Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway (1990)
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standard gauge | |
Length | Owned: 575 miles (925 km) Rights: 265 miles (426 km) Full Trackage Miles: 840 miles (1,350 km) |
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Other | |
Website | www |
The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway (
The first W&LE and History (pre-1990)
Original Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway (1880-1949)
The
Nickel Plate Road, Norfolk and Western, and Norfolk Southern (1949-1990)
In 1949, the New York, Chicago, & St. Louis Railroad, or Nickel Plate Road (NKP) as it was known, leased the W&LE. The W&LE was operated as the "Wheeling and Lake Erie District" of the NKP. In 1964, the Nickel Plate combined with the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W), bringing the W&LE into N&W and, after the N&W-Southern Railway merger, Norfolk Southern.[1] Throughout this period, the railroad generally remained unchanged. The railroad was combined into Norfolk Southern in 1988, ending its existence as a separate subsidiary.
The new W&LE (1990-Present)
Establishment and Acquisition
In 1990, Norfolk Southern sold some of its lines in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The sale included most of the former W&LE and the
In 1994, W&LE purchased the former Akron and Barberton Belt Railroad and part of the Conrail “Cluster” railroads in the Akron, Ohio area. The two railroads were combined into the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway, which operates as a subsidiary of W&LE.
With the purchase, the W&LE also acquired some locomotives and rolling stock from Norfolk Southern.
Routing and Trackage Rights
Trackage Rights
At its formation,
In the sale, the W&LE acquired the Huron Branch (an original W&LE route), a line between Norwalk and the Huron docks, but the line was never activated north of the Norwalk city limits, and was later removed in its entirety. Until 2019, W&LE served the Huron Docks using trackage rights on NS's former Nickel Plate Road mainline (now the NS Cleveland District) from Bellevue using a connecting line to the docks built by the NKP in 1952. The trackage rights expired in 2019, and W&LE ceased operations to Huron.
W&LE also has trackage rights to Lima, Ohio, that originally used CSX lines from Carey to Upper Sandusky to Lima, but after the lease of the CSX line (the former Pennsylvania Railroad Fort Wayne Line) by RailAmerica's Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad, W&LE now uses trackage rights from its lines at New London to Crestline, Ohio on CSX, then west on the CF&E to Lima. These trackage rights were also a result of the Conrail split.
W&LE Routes
Branch lines reach as far south as
Brewster Subdivision
The Brewster Subdivision runs 40 miles through the fields of Medina, Wayne and Stark Counties in northeastern Ohio. And sees the largest amount of traffic of any Wheeling and Lake Erie Subdivision. The west end of the line is in Spencer, Ohio at the diamond where the Akron, Brewster, Carey and Heartland Subdivisions all meet. Spencer is regarded as the crossroads of the Wheeling & Lake Erie.
In the 1970s, under Norfolk & Western ownership, there were passing sidings every 10 miles. Those sidings had remotely-controlled switches and signals. The sidings and signals systems were removed shortly after W&LE took ownership of the route. Since this change, operations have been controlled with track warrants issued from the dispatcher in Brewster at the company headquarters building.
In 2010, The Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway had finished installation of a 6,900-foot siding at Creston to provide a badly needed place for trains to pass on the Brewster Subdivision between Brewster and Spencer. After the switches were installed, the adjacent right-of-way was cleared, and then ties, rails and ballast were installed. After the track machines left, the siding was placed in operation. It was used by trains traveling at restrictive speed to settle the new track. The track is 136-pound welded rail. The switch at the west end of the siding is at MP B108.76, just east of Brooklyn Street. The east switch is at MP B110.2 north of Sterling Road. The new siding will allow meets between eastbound and westbound trains on the Brewster subdivision (Spencer–Brewster). Trains had been passing at Orrville Junction, using the former W&LE mainline, now the Orrville secondary, a dead-end track. Use of that line requires heading in on lesser-weight rail and then backing out to the mainline after the meet. The new siding at Creston will eliminate that tedious move. The siding has radio controlled (DTMF) switches (and accompanying indicator signals). The switch positions are set by the DTMF tone generator from an approaching train. The indicator signals are "red" by default. This does not mean “stop” in the usual railroad parlance, it only means that the signal has not been activated by an approaching train. The signal aspect will go “green” for normal (straight through alignment) and “amber” for reverse (switch lined for the siding).
Continuing East past Creston, the Brewster sub passes through rural farmland into the villages of Smithville, Orrville, Dalton, and Kidron. Upon reaching Brewster, the Brewster Yardmaster controls the main track. Trains may enter or exit the west end of Brewster yard at a location called "Shorbs." Trains access the east end of Brewster yard at a location called "Baymere," also a DTMF controlled switch. Just east of Brewster, the Brewster Subdivision crosses RJ Corman at a diamond called "Justus". About a mile east of Justus, there is a switch called "Harmon," a DTMF controlled switch, which is the junction with the W&LE Cleveland Subdivision. Just east of Harmon, the Brewster Subdivision ends at Junction 138, where the Rook Subdivision begins.
W&LE Operations over Parallel Routes
Some other small portions of the original W&LE and AC&Y have been abandoned and/or replaced with trackage rights on parallel lines by W&LE. One of these instances occurs on the Carey Subdivision between Greenwich and New London, Ohio. W&LE uses trackage rights over CSX to move between the eastern and western portions of the Carey Subdivision. The partial-abandonment of the Carey Sub was done to remove two at-grade crossings between the CSX and W&LE Lines. A similar case is on the Rook Subdivision between Bowerston and Jewett, Ohio, where W&LE operates over the Ohio Central Railroad. This arrangement allowed the W&LE to remove approximately 12 miles of their route, which paralleled the now-used Ohio Central Route.
Non-W&LE trackage operated by other railroads
There are several portions of the original W&LE operated by companies other than the current W&LE. West of
Traffic
Most traffic on the Wheeling and Lake Erie includes stone, farm products, chemicals, forest products, steel products, petroleum, paper, and other traffic. Wheeling and Lake Erie moves approximately 140,000 carloads annually.
Traffic on the Brewster Sub consists mostly of stone, liquified petroleum gas tankers, lumber cars and other miscellaneous cargo. The Carey Subdivisions primary cargo is stone coming and going from the National Lime and Stone Company Quarry in Carey which is the westernmost town on the wheeling line.
References
- ISBN 0890240728
- ^ "A regional with the right connections". Progressive Railroading: 36. November 2007.
General references
- Corns, John B. (1991). The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway, Volume 1. ISBN 0-9622003-5-2.
- Corns, John B. (2002). The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway, Volume 2. ISBN 1-883089-75-1.
- Rehor, John A. (1994) [1965]. The Nickel Plate Story. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing Co.
- "History". Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
- "System map". Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
- "Roster". NSDash9. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
- "WE Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway". CSX Transportation. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
- "Wheeling and Lake Erie RR details". Norfolk Southern Railway Short Lines - Ohio. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
- "Wheeling and Lake Erie RR system map". Wheeling and Lake Erie RR. Retrieved 2013-05-01.
External links
- Media related to Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway (1990) at Wikimedia Commons
- Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway