This website has been archived from TrainWeb.org/8th-notch to TrainWeb.US/8th-notch.

Ohio Central, the Buckeye Route

I first became acquainted with the Ohio Central System in 1993, when I moved to Dresden, Ohio. Railfanning in those days was done on my bike when I heard the horn of the daily Zanesville turn. Since then, Ohio Central has become one my favorite railroads. It's maroon paint scheme is very classy, as are the people that run it. I have always found OC's employees to be friendly and helpful, from the dispatcher that I've called at 5:00 in the morning to find out what's running, to Executive Vice President Mike Conner, who gave me a tour of the Morgan Run Shops and arranged for a cab ride on CBT.

1. Jerry Jordak gains the extra height for a shot of the Nelms Coal train, HPT.
2. Near Bowerstown, OH, the train curves through a big cut from a daylighted tunnel.
3. GP40's lead a Nelms #2 mine job through another daylighted tunnel near Jewett, OH.
4. SD20 no. 2401 (now operating in the Pacific Northwest) is on the tail end of another Nelms #2 train.
5. With caboose leading, a mine job heading for Nelms #1 backs through Pittsburgh Junction on the Wheeling & Lake Erie.
6. Pacific no. 1293 smokes it up during a photo-runby at Port Washington, OH.

"Vintage" shots (in the old days of black high hood geeps, bicycels, and point-and-shoot cameras)