Ohio’s Obscure Tourist Railroads

ORHSRailfan2007 · **Joined:** Wed May 05, 2021 6:33 pm **Posts:** 11

I’ve noticed a few tourist railroads that run/ran in Ohio that aren’t really talked about.
Examples include the Zaneville and Western, which runs on the New York Central’s Glass Rock spur in Mt. Perry, the Toledo, Lake Erie and Western, which runs on 10 miles of Nickel Plate Road Trackage starting in Grand Rapids and has the largest railroad bridge owned by a tourist railroad east of the Mississippi River, the Youngstown and Southern, which once operated tourist trains between Negley and Rogers with a privately owned 2-4-0 acting as one of the engines that powered it, and the Hocking Valley Scenic Railroad, which is the second largest tourist railroad in Ohio in terms of mileage and runs trains out of Nelsonville and has the only regularly operating steam locomotive in Ohio, that being Ohio Power Company 3. All of these, apart from the last one due to obvious reasons, are rarely talked about.

Here are some links showing off each of them.
Hocking Valley: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BPOEJfiQmcs
Zanesville and Western: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eBPWyNvZmuY
Toledo, Lake Erie, and Western: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j1_GKVmDLT0
Youngstown and Southern: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oSZHuFYuMuc

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

ORHSRailfan2007 wrote:

I’ve noticed a few tourist railroads that run/ran in Ohio that aren’t really talked about.
Examples include the Zaneville and Western, which runs on the New York Central’s Glass Rock spur in Mt. Perry, the Toledo, Lake Erie and Western, which runs on 10 miles of Nickel Plate Road Trackage starting in Grand Rapids and has the largest railroad bridge owned by a tourist railroad east of the Mississippi River, the Youngstown and Southern, which once operated tourist trains between Negley and Rogers with a privately owned 2-4-0 acting as one of the engines that powered it, and the Hocking Valley Scenic Railroad, which is the second largest tourist railroad in Ohio in terms of mileage and runs trains out of Nelsonville and has the only regularly operating steam locomotive in Ohio, that being Ohio Power Company 3. All of these, apart from the last one due to obvious reasons, are rarely talked about.

Here are some links showing off each of them.
Hocking Valley: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BPOEJfiQmcs
Zanesville and Western: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eBPWyNvZmuY
Toledo, Lake Erie, and Western: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j1_GKVmDLT0
Youngstown and Southern: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oSZHuFYuMuc

ORHSRailfan2007 -

I'm not sure how active the TLE&W is these days. I believe that the bridge you talk about needs some repairs and is currently out of service for train movements.

Les

NS 3322 · **Posted:** Wed Dec 08, 2021 1:18 am

Les Beckman wrote:

ORHSRailfan2007 wrote:

I’ve noticed a few tourist railroads that run/ran in Ohio that aren’t really talked about.
Examples include the Zaneville and Western, which runs on the New York Central’s Glass Rock spur in Mt. Perry, the Toledo, Lake Erie and Western, which runs on 10 miles of Nickel Plate Road Trackage starting in Grand Rapids and has the largest railroad bridge owned by a tourist railroad east of the Mississippi River, the Youngstown and Southern, which once operated tourist trains between Negley and Rogers with a privately owned 2-4-0 acting as one of the engines that powered it, and the Hocking Valley Scenic Railroad, which is the second largest tourist railroad in Ohio in terms of mileage and runs trains out of Nelsonville and has the only regularly operating steam locomotive in Ohio, that being Ohio Power Company 3. All of these, apart from the last one due to obvious reasons, are rarely talked about.

Here are some links showing off each of them.
Hocking Valley: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BPOEJfiQmcs
Zanesville and Western: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eBPWyNvZmuY
Toledo, Lake Erie, and Western: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j1_GKVmDLT0
Youngstown and Southern: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oSZHuFYuMuc

ORHSRailfan2007 -

I'm not sure how active the TLE&W is these days. I believe that the bridge you talk about needs some repairs and is currently out of service for train movements.

Les

The bridge needs work but they do run motorcar excursions across it seasonally.
The actual Bluebird train itself is the real issue, and needs a lot of work to be put back into service.

Rick Rowlands · **Posted:** Wed Dec 08, 2021 8:56 am

The Y&S hasn't operated a tourist train since 1994 and will not be running tourist trains ever again.

You forgot to mention the J&L Narrow Gauge Railroad. Our opening day is June 11 and will be operating through October.

http://www.youngstownsteel.org/Operating-Days

BnOTolSub · **Joined:** Mon Dec 18, 2017 11:41 am **Posts:** 162

Quote:

I'm not sure how active the TLE&W is these days. I believe that the bridge you talk about needs some repairs and is currently out of service for train movements.

Quote:

The bridge needs work but they do run motorcar excursions across it seasonally.
The actual Bluebird train itself is the real issue, and needs a lot of work to be put back into service.

They will get there. Will just take some time. A lot of damage done by those who came to "help". Just because nothing is said doesn't mean nothing is happening.

Rick Rowlands · **Posted:** Wed Dec 08, 2021 3:13 pm

One that you missed is the Lorain & West Virginia in Wellington, OH which is very much still in operation with an E8 for motive power.

https://www.lwvry.org/

Rick Rowlands · **Posted:** Wed Dec 08, 2021 3:33 pm

Should we also include the Ohio Railway Museum, which runs one mile out of their Worthington, OH facility either in a trolley car or diesel powered train.

jayrod · **Posted:** Wed Dec 08, 2021 3:59 pm

I’d guess we’re fairly obscure now that we no longer run mainline excursions - the last was 2014 - and only do short rides on our own property. We’re still in the slow process, reinventing stage.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Wed Dec 08, 2021 9:57 pm

Rick Rowlands wrote:

Should we also include the Ohio Railway Museum, which runs one mile out of their Worthington, OH facility either in a trolley car or diesel powered train.

There was a point back in the Empire State RR Museum's publication of the annual Steam Passenger Service Directory when the ORM not even listed in the SPSD for years--the excuse I heard was that they didn't reply to the annual questionnaire from ESRM.

When Kalmbach issued their own tourist RR guide, I think George Drury took the approach that they were going to list everyone they could find whether or not they responded to direct inquiry. That approach has continued with their now-semi-annual guide, with outside contributors (including some members here) beating the bushes and doing the writing/photography for them.

Rick Rowlands · **Posted:** Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:21 pm

ORM seems to be cursed. They have had nothing but problems over there for decades. Tis a shame since with the proper marketing and programming they could be making a killing. They sit in the middle of a metropolitan area full of parents desperate to find something to do with their kids on weekends.

Someone should drop a hint to Kalmbach to include the J&L Narrow Gauge Railroad in their next edition. I searched their directory from stem to stern and could not find anywhere how to submit a listing or who to even talk to.

Rick Rowlands · **Posted:** Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:27 pm

Speaking of the Steam Passenger Service Directory, looking through the 1995 edition I found the following that offered regularly scheduled tourist trains:

Scheduled trips out of Dennison behind Ohio Central 1551
Ashtabula, Carson & Jefferson
I&O Scenic Railway Mason, OH
Hocking Valley Scenic Railway with 2-8-0 Number 33
Buckeye Central Scenic Railroad Newark, OH
Trolleyville, USA
Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad (basically an Alco powered commuter train)
Ohio Central Railroas Sugarcreek, OH
Toledo, Lake Erie & Western
Lorain & West Virginia Railway