|
Not only can you
search hotels by city, but you can search by
your favorite chain of hotels.
We can find all the best hotels in Nice, Cannes, or Monaco,. Going to Orlando or Philadelphia or wherever, we can find all the best hotels at the best rates!!! |
|
|
Oris P. and Mantis J. Van Sweringen Nickel Plate and Other Ohio Railroads |
|
|
Welcome to our Van Sweringen Brothers, Nickel Plate
and Other Ohio Railroads WebSite
Here's a preview of some of the exciting projects we have put together for you: Start with our feature article on the Van Sweringen brothers . Central to the Van Sweringen empire was the Nickel Plate Railroad. Find out why the Nickel Plate was built. See a great Nickel Plate map and discover the role of the Nickel Plate in various "Alphabet Routes". An important Nickel Plate connection was the Buffalo Creek Railroad Cleveland was important to the Vans. We have some Cleveland railroad maps a story of what's left of Cleveland Union Terminal. You can also see the New York Central Cleveland Division in 1925 . We talk about Cleveland's current regional transit system too. Read about Ohio in 1998 and about Ohio railroad stations. Find out about the Maumee River Bridge and Interstate trails. Some other articles you will enjoy include Amtrak's Secret Business and railroads and snow. Finally, don't miss our our reference section. |
| VISIT OUR TICKET BOOTH We can find you tickets for all the great music, sports and cultural events. We have the best prices and most availability of any ticket seller> |
|
|
|
Golf in Nice and the French Riviera
Golf in Laurentides / Laurentians Region of Quebec Golf in the Montréal area Golf in Northwest France The U.S. Open Golf Courses on Google Earth |
|
||||||
|
Now you can see the entire NICE, FRANCE TRAMWAY in GOOGLE EARTH!!!! | Yes! Open in Google Earth and follow the path of the Tramway station-by station. |
| What's a "Chicago Bypass"? |
|
|
Why do we need a "Chicago Bypass"? YOU WILL BE SURPRISED!
Click on any doctor above to see why. |
|
|||
| Old Postcard of Rail Pier in Cleveland |
|
An Open Source, Multi-Modal, Multiple-Use, Open Access,
Universal Service, Non-Profit, Demonopolized, Fair
Competitive Market-Based Government Agency Proposal
to Optimally Acquire and Administer Underserved,
Threatened, Abandoned, and Government-Subsidized
Monopolistic Local, Regional, and National Transportation
and Telecommunications Infrastructures.
The State of Ohio was once host to thousands of miles of east-west and north-south main line intercity, regional, and local branch line railways, interurban, and trolley lines, which played an integral part in the State's and our Nation's development. Since circa 1920, private railroad carriers, which have traditionally provided their own rail networks, have embarked upon policies that have severely impacted the State's production economy and passenger rail service. Considering their right-of-way to be real estate and appurtenances to be capital vs. public way transportation utilities, these companies have threatened and implemented consolidation, downgrading, rationalization, and liquidation of unwanted, extraneous, and redundant line routes and infrastructure, often leaving enterprises and passengers with limited or no competitive service or rail network access. The U.S. Railway Administration in particular, with its reorganization of bankrupt Penn Central Transportation Co. into the Consolidated Rail Corp. (Conrail), arbitrarily decided which PCTC rail segments to keep, sell to smaller carriers, or abandon, with wanton disregard to numerous local Ohio socioeconomies. Their apparent thinking was affected enterprises would simply utilize trucks, move to other areas better served by rail, or fend for themselves minus rail service. USRA did not imagine that enterprises would cease business entirely or move their production operations overseas. Its decisions in 1975 now greatly hinder this country's attempts to compete in a global economy against other countries that socialistically subsidize their production and transportation sectors. Government agencies at all levels have yet to offer effective policy toward rail transportation other than monopoly deregulation, income and property tax breaks and abatements, trackage rights fees, and public line ownership, none of which are sufficient to assist usually marginal short line and regional railroad companies offset their immense costs to: Maintain existing lines Upgrade track speeds above minimally competitive 40MPH speeds Upgrade track capacities to carry increasingly heavier standard 315,000+ pound train cars Add additional passing sidings and double tracks to improve throughput Restore abandoned lines to serve new markets Address the projected doubling of freight from the Western U.S. Lower barriers to initial marketplace entry Fairly compete as third party