CS&C viaduct remains

I have been tracing the remains of the Cleveland, Southwestern, & Columbus interurban railway in the Berea area.  However, our family took an outing far out in Birmingham, Ohio and stumbled upon another stretch of preserved interurban remains.

At the beautiful Shoepfle Gardens, a short stretch of roadbed has been converted to a walking trail that leads to the abutments of a former viaduct of the CS&C.


Interurban Viaduct Remains from Kurt Maechner on Vimeo.

Interurban tracks remain in Strongsville, Ohio

B&O interchange Strongsville converted from Kurt Maechner on Vimeo.

As I further explore the Cleveland, Southwestern & Columbus interurban railway remains, I wanted to check out a spot I had heard about for years.  Apparently at the intersection of Prospect Road and the CSX, formerly B&O in Strongsville, the CSC once crossed the B&O as well.  I think it ran parallel to Prospect and crossed at an angle like the road does.  There also, as I have been told, was an interchange between the two rail lines.  The B&O seems to have kept a short portion of that interchange after the CSC abandonment and used it for a siding.

In this video you'll see the remaining used siding (it occasionally hosts a track machine) and then the abandoned tracks and switches across the road hidden in the grass.  I am not aware of how much of this was part of the CSC, but I have been told that whatever part it is, it is the only remaining trackage from the interurban.

On a side note, the Strongsville B&O train station once stood near this area as well.

Remains of an old mill?

I have seen numerous photos of the area once called "The Rocks" along the Rocky River just past the three railroad bridges off of Nobottom Road.

In the background of several 1800s photos you can see there was once a mill situated on the east bank.  The mill was gone very early, but a section of stonework that appears to have once directed the water to the waterwheel seems to have remained.

Today I took a jaunt to see if I could locate these rocks.  I couldn't make any positive identification yet, though I did see something in what I think would be the approximate location of the old mill that looked to be a collapsed rock wall.  I will need to make a closer inspection and see if any of the stone shapes are identifiable.

The photo below is not mine.  The collapsed rock wall that I saw, though, is out of sight to the bottom left of this photo.

Ride the old Interurban!

For years I have tried to find a way to the other side of the old trestle in the Metroparks to find where the rest of the old roadbed leads.  I finally found it.  Here's a "ride" on the old Cleveland, Southwestern, & Columbus Railway.



Riding the interurban 1 from Kurt Maechner on Vimeo.

Tracks on the Metropark trail

The more I have looked at maps of old Berea, I've come to the conclusion that the quarry railroad must have run where the present day metroparks trail meanders south of Bagley Road.  This was confirmed by a quote in A Collection of Historical Facts Concerning Berea, Ohio.

In this book there is a selection written by Mrs. Lurs Gould Baldwin where she relates the early history of Berea.  She mentions the following:

"Oxen were used to haul the stone from the first, and track went down Front St. along the present line of the trolley cars.  After the Cleveland and Columbus R. R. was built in 1849 a pony engine hauled the stone along the river to the depot.  This important event made a marked improvement in the township as well as the village."

I would guess, then, that the quarry railroad left the railroad main line, ran down North Rocky River Drive, dipped down into the valley somewhere before Bridge Street (present day Pulaski Street), crossed to the other side just south of the present Bagley Road bridge (where one bridge support still stands) and then ran along the river, where today's Metropark trail runs, and onto the quarries.

Walking the old Southwestern Interurban

Just came back from my postponed putting.  I filmed a stretch of the old Southwestern interurban line that runs through the Metroparks in Berea.  Found fewer relics than I hoped, but the was able to traverse the roadbed, see several bridge remnants and possibly an original electrical pole.  I'm going to edit it, hopefully with some authentic interurban sounds, and post the video in the near future.  Check back!

Outing planned

Next weekend the family has agreed to join me on a photo mission.  I hope to go around to a bunch of historical remnant spots and snap some photos.  I hope to find some things like the old mill foundation near the "the Rocks".  I also hope to finally get some shots of things that are hard to see when trees have leaves like the remnants of the old Quarry road going down off of old River Street.

So, hopefully, you'll see some new pics and posts soon.

Mysterious bridge support beneath Bagley Road bridge

I have often perused what appears to be an old sandstone bridge support just south and nearly below the present Bagley Road bridge.  It is easy to see from the bridge if you are walking.  You can also get a closer view by leaving the Metro Park trail and tromping through the woods towards the underside of the Bagley Road bridge across the Rocky River.

I have determined, based on several maps, that this was for the quarry railroad.  If you look at the map below you can see that this railroad left the mainline near Depot street, crossed North Rocky River Drive (previously River Street), apparently descended down the side of the valley a bit, then crossed the river at this point.

You can also see that the Bagley Road bridge at this time did not cross at the same location.  It crossed slightly to the north.  It don't think it was called Bagley either at this time.

The map above is a detail from the book Images of America: Berea by Patricia M. Mote.  It originates from Mickey Sego's The Quarry Years for the Berea Area Historical Society, 1996

Metro Park Railroad Trestle 2

Here's a shot of the CSX railroad trestle in 2015.  This structure was a 1952 rebuild of the original viaduct.

Metro Park Railroad Trestle

The spindly trestle that crosses the Metro Park road has always been fascinating to me.  It looks so narrow!  Oddly enough, I just found out that it was even more spindly and much longer originally as the photo below shows.

The book Strongsville, Crossroads of the Nation by Neal W. Coughlin and the Strongsville Historical Society, where this photo is from, explains that the wooden portion still exists but was buried intentionally by ash.  This ash was brought in from Cleveland mills and released via drop-bottom gondolas over time.  The viaduct portion was rebuilt in 1952.  Some of the original wooden support beams can be seen sticking through the ash below the present bridge abutments.

Here's my problem, though: I have never, in all my years, seen a train going over the trestle.  I know they do, as I have seen trains on other parts of the line, like crossing Bagley Road in Middleburg Heights.  It is my guess that this line is now a secondary route that sees only occasional traffic.

I also know that the line is presently owned by CSX.