Belpre and Cincinnati Railroad

The Marietta and Cincinnati (M&C) was one of five important east-west railroads of southern Ohio; it was later absorbed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O). Its original route ran from Marietta through Vincent, Athens, Hamden, Chillicothe, Greenfield, Blanchester, and Loveland. It had two main branches: Blanchester to Hillsboro, which was originally part of the Hillsboro and Cincinnati Railroad; and Hamden to Portsmouth, Ohio, originally part of the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad.

The M&C was founded as the Belpre and Cincinnati Railroad (B&C) in 1845 The destination of the B&C was changed from Belpre to Marietta, Ohio, and in 1851 the name of the railroad was changed to The Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad. The M&C reached Loveland, Ohio by 1857. The company entered bankruptcy in 1858, from which it emerged in 1860. The first through-train from Cincinnati, using the tracks of The Little Miami Railroad to reach Loveland, ran on April 9, 1857.

An extension of the right-of-way from Marietta upriver to Bellaire, Ohio, to enable a connection across the Ohio River with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Wheeling, Virginia, had been largely graded with stone culverts constructed by the 1858 bankruptcy. Construction stopped. The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) later purchased the right-of-way between Bellaire and Marietta.

The Northwestern Virginia Railroad, financed and controlled by the B&O, was built from a junction with the B&O mainline at Grafton, Virginia to Parkersburg, Virginia and opened May 1, 1857. The M&C operated a ferry for the 14 miles downriver from Marietta to Parkersburg, so that travelers and freight could be transferred between the systems.

With help from the B&O and the Baltimore City Council, the Union Railroad was built from Scott's Landing (Moore's Junction), three miles south of Marietta on the Ohio River, to Belpre in 1860. It was operated by the M&C. This section of track is still in operation (2012) with unit coal trains providing most of the traffic.

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