carriers in other market areas Address discriminated interchange access and service with major Class 1 carriers Provide intercity much less regional or local passenger service The Ohio Department of Transportation, while owning and administering highways and roads for open access and competitive trucking and passenger service, unfortunately dismisses opportunities to administer unwanted rail lines in a similar method. The Ohio Rail Development Commission (an independent agency of ODOT), port authorities, counties, municipalities, community development corporations, and private industry cooperatives throughout Ohio have only acted to financially assist railroad companies with grants and low-interest loans, save rail lines that can demonstrate potential return on investment, and preserve minimal rail transportation to retain and expand area economic development. Usually these government agencies assign exclusive franchises to individual railroad companies to provide carrier service on the line, though permit third party carriers rail network access through "trackage rights" agreements at higher rates. (A related U.S. Supreme Court case has ruled telecommunication carriers need not grant mandated third party access to their telecommunication networks, as Congress had mandated in the 1996 Telecommunications Act.) |
|
|
|
Cheese Pound Cake Bread Pudding Cake |
|
About Our President About Our Company About Small Business |
|
Shipping Information Terms of Sale |
|
|
||||||
|
Earlier in this century, two brothers from rural Ohio built a railroad empire when railroads were more critical to American transportation. Their achievements were first real estate, secondly in skyscraper construction, and finally in railroad consolidations. Oris P. and Mantis J. Van Sweringen were bachelors who had no hobby but work.
In 1916, the New York Central sold them the New York, Chicago & St. Louis (commonly known as the Nickel Plate). This road did not do well with passenger traffic but had a rich freight business. They hired John J. Bernet as the president to run it. By 1922 they had absorbed the Lake Erie & Western and the Toledo, St. Louis & Western (Clover Leaf Route). Next, they gained control of the Chesapeake & Ohio and Hocking Valley (the Hocking Valley gave C&O a long haul route from the Ohio Valley to the Great Lakes). These fed coal tonnage to Nickel Plate which served industrial centers such as Lackawanna, Cleveland, Lorain, Toledo, Gary and Chicago. By 1927, the Van Sweringens had 26% of the Erie, 33% of Pere Marquette and 17% of Wheeling & Lake Erie. In 1926 the Interstate Commerce Commission did not allow the brothers to merge their holdings. They then shifted their consolidation scheme to C&O to satisfy minority shareowners. This didn't work either. The coming of the Great Depression in 1929 nullified whatever unification plans the "Vans" had. They died in 1936 and 1937 after their empire collapsed. Between 1926 and 1930, the system saw development of new high-horsepower locomotives. The most famous of these was the 2-8-4 Berkshire. These were used by Erie and Nickel Plate. Later, T-1 2-10-4's were developed on the C&O based on the 2-8-4's. |
|
|
The Global Highway: Interchange to Everywhere A portal to the World. The Global Highway leads everywhere! Follow it to wherever you might want to go. We have something for everyone! |
| The Nickel Plate Road and it was built parallel to the New York Central for the most part from Buffalo to Cleveland. While it was built to lower standards than the NYC, its' mere presence was enough to scare the Vanderbilt family into buying it and running it as the poor stepchild for about the first 30 years of it's existence. Look at many of the early engine photos and they are mostly NYC hand-me-downs or NYC designs. It was only because the ICC required the Vanderbilts' to divest themselves of the property and some other financial shenanigans that the Van Sweringen brothers of Cleveland were able to buy it and turn it into what it eventually became, a high speed bridge route. |
|
| The New York Central was big in Ohio too. Here's an old Baldwin switcher. |
|
|
|
| Click here or on map to see some great maps from Rails and Trails |
|
|
The feature article was
published in the CALLBOARD of the Mohawk and Hudson Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.. |
|
|
| REFERENCE |
|
List of Ohio Railroads Nickel Plate Railroad Cleveland, Ohio Van Sweringen brothers (from The Wiki) ClevelandTrains.net Cleveland Union Terminal Dedication Ohio Railroad Pictures Findlay, Ohio Railroad History 1900 era Ohio Maps Cleveland Railway Company circa 1930's Guide to Cleveland Street Car and Motor Coach Routes New York Central Cleveland Employee Timetable Ohio Museum of Transportation Cleveland Heights Northeastern Ohio Railway Historical Society Abandoned Right-of-Way Tour June 29, 2002 The Ohio Railroad Page Welcome to Ohio, the Land of Trains |
