In my meanderings on You Tube, I was watching a gentlemen by the name of Jawtooth. He lives in an area known as Clermont County which is East of Cincinnati, Ohio. This man loves the now mothballed Norfolk Southern which runs in his area from Portsmouth, Ohio to Mariemount, Ohio. In 2014, NS decided to sell this line because a bridge in Vera, Ohio was condemned and NS was ordered to fix it--which they did not do. This rail line was not very productive, so NS decided to run there trains to Cincinnati, Ohio (from Portsmouth) up to Columbus, Ohio and West to the NS Line in Columbus, Ohio --- down to Cincinnati, Ohio. The line was last used by NS in the year 2014. Along came a group of guys who asked NS if they could lease part of the line from Mariemount, Ohio to 70 miles East to Wilmington, Ohio. NS said yes and low and behold, the mothballed NS line came back to life known as "The Cincinnati East Terminal Railroad" -- this new short line has recently renamed itself "The Cincinnati Eastern Railway". The new short line started running sometime in 2014. There was a few established industries on the line and Cincinnati Eastern Railway has been serving them and trying to develop more industries. Since Jawtooth really likes this line, He has photographed and made movies of it and post them regularly on You Tube under his name Jawtooth. This new railroad has a variety of used Diesels---a SW9 Switcher, a few SD-40-2 Diesels, some GP38s, and 2 GE U-Boats with 4 wheel trucks. The 2 GE locomotives are most unique as they have that typical GE U-Boat Horn. (These GE U-Boats came from an abandoned coal railway in North Eastern, Kentucky).
One of the industries that most likely has come back on line is a Rock Quarry Gravel Company located in Wilmington, Ohio. This is a huge operation with conveyor belts located all over the place. When they get the hoppers lined up and start loading them, they can't take them East because of the condemned bridge in Vera, Ohio---so they will take the hoppers West to Cleves, (Cincinnati), Ohio. At the Mariemount Claire Yards of the Cincinnati Eastern Railway, the hoppers will be dropped off and the Gennesse & Wyoming will pick them up and take them to Cleves, Ohio. Someone said, wouldn't it be just as easy to use trucks. Only if you have about 100 trucks to carry that much rock!
So how did the word Railroad Spur come into the picture? Once the hopper cars are picked up in Mariemount, Ohio via the G&W. they will be taken down the G&W Rail Line through the Cincinnati Union Terminal Trackage and end up on the G&W Rail Line that heads West to Cleves, Ohio and further. At Cleves, Ohio, there is a Rock Quarry along the Ohio River and G&W has built this new Spur Line from there line to this Rock Quarry. Jawtooth has made a video of this Spur being built. They had to cross a major highway with this spur to get to the Rock Quarry. And another very interesting thing about this Spur Line is that they do not use Wood or Concrete Ties, they use METAL TIES. There is going to be a lot of business for Cincinnati Eastern Rail Way and G&W. BTW, this G&W Line also carries about 100 rack cars to a relatively new Honda Plant in Greensburg, Indiana. Every other day, you can see Rack Cars coming to and going from the Honda Greensburg plant. Also, this G&W Line if you follow it West, goes through Shelbyville, Indiana where the Amtrak Diesel Engine and Car Shops are Located (formerly the New York Central). Yes this NYC Line was part of the Big Four and the NYC Trains ended up in Chicago......
Look up Jawtooth on You Tube for his posting...He is a very colorful person.
Sincerely yours, railbear601
