TheCincinnati Northern Railroad was arailroad that stretched fromFranklin, Ohio (nearCincinnati), north toJackson, Michigan, a distance of about 186 miles (299 km). It was acquired by theCleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway in 1901 and theNew York Central Railroad several years later. Most of the line has since been abandoned.
In the 1850s, a line was surveyed and partially graded from Cincinnati north toVan Wert, but construction was halted by thePanic of 1857.[1][2] Construction on a north–south line through Ohio's western tier of counties did not begin again until the 1870s. TheVan Wert, Paulding and Michigan Railway was incorporated in December 1874 to build a short branch from theToledo, Wabash and Western Railway (atCecil) toPaulding.[3] However, thePaulding and Cecil Railway was incorporated for the same purpose in December 1879,[4] and opened in September 1880.[1]
Another short segment of the future Cincinnati Northern was built by theCelina, Van Wert and State Line Extension of the Columbus and North–Western Railway, incorporated in May 1878 for the purpose of building a line fromCelina north to the state line in Williams County.[5] Near the state line it would meet the Columbus and North–Western Railway, which had been incorporated in 1872 to build fromColumbus to the state line in that same county,[6][7] but was never constructed.[citation needed] The line was built to3 ft (914 mm)narrow gauge to connect with the growingToledo, Delphos and Burlington Railroad (TD&B), opening fromVan Wert south toOhio City on the TD&B in August 1879, to theMercer County line in January 1880, and toRockford in September 1880, for a total of 13 miles (21 km).[8] At Rockford, it connected to another TD&B branch, which had been completed fromDelphos in December 1878; the TD&B finished a line (later part of the main line toDayton) from that branch atMercer south to Celina in November 1880. Thus the Celina, Van Wert and State Line had helped to form a line south to Celina, but it ended at Van Wert in the north.[9]
TheCincinnati, Van Wert and Michigan Railroad (CVW&M) was incorporated in January 1881 to complete the3 ft (914 mm) line, and soon leased the Celina, Van Wert and State Line and Van Wert, Paulding and Michigan. The former was converted to4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge on June 4, 1881,[10] and the latter built a line that year from Van Wert north to the county line atScott. The CVW&M itself, which bought the property of its two lessors later that year, built from Scott north to Paulding and Rockford south toWest Manchester before merging with a Michigan corporation, theJackson and Ohio Railroad (incorporated January 1884), in March 1886, to form theCincinnati, Jackson and Mackinaw Railroad (CJ&M). That company bought the Paulding and Cecil in May 1887, and that year completed the full line fromAddison, Michigan south toCarlisle, Ohio.[11]Trackage rights were initially secured over theCincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad (CH&D) from Carlisle intoCincinnati in 1888, but the CJ&M also extended its line from Carlisle toFranklin in 1888,[12] and in January 1896 changed its Cincinnati access to theCleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (Big Four) from Franklin toMiddletown, the recently openedMiddletown and Cincinnati Railroad toHageman, and the recently standard-gaugedCincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway (CL&N) into Cincinnati.[13]
The CJ&M bought a second line from theMichigan and Ohio Railroad in March 1887, stretching fromAllegan past the north end of the main line at Addison toDundee, Michigan. This line, however, was sold at foreclosure to theToledo and Milwaukee Railroad in 1897, soon after theJackson and Cincinnati Railway (incorporated 1895, sold 1898) built an extension north toJackson.[11][14]
The CJ&M was not a profitable enterprise, and went through a reorganization in 1892 as theCincinnati and Michigan Railroad, immediately merging with theMichigan and Mackinaw Railroad (which had acquired the Allegan-Dundee line) to form theCincinnati, Jackson and Michigan Railway. Throughout this period, the CJ&M attempted to convince the CH&D to acquire it by threatening to buy the CL&N and thus obtain its own line into Cincinnati. But when the CH&D tried to buy the CJ&M in the early 1890s, the CL&N protested and obtained an injunction due to a state law forbiddinganti-competitive mergers. The CJ&M continued to improve its value to a potential purchaser, organizing theDayton and Cincinnati Terminal Railroad in May 1894 to build a Cincinnati-Dayton line including a long tunnel under Cincinnati'sWalnut Hills. Finding that the olderCincinnati Railway Tunnel Company owned such a franchise and an incomplete tunnel, the CJ&M bought up that company's first-mortgage bonds and forced aforeclosure, acquiring the tunnel in May 1896. The new terminal company was renamed the Cincinnati Northern Railroad in December 1894, and bought the CJ&M at its final foreclosure in July 1897. The Big Four subsequently acquired the Cincinnati Northern in 1901, and sold the unused tunnel property, as well as about 10 acres (4.0 ha) of land it had acquired for a Cincinnati terminal, to the CL&N, now owned by thePennsylvania Railroad, in 1902.[11][15]
The Cincinnati Northern was formally merged into the Big Four effective June 30, 1938.[16] Since then, most of the line has been abandoned, with only a few short pieces still in place, mostly operated byshort lines:Germantown Rail Siding fromCarlisle toGermantown,R.J. Corman Railroad/Western Ohio Lines (which is owned by theR.J. Corman short line railroad company) fromGreenville toAnsonia,Chicago, Ft. Wayne and Eastern Railroad atVan Wert, andNorfolk Southern Railway atJackson, MI andBryan, OH, andPioneer Railcorp inCecil, Ohio.
