The story
Beginning of construction
On September 29, 1848, the railroad announced that it would build the line as a single project. This was different from the approach most railroads took at the time. It was more common for a company to raise only enough funds to construct one segment of the road, and then open operations on that segment before beginning the fundraising needed to work on the next segment. Sometimes years could pass between the construction of segments. The CC&C, however, decided to grade, construct the track bed, and lay rail over the entire length of the line in one intense burst of activity. The contract for construction was awarded to the firm of Stone, Harbach, and Witt on November 1. Harbach was one of the two engineers who had resurveyed the line in late 1847 and early 1848. Amasa Stone had worked with Harbach and another railroad engineer, Stillman Witt, while building railroad bridges in New England. Kelley knew Stone well from his visits selling bonds back east. Kelley reached out to Stone, Harbach, and Witt, and asked them to build the railroad. Stone, Harbach, and Witt formed a company in late 1848 to do so, and agreed to take a portion of their pay in the form of railroad stock.
Kelley personally traveled to the United Kingdom in 1848 where he contracted with Sir John Guest & Co. of Wales for T rails weighing 65 pounds per yard (32 kg/m). The 7,000 short tons (6,400 t) of rail purchased was sufficient to lay half the road. By the end of March 1849, the company had also signed contracts to purchase locomotives and rolling stock.
By the middle of May 1849, more than 1,000 men were at work grading the CC&C line and rail for the track had arrived in Quebec from the United Kingdom, awaiting shipment across Lake Erie to Cleveland. The city of Cleveland purchased $200,000 in railroad stock on May 27, 1849. Work was progressing so swiftly that railroad officials told the press in early June that as much as 37 miles (60 km) of the line might be operation by January 1, 1850. The rails did not arrive in Cleveland until July 1849, however, and this significantly delayed completion of the first portion of track.
As expected, construction began in Cleveland and moved south. Bath Street was regraded and lowered about 12 feet (3.7 m) in order to reduce the grade between Lake Street and the Lake Erie shore. By May 1849, the track bed had been constructed across Scranton Flats and two-thirds of the rail laid. The company was ready to begin grading of the line on the east side of the river as well as erection of the roundhouse. The company was also at work constructing three bridges in the city. The first of these was an iron bridge carrying the main line over the Ohio & Erie Canal. The second was a wooden bridge carrying the main line over the Cuyahoga River. This bridge connected the Scranton Flats with the east bank of the river at Canal and Vineyard Streets (now Canal Street and Lockwood Drive). The third was a wooden bridge carrying a spur of the main line over the Cuyahoga River. This bridge connected the Scranton Flats with the Columbus Peninsula at Columbus Road and Leonard Street. During June 1849, work also began on a large engine house on the south end of the Columbus Peninsula, near the Columbus Road Bridge. This facility was constructed by the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Company, which had entered into an agreement with the CC&C to build and operate a locomotive repair shop for the railroad. The railroad also erected a temporary depot adjacent to the New England Hotel at corner of Superior and Merwin Streets. It purchased the Bethel Church building adjacent to the hotel (on the square bordered by Superior, Vineyard, and James Streets) for use as an engine house.
Some 3,000 to 4,000 men were at work on the line at the end of July, completing the grading, constructing the track bed, and beginning to lay rail. With the cost of the main line appearing to hold steady at $2.5 million ($96,800,000 in 2025 dollars), Kelley personally went to New York City and sold another $400,000 ($15,500,000 in 2025 dollars) in bonds to keep the work going. He sold another $100,000 ($15,500,000 in 2025 dollars) in bonds to Ohio investors the same month.
Operational history of the line
Early operations
At the beginning of 1851, the CC&C began to erect a permanent passenger depot at its terminus on Bath Street. The 200-by-80-foot (61 by 24 m) building was not large enough to serve all passengers, so through passengers used the Bath Street station and passengers terminating their travels in Cleveland continued to use the temporary depot next to the New England Hotel. The Bath Street depot opened on May 29, 1851. Although it was initially used only by the CC&C, the depot had been constructed as a cooperative effort by the CC&C, C&P, and the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad (CP&A).
In March, the CC&C began work on a spur to serve the town of Delaware and connect the line with the Springfield, Mt. Vernon, and Pittsburg Railroad. This 5.77-mile (9.29 km) spur, known as the "Delaware Curves", was completed in 1853.
Amasa Stone was appointed superintendent of the road on April 7, 1851, and initiated thrice-daily express train passenger service on April 16.
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In August 1851, the railroad began building a pier which extended into Lake Erie and a warehouse erected on the pier. By this time, the CC&C had 11 locomotives in freight and passenger operation on the line each day.
On December 1, 1852, the CC&C entered into a contract with the CP&A under which the CC&C would operate both railroads as a single line. This contract was superseded by a new agreement on April 1, 1855, which merely gave each railroad trackage rights on the other's line.
