Does anyone know whether or not the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad used a ferry to transfer passengers across the Ohio River at Cincinnati in 1887? The C&O bridge was finished in 1889, and it seems to me that the other private railway companies with bridges wouldn’t have shared their bridge. ANY help anyone can offer would be great. I’ve scoured the internet looking for answers but can’t find them. It seems that The Official Railway Guide of 1887 ought to have that answer, but I’m having difficulty hunting that one down, too.
Next: May I respectfully suggest changing the “Subject” line to better reflect the detailed nature of your question - it will likely attract more interest that way. For example, to:
“Ohio River Bridge/ Ferry at Cincinnati by/ for C&O in 1887 - 1889 ?”
I can think of at least one frequent poster here who might not look twice at a C&O thread - but couldn’t pass up a Cincinnati thread . . . [swg] - and he knows a lot and has access to even more about Ohio railroad operations. There may be others of like kind.
Also, I suspect that any history of the Southern Rwy.'s Cincinnati New Orleans & Texas Pacific/ CIncinnati Southern line - which is owned by or on behalf of the City of Cincinnati, and leased to the railroad, etc. - would mention those arrangements at least in passing, because it too had to get across the Ohio River there.
Good luck to you with your search ! Let us know what and where you find anything, if you can.
All I can discover is that the C&O used the Kentucky Central (later part of L&N) to get to Covington from Lexington, as early as 1882, and at least until the C&O obtained access to Newport via its own line. I can find no evidence that there was any other bridge across the river when C&O’s first bridge (known as the Huntington Bridge) was finished. So I presume that passengers arriving at Covington from either the KyC or the C&O had to fend for themselves, using whatever options were open to them.
I concur with Paul that you should probably be trying to attract Cincinnatians, instead of C&O fans, to find out this answer. And allow me to also welcome you to the Forum.
There were already two railroad bridges accross the river by the time C&O finally built into Cincy in 1887-88. The L&N had been there since 1872 (Newport & Cinti. Br.) and Southern’s (Cincinnati Southern rathole)bridge was there in 1877. The first bridge there (Roebling’s 1867 suspension bridge, started in 1860 and delayed by a certain skirmish) opened to limited foot and wagon traffic in late 1866, officially opening in 1867)…
I think Carl dropped a big hint regarding Kentucky Central. You are not going to see any ICC records because that just started in 1887 an whatever records were in place for the transfer were minor and before-hand.
Carl has nearly twice as many posts as Paul, but is also in awe of the things Paul willingly digs out and presents. And neither he nor I claim a 130-year stint as professional railroaders.
In case it hasn’t occurred to anyone yet, “Mudchicken” is the Cincinnatian referenced by Paul; I’m glad he found his way in.
that shows a pretty strong link at Covington across the Ohio. Does anyone think that the railroads shared bridges then? Would it have been a shared road agreement to share the bridge, or, is it as someone suggested, fend for yourself to get across the river, since the C&O didn’t finish their bridge till 1889?
(1) I suspect KC helped C&O get into Cincy using the L&N Bridge (for a fee). Carl provided a pretty good clue. I will look to confirm it on my next trip to CRRM 's Richardson Library.
(2) Depending where you are, are you going to visit the Cincinnati Historical Society (at Cincinnati Union Terminal off I-75 @ Ezzard Charles Dr.) or at least e-mail them? They have a huge collection in the transportation area plus film of most of the period newspapers and periodicals. http://library.cincymuseum.org/ Excellent resource! (If Bob Howe still volunteers there, he’d know the answer off the top of his head.)
I live in Seattle. I’m a writer of historical fiction, hoping to get this detail correct for my book. I’ll be visiting West Virginia in May and traveling the route by car to see what I can see, visiting several historical societies and libraries along the way, and will now add the Cincinnati Historical Society to my list. I’ll call them, though, to see if Bob Howe is there.
That same map I quoted in my last post flips over to a timetable
Do you know how to read that? The separated sections seem to mean some change is required, but the train number remains the same. I’m thinking that if you left Charleston West Virginia, in order to get to Cincinnati, you would have to change trains at Winchester, however, the timetable doesn’t reflect that.
Interesting site - definitely some ‘different’ railroad names there - took a little while to figure how to access the reverse side of the map; but now, how do I rotate it so i can read the ‘fine print’ on the upper half of the other side ??? [:-,]
I think I’ve got this figured out now. It does appear for certain that the Kentucky Central DID let the C&O use their bridge. (The map shows that the tracks the C&O uses are the Kentucky Central tracks.
Mystery solved! Thank you, everyone.
Now onward, to trying to find where the Kentucky Depot was in relation to the Plum Street Depot.
, Robin !