Indiana & Ohio Railroad?

trainsteve2435

trainsteve2435

Member
Jun 18, 2004
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barboursville, wv
Hello everyone, can anyone tell me anything about this railroad? Was it real? Where did it operate? The reason im asking is, i ordered two of the new Proto High Hood GP30's wearing the Indiana & Ohio Railroad name. I got one with sound and one without. I really like the colors and i love the HH GP30, beside, i was looking for a different road to model this time around. Any and all help or information is really appreciated. Thanks!:wave:
 
The GP30s have been out of service for a while. The last time I was in Norwood they weren't anywhere to be seen. There was an article in CTC Board back around spring 1997 that had current operations for that time and another in July 2000 in Railfan & Railroad.
 
For the maps that were already posted:

The first -- RailAmerica's own -- is already out of date as about two years ago they acquired the CSX Midland Subdivision. It's shown on the map running from Columbus through Washington Courthouse and Midland City to Cincinnati. This let the I&O by-pass trackage rights on NS from Maitland to Cincinnati.

The second link is for a fictional model railroad that aside from having a similar name bares no resemblance to the real Indiana & Ohio. It might be useful if you're going to free-lance your own model railroad, however.

The last link of Indiana doesn't have any new enough to show the I&O at any time it existed. Your best bet would be to look for PUCO or ODOT rail maps since the vast majority of the I&O's trackage is in Ohio.

And the George Elwood Fallen Flags page is very good for finding photos of just about anything anything.
 
From my side of the engine...

Hello,
I was the last conductor/brakeman to crew I&O 82. She died of a bad turbo. I've also crewed #81,251,252, PIR 2340 (ugh!), a bunch of the low nose gp-30's, some CORP (3838?) GP's.

This engine was always my favorite. We kept her clean and painted right up to the end. We used Tide w/bleach to wash the engine and kept the paint on the pilots, steps & handrails touched up.

A couple of discrepencies exist on the model: no footboards, too many hoses on the pilots, extended coupler cut levers, handrails and step edges should be white or yellow (started out white, repainted yellow, we made 'em white again), missing handrail stanchion on long hood side w/o cab door, flagholders on all four corners, and last but not least radio antenna on the cab roof. I haven't looked at mine (Christmas present:mrgreen:) to see but I suspect the engineer's control stand is on the wrong side. It should be on the side with the short hood cab door. 81 & 82 were both ex-N&W units built to run long hood first. The "F" on the short hood end was an I&O change (paintshop or management ??). The only detail I'm not sure about is the horn; I seem to recall it was a 5-chime with one missing.

I spent the majority of my time with 82 on the Greenfield branch of the I&O. This was originally the B&O's route from Cincinnati to Washington D.C. It was high speed freight and passenger traffic for decades. The ghost of The Capitol Limited still haunts these tracks. The I&O portion ran from Midland City (Midland on mapquest) interchange with CSXT to just east of Greenfield where the B&O interchanged with the DT&I at Thrifton. There were only about six customers receiving wax (tank cars), plastic pellets (covered hoppers), MT grain hoppers, plus tank cars for Johnson Controls and an occasional fertilizer hopper.

The I&O Greenfield line would make a great model railroad for someone with limited space who also likes big CSX power. I'd run the interchange from hidden staging with big CSX trains making an appearance from time to time to drop off or pick up. There is a lot of great scenery on this line; several high bridges, a waterfall, vintage depots as well as rolling farmland.

Sorry I've rambled on... Feel free to ask questions!

Jim

ps: the last I heard of 81 and 82 they were behind the shop in Norwood. It would be a pity if they were scrapped as they were last or nearly the last of the high nose GP-30's. Most definately the last in revenue service.
 
PIR 2340 - what's to love !!

I like switchers and critters in general, but this engine in particular was awful... first: NO BATHROOM; second: severe vibration (you could have shaken paint on top of the control stand); third: wheels on the one truck a different size than other truck (noticable to the naked eye-constant wheel slip trouble); lastly: "fishbowl" cab-I got to stare into the eyes of an innocent passenger in a car that drove out in front of us. Fortunately they lived !!!!