Expansion: 1853 to 1860
Collaboration between the CC&C and CP&A extended to more than just a depot. The CP&A's line initially did not extend west of E. 33rd Street in Cleveland. That railroad relied on the CC&C for repair facilities for its locomotives and cars. In the summer of 1853, the CP&A extended its Cleveland tracks to the Bath Street station. That year the two railroads jointly erected and operated a car repair shop northwest of the intersection of Lake Street (now Lakeside Avenue) and Alba Street (later known as Depot Street, now E. 26th Street). The construction of passenger rolling stock began at these shops in late 1853. The two railroads also began sharing locomotives. The two roads jointly owned 89 locomotives in September 1853, with another nine on order from the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Co. and the Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company. More than half the locomotives owned by the CC&C and CP&A were built by the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Co. To accommodate the need for locomotive construction and maintenance, the firm rapidly expanded its works on Columbus Road beginning in August 1852. Business "boomed", with the company making two locomotives a month there.
The CC&C made other improvements and changes in 1853 as well. Business on the line was so good that the CC&C began to double-track its line. By the end of the year, it double-tracked the entire 25 miles (40 km) between Cleveland and Grafton. The railroad also began construction of several new piers into Lake Erie, and the erection of a new freight depot on Front Street (formerly Bath Street). Having extensively filled in some of the lake east of its facilities, the railroad began grading this area in October 1855 in order to begin construction of a new engine house and machine shop. On July 1, 1853, the CC&C signed an agreement with the C&X and Little Miami Railroad (which connected Cincinnati to Springfield), which gave the CC&C trackage rights on both lines as well as through service.
Double-tracking of the railroad continued in 1854 and 1855. The CC&C added 4 miles (6.4 km) of double-track between Galion and Crestline in 1854, and 11 miles (18 km) of second track completed between Crestline and Greenwich in 1855. About this time, the CC&C also invested heavily in the bonds of the Columbus, Piqua and Indiana Railroad, a line connecting Columbus and Union City, Ohio, via Urbana, Piqua, and Covington.
The CC&C entered into a working consolidation with the Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Cleveland Railroad (IP&C) of Indiana on April 1, 1856. This railroad was chartered in 1848 and completed in 1851. It extended from Indianapolis, Indiana, northwest to Madison and Muncie before heading due east to the border of Ohio. Its terminus was in the border towns of Union City, Indiana/Union City, Ohio. A sister railroad, the Bellefontaine and Indiana Railroad (B&I), was chartered in 1848 and was completed in July 1853. This road ran northeast from Union City through Sidney, Bellefontaine, and Marion to Crestline, where it connected with the CC&C. The B&I had entered into a joint operating agreement IP&C on March 14, 1856, and the CC&C's working consolidation gave it access to the important industrial and agricultural heart of Indiana.
The CC&C entered into another trackage rights contract in July 1856. Under this agreement, the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad agreed to pay the CC&C
$86,000 ($3,100,000 in 2025 dollars) annually for 20 years. In return the C&T gained trackage rights over the CC&C line between Grafton and Cleveland. The CC&C also leased its engine house at Superior and Vineyard to the C&T the following September.
The company made a number of other operating changes in 1856 as well. It repaired the ice-damaged freight bridge over the Cuyahoga River in February, and in early November the railroad agreed to change its fixed-span bridges into draw span bridges. Conversion of the CC&C freight bridge was complete by November 15, and work on the main line bridge commenced shortly thereafter.
Mergers: 1860 to 1868
By 1861, the CC&C had added 80 miles (130 km) miles of double track to its main line, leaving just 55 miles (89 km) of single track. The railroad had also added 20 miles (32 km) of siding, and owned 22 locomotives, 74 flatcars, 297 freight cars, 93 livestock cars, and 31 passenger cars.
On January 1, 1862, the CC&C purchased a portion of the bankrupt Springfield, Mt. Vernon, and Pittsburgh Railroad from its creditors. This added another 50 miles (80 km) of track between the towns of Delaware and Springfield, Ohio.
The CC&C opened a new freight depot on Merwin Street in Cleveland in January 1863. Two months later, it opened a new engine house and machine shop on Merwin Street. These latter improvements cost $80,000 ($2,100,000 in 2025 dollars).
On April 29, 1865, the locomotive CC&C Nashville pulled Abraham Lincoln's funeral train from Cleveland to Columbus.
The CC&C had also provided one of the nine cars that made up the train. The train had left Erie, Pennsylvania, pulled by the locomotive William Case, owned by the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad. The CP&A locomotive Idaho traveled 10 minutes ahead, acting as a "pilot train" to ensure there were no problems on the track. The William Case arrived in Cleveland on April 28 at precisely 7 A.M. The CC&C's Nashville departed for Columbus just after midnight on April 29. The CC&C locomotive Louisville acted as the pilot train in front of the funeral cortege, also traveling 10 minutes ahead. The Nashville arrived in Columbus at 7:30 AM. The funeral train left Columbus at 8 P.M. on April 29, pulled by a locomotive from the Columbus and Indianapolis Central Railroad.
A merger in 1864 intertwined the CC&C with the Bellefontaine railroads. The CC&C had invested heavily in Bellefontaine and Indiana Railroad (B&I) bonds. Then, on September 27, 1864, the Ohio-based B&I and the Indiana-based IP&C merged to form the Bellefontaine Railway.
On May 16, 1868, the CC&C merged with the Bellefontaine Railway to form the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway. The Bellefontaine Railway added 202.6 miles (326.1 km) miles of main track (118.4 miles (190.5 km) in Ohio) to the merged railroad. The merger brought 9.5 miles (15.3 km) of siding into the new railroad as well.
At the time of the merger, The CC&C was one of the few financially successful railroads in Ohio.
From Wikipedia’s article on Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3