Pennsylvania Railroad/Norfolk & Western to Ft. Wayne, IN - Norfolk Southern, Newcastle District
Former Eaton & Hamilton/Cincinnati, Richmond & Chicago/Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton/Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis/Pennsylvania/Norfolk & Western Railroad to Ft. Wayne, IN
Standard gauge line opened in 1853 between New Miami and Richmond Indiana, and in 1888 between Hamilton and Rendcomb Junction
Downtown terminal: Pan Handle Station (Pearl & Butler Streets)
In active use
The Eaton & Hamilton Railroad (in Ohio) and Richmond and Miami Railroad (in Indiana) opened a line from New Miami, Ohio northwest to Richmond, Indiana in 1853, with trackage rights over the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad from New Miami south to Hamilton. Later that year, the Cincinnati, Logansport and Chicago Railway opened, extending northwest from Richmond to New Castle. It became the Cincinnati, Richmond & Chicago in 1858. After a brief period under the control of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, it came under the banner of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad and eventually the PRR itself. While the New Castle District of the Lake Division was originally the property of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the portion west of Mill (Evendale) was sold to N&W and conveyed on "Conrail Day" April 1, 1976. Completely rehabilitated by the wealthy N&W, it is now one of the busiest lines into Cincinnati, hosting a variety of manifest, intermodal, and grain traffic. N&W through freight operation commenced on the newly rebuilt line on September 29, 1978. Conrail retained local switching rights between Hamilton and Cincinnati, as well as to New Castle from Richmond (for a time even as far east as Eaton). Regional operator Indiana & Ohio inherited Conrail's rights between Hamilton and Cincinnati with its 1994 purchase of the line east of CP Mill from Conrail (see the Richmond Division information). NS dispatched the entire line in an agreement with I&O during the 1995 transaction with Conrail, though I&O has assumed dispatching control over their own part of the line south of Mill. The New Castle District continues west to Fort Wayne, Indiana via the former Nickel Plate Road (LE&W) out of New Castle. The Cincinnati Directional Running Project utilizes the line between Butler Street in Hamilton and Vaughn, where most trains get on the former Big Four, now the NS Dayton District.