Cincinnati Northern Railroad (1894–1938)

The Cincinnati Northern Railroad was a railroad that stretched from Franklin, Ohio (near Cincinnati) north to Jackson, Michigan, a distance of about 186 miles (299 km). It was acquired by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway in 1901 and the New York Central Railroad several years later. Most of the line has since been abandoned.

In the 1850s, a line was surveyed and partially graded from Cincinnati north to Van Wert, but construction was halted by the Panic of 1857. Construction on a north-south line through Ohio's western tier of counties did not begin again until the 1870s. The Van Wert, Paulding and Michigan Railway was incorporated in December 1874 to build a short branch from the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway (at Cecil) to Paulding. However, the Paulding and Cecil Railway was incorporated for the same purpose in December 1879, and opened in September 1880.

Another short segment of the future Cincinnati Northern was built by the Celina, Van Wert and State Line Extension of the Columbus and North–Western Railway, incorporated in May 1878 for the purpose of building a line from Celina north to the state line in Williams County. Near the state line it would meet the Columbus and North–Western Railway, which had been incorporated in 1872 to build from Columbus to the state line in that same county, but was never constructed. The line was built to 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge to connect with the growing Toledo, Delphos and Burlington Railroad (TD&B), opening from Van Wert south to Ohio City on the TD&B in August 1879, to the Mercer County line in January 1880, and to Rockford in September 1880, for a total of 13 miles (21 km). At Rockford, it connected to another TD&B branch, which had been completed from Delphos in December 1878; the TD&B finished a line (later part of the main line to Dayton) from that branch at Mercer south to Celina in November 1880. Thus the Celina, Van Wert and State Line had helped to form a line south to Celina, but it ended at Van Wert in the north.

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