(The following story by Ken Lahmers appeared on the Aurora Advocate website on November 4.)
AURORA, Ohio — The Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway, which was founded in the 1870s and re-emerged in 1980 when Norfolk Southern sold off some of its lines, provides service for nearly 500 customers.
It is Ohio’s largest regional railroad and one of the largest in the United States. The firm’s annual revenue has been about $76 million in recent years.
It owns 680 miles of track and has authority to operate on 140 more miles of other railroads’ lines, including NS, CSX Transportation and the Ohio Central System. It also interconnects with several shortline railroads.
In its early days — the old W&LE got its start in the early 1870s — it was largely a coal hauling line, bringing millions of tons to the Lake Erie docks at Huron from Jefferson and Belmont counties.
In 1949, the old W&LE was leased by the Nickel Plate Road, then came under Norfolk & Western’s umbrella in 1964 and Norfolk Southern’s in 1982.
One main line runs from Bellevue to Rayland. However, the stretch between Hopedale and Rayland, east of the Ohio River, is currently out of service.
Its 111-mile Pittsburgh Junction line, formerly the Pittsburgh & West Virginia, runs from Hopedale through Pittsburgh and eastward to Connellsville, Pa.
The Cleveland Subdivision runs from Glenwillow through Kent, Mogadore, Hartville, Canton and connects with the main line at Harmon, just east of Brewster.
ITS OTHER main line runs 111 miles from Mogadore to Carey in western Ohio, crossing the other main line at Spencer. That is the former Akron, Canton & Youngstown Railroad.
Two other spurs run from the Cleveland Sub at Canton to Carrollton and from Mingo Junction along the Ohio River to Benwood, W. Va.
W&LE trains can go from Bellevue to Toledo and Bellevue to the Lake Erie docks at Huron on an NS line and from Wellington to Berea on a CSX line and then to Cleveland’s Campbell Road yard on NS.
In 1988, a line from Harmon to Coshocton was sold to the Ohio Central System, which is in the process of being acquired by Genesee & Wyoming Inc.
In this area, W&LE subsidiary the Akron Barberton Cluster Line runs from Kent to Ravenna and another section runs from Rittman through Wadsworth and Barberton to Akron.
At one time, the two sections were connected, but a section between Akron and Kent was removed a few years ago.
Some of the yards the firm operates are Brewster, Gambrinus in Canton, Brittain Road in Akron, Hartland in Norwalk, Mingo Junction, Rayland, Carey and Rook in Pittsburgh.
The main business served by the Kent to Ravenna line is Star of West Milling Co. in downtown Kent, where millions of bushels of grain are received from western Ohio.
Other customers on that stretch are Shelly Materials on the southwest side of Kent, a limestone pit; and Crowley Tar Products on the northeast side of Kent, a petrochemicals/coal tar chemical firm.
THE ABC line typically handles about 10,000 carloads of freight per year.
Mark Demaline, W&LE’s vice president for marketing/sales, who has been in the railroad industry for more than 30 years, said every carload that can move by rail eliminates truck traffic on Ohio’s roads.
Some W&LE customers in other parts of the state are Babcock & Wilcox, Carter Jones Lumber, PPG Industries, Brewster Dairy, 84 Lumber, Shearer’s Foods, Republic Engineered Products, ArcelorMittal Steel, Timken Co., Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel and American Electric Power.
The firm moves corn from the Country Star Coop elevator in New Washington to a new ethanol plant in Coshocton via the Ohio Central System.
In 2007, W&LE reported transporting 141,000 carloads of material, including 30,000 of stone, 24,000 of coal, 22,000 of steel, 16,000 of coke and 14,000 of scrap iron.
Some other commodities hauled are lumber, paper products, chemicals, industrial minerals, plastics, petroleum, grain and food and waste products.
W&LE allows about a half-dozen passenger excursions a year to operate over its lines, including those promoted by the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society and Midwest Railroad Preservation Society.
Regular passenger service ceased on the old W&LE on July 17, 1938, when the final train ran from Cleveland through Portage County, Canton, Brewster to Wheeling, W.Va.