When the I&O got the midland sub from CSX it (not she) got moved to Washington Court House. One cold winter the crew plugged her in and went home, when they saw her next the engine block was cracked :wave:because someone had unplugged her (for those who don't know-no glycol in RR locos). The engineer said it was plugged in when they left and I believe him, men more honest than him are hard to come by !!

The other PIR sw1200 #2342 is in Logan, Ohio on the Anchor Hocking shuttle. That crew (same guys for a long time) seems to love her. A picture of her in Logan is on the Wikipedia page for the PIR.

Jim
 
My veels, my veels, I can't move my veels

Sorry Rocky Horror flashback.... Check your picture, the wheels on the front truck can hardly be seen. ...well it also looks like the axle closest to the fuel tank is off the rail !?!?

OH yea, the sander tubes were always clogged and filling the sandboxes was done by hand; 50lbs at a time with the sand right in your face. We also filled 82 by hand, but a forklift would place the bags right put next to the roof, we'd restack them on the roof, then fill the boxes. We only had to tear off a corner of the bag and upend it instead of hefting it from the walkway to face height before pouring. (some of those little extra jobs you class 1 guys rarely, if ever, had to do - like cleaning and lubing our own switches, carrying motor oil 2 five gallon buckets at a time from the depot to the loco, snow and ice removal - loco & switches, blah, blah wimper, whine... ...and would you believe I miss it?)

Jim
 
Jim, I suspect that some of the things a model railroader finds most endearing in a model are the very things that drive a real railroader nuts. I know a lot of modelers love steam engines, but I remember reading a story in a recent issue of the Warbonnet from the Santa Fe Historical & Modeler's Society of an old timer reminiscing about having to take a steam engine over Tehachapie instead of a diesel and how dirty & miserable it was to operate.
 
Trainsteve - You've picked a great little railroad to model if I do say so myself. The I&O is near and dear to my heart and the inspiration behind my screen name. I spent my impessionable years visiting the Logan shop and a good friend of mine was a mechanic/conductor for the pre-Railtex I&O so hopefully I can help you. The majority of my memories of the I&O are from it's Logan, Ohio to Columbus, Ohio operations.
The GP30's #81,82,83,84 & 85 were all brought to the I&O's shop in Logan, Ohio to be prepared for service. The amount of preparation varied greatly as the 81 & 82 had extensive work to even run and the 85 needed only a little tidying up to enter service. The 81 & 82 were both ex-N&W high hood units, the 83 & 84 were both ex-KCS low nose units and the 85 is ex-NKP #901. I remember when the 83 & 84 came to town mostly because my friend was excited because they actually ran. They were all great looking units and I miss them dearly.
Also of note was the I&O's purchase of two ex-N&W high hood GP35's. These things were real neat especially in I&O colors and they looked huge to me compared to the GP30's and GP9's. Their I&O numbers are 251 and 252.
The Logan line also ran excursion trains for a few years in the early 90's. Privately owned passenger cars were brought in and the train ran from Logan to Canal Winchester. They also ran excursions on their Jackson, Ohio line during the Jackson Apple Festival. I worked as a volunteer on both selling and serving drinks and snacks to the passengers.
Since you have purchased the GP30's, I would definately recommend modeling the early pre-RailAmerica pre-RailTex mom and pop type of people friendly operation that they had. The early I&O had GP7's, GP9's, a lone GP18 #71, and the GP30's and GP35's listed above. I've got an old roster from one of their newsletters that I can scan post for you or e-mail it. I wish you luck as you go forward with your pursuit of modeling the I&O and I'll be happy to share any other information that I have.

IandOFan71
 
ps: the last I heard of 81 and 82 they were behind the shop in Norwood. It would be a pity if they were scrapped as they were last or nearly the last of the high nose GP-30's. Most definately the last in revenue service.
Click to expand...
Not the last. Carolina Southern still had a high-nose GP30 working as of last October - still in battered Southern colors. RailPictures.Net Photo » Carolina Southern EMD GP30 And yes, that is an F9B second out.
 
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