, with Conrail in Mansfield.
In the village of Plymouth, the line passed the former Plymouth Locomotive Works plant, shuttered since 1999.
In 1924, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway bought the Ashland Coal and Iron Railway, a separate company from the current one with a similar name.[3]
References
- ^ Harding, Michael D. "Short line: Ashland railway". Trains. No. February 2021. Kalmbach. pp. 46–47.
- ^ Minnear, Travis (November 25, 2008). "Rail spur will link to business park / Site preparation work underway near Faultless Drive". Times-Gazette. Ashland, Ohio. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
- ^ "BUY THE ASHLAND RAILWAY.; Van Sweringens to Add It to Chesapeake & Ohio". New York Times. April 2, 1924. p. 30. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
External links
Official website
- HawkinsRails - Ashland Railway
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- Akron Barberton Cluster Railway
- Ann Arbor Railroad
- Ashland Railway
- Ashtabula, Carson and Jefferson Railroad
- Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad
- CSX Transportation
- Camp Chase Railway
- Canadian National Railway
- Central Railroad of Indiana
- Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad
- Cleveland Commercial Railroad
- Cleveland Works Railway
- Columbus and Ohio River Railroad
- Flats Industrial Railroad
- Indiana Eastern Railroad
- Indiana Northeastern Railroad
- Indiana and Ohio Railway
- Kanawha River Railroad
- Lake Terminal Railroad
- Mahoning Valley Railway
- Napoleon, Defiance & Western Railroad
- Newburgh and South Shore Railroad
- Norfolk Southern Railway
- Northern Ohio and Western Railway
- Ohi-Rail Corporation
- Ohio Central Railroad
- Ohio Southern Railroad
- Ohio Terminal Railway
- R.J. Corman Railroad/Cleveland Line
- R.J. Corman Railroad/Western Ohio Lines
- Republic N&T Railroad
- U S Rail Corporation
- Warren and Trumbull Railroad
- Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway
- Youngstown and Austintown Railroad
- Youngstown and Southeastern Railroad
- Youngstown Belt Railroad
- AK Steel
- Centrus
- Dupps Company
- Railservice
- Temperance Yard Corporation
- U.S. Rail Corporation
- Buckeye Central Scenic Railroad
- Byesville Scenic Railway
- Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad
- Hocking Valley Scenic Railway
- Lake Shore Railway Association
- Lebanon Mason Monroe Railroad
- Toledo, Lake Erie and Western Railway
- Zanesville & Western Scenic Railroad
- See also: Former carriers in Ohio
- List of United States railroads by political division