Pictures:
- The station in Delaware, Ohio, now a flower shop. According to Mark J. Camp, this station once served the the CCC&StL, or Big Four; the HV and PRR had separate stations elsewhere in town.
- The freight house in Delaware, Ohio, now storage for the flower shop.
- CSX GP40-2 #6925 at the point of a west-bound mixed freight at the Hillsmiller Road grade crossing on cold, snow, and very windy Saturday January 2, 1999.
- CSX C40-8 #7529 pulling west-bound covered hoppers past Hillsmiller Road on Saturday, January 2, 1999.
- CSX GP40-2 #6925 bursting through piled snow at the grade crossing at Radnor, Ohio, on January 2, 1999.
- Ex-Conrail GP38-2 #8094 approaches the crossing at Penry Road on February 20, 2000.
CSX, NS, and what used to be Conrail all pass through the central Ohio town of Delaware, Ohio.
CSX and NS run from Columbus through Delaware to Marion, Ohio. While these roads run mostly north and south on a map, the railroads call the Columbus to Marion direction "west".
The single-track CSX mainline runs through the west side of Delaware, roughly parallel to US 23. A dramatic view of the trains can be found at Blue Limestone Park, a former limestone quarry, where the railroad passes along the edge of the quarry, about fifty feet higher than the park grounds. A five-mile two-track passing siding exists between Pennsylvania Avenue (at CSX MP 25.15) and the Radnor Elevator in Radnor, Ohio (at CSX MP 30.72). Both ends of the passing section are easily accessed by automobile. Eastbound CSX trains stop just short of the Pennsylvania Avenue grade crossing. Westbound CSX trains stop just shy of the Radnor Road grade crossing in Radnor. A good viewing location is the Hillsmiller/Troy Road grade crossing. Signals for both directions are visible from this location, and there's often a pile of ballast there which can be climbed to gain height. The CSX defect detector is located at CSX MP 38.7. The tracks pass the remains of a small yard at the north end of Park Avenue. The C&O station used to be located here.
The single-track NS mainline runs through the east side of Delaware, crossing US 23 just north of town on a steel bridge. A passing siding exists between just north of Coover Road and Radnor Road. Unfortunately, the Coover Road end of this siding is not accessible by automobile. A good viewing location is the Penry Road grade crossing. Westbound NS trains often stop just shy of Penry Road.
The former-Conrail mainline passes to the east of Delaware and is now part of CSX. Switches at Curve Road in the south and near Harris Road in the north allow a section of track to pass through Delaware at US 42. This section, which passes the former "Big Four" station, was for many years the mainline route until the bypass was built. Columbus-bound trains often stop just short of the Curve Road crossing. To get to Curve Road, turn south off of US36/37 east of Delaware onto Sweeney Road and continue to the "T". (I have not been to the Harris Road switch.) Conrail maintains an industrial spur through town that still sees some activity.
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Map Copyright 1997 GeoSystems Global Group |
Maps courtesy of MapQuest Interactive Atlas.