|
|
Click on the map above to see a full-size version
|
|
|
|
|
|
| A combination of Nickel Plate, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western and Delaware & Hudson could match the New York Central "Water-Level Route". | ||
|
RailwayStation.com has provided a
1942 Quiz Book on Railroads and Railroading. Here's some interesting questions and answers: |
|
What states lead in railway mileage? The ten states having the greatest railway mileage are: Texas, with 16,356 miles; Illinois, with 11,949 miles; Pennsylvania, with 10,328 miles; Iowa, with 8,950 miles; Kansas, with 8,564 miles; Ohio, with 8,501 miles; Minnesota, with 8,421 miles; California, with 7,947 miles; New York, with 7,739 miles; and Michigan, with 7,303 miles. These figures are as of December 31, 1940, and do not include switching and terminal companies. |
| State Line Interlocking | ||
| In its heyday, State Line was one of the most complex interlockings in the United States. It was on the Indiana-Illinois border at the gateway to Chicago. Read more about the many railroads that crossed here. |
|
||||||
|
|
| Railroad Station in Marion Ohio |
|
I saw some train action in Marion, Ohio after attending a meeting in April. “AC” Cabin has been closed by Conrail. The "tower on stilts" still stands as it has for many years, but it is in need of some paint. Hopefully the Marion Union Station Association will get the funds needed to move the tower to their property so they can properly maintain the Erie structure. In the space of a couple of hours I saw three Norfolk Southern trains, two CSX and three Conrail.
All three railroads looked like they could give some “tender loving care” to their infrastructure. Conrail had a couple really big dips around the diamonds which were kind of unnerving to watch trains go by. Norfolk Southern looked good but not as smooth as in the past. CSX was its normal so-so self except for the CR/CSX diamond which looked to be somewhat new and in great shape. The N&W signals were still doing their job guarding the NS/CR diamonds. As of early 1999, in Marion, Ohio, AC Cabin is still on stilts next to the CR/NS diamond. A spot has been marked next to the Marion Union Station where the building will be placed, but no other work has been done. Work on replacing the parking lot at the station has also started. Conrail has installed a new defect detector at Slicks, Ohio (~ MP 97) just east of Marion. This detector apparently replaces the detector that used to be at Caledonia further east. This new detector comes in very strong in Marion (the one at Caledonia didn't) and gives ample warning for approaching WB trains. And you can't beat a name like Slicks! Finally, grading has been done for the new connection track between the CSX Columbus Subdivison and the CR Indianapolis line in the NW quadrant. All of the ballast has been laid and new switches are on site. Laying ties, rail, more ballast, and then connecting the track with the existing track are what needs to be done, along with signal work. |
|
|
| Ever notice that big, old, unused railroad bridge next to The Ohio Turnpike that goes over the Maumee River? Well it used to belong to the Toledo Terminal Railroad. There are plans to integrate it into a bicycle and nature path. |
|
Most of our major interstate highways have rail mainlines in close paralell or,
in the case of the Pennsylvania Turnpike/I-76, are built on old railroad grades.
One of the principal exceptions to this, however, is Interstate Route 80 east of
Youngstown, Ohio(Keystone Shortway).
Interestingly, a little research of early histories or bound volumes of Railway Age from long ago will turn up several ideas for these routes which nearly came to pass before the industry stagnated in the wake of the Great Depression. Probably the most interesting is found in an article which appears to have been launched by backers of the Van Sweringen brothers' "Greater Nickel Plate" campaign of around 1925. This line would have used Jersey Central and Reading's Catawissa and Haucks branches from the New York/New Jersey region to Milton, Penna, then placed a new line via White Deer Valley (with, undoubtedly, a couple of substantial tunnels) before linking with NYC's Beech Creek line somewhere near Orviston. The remainder of the plan would have used existant trackage almost entirely. Other plans revolved around the former PRR Low Grade Branch/Secondary Track, which left the Pennsy's Buffalo Line at Driftwood, Penna, and continued west to the Allegheny River at Brady's Bend. This line, which is still in existence for unit coal moves, has the lowest summit and easiest grades of any crossing of the Alleghenies, and plans to bypass Pittsburgh and link it directly to the Great Lakes region were formulated at one time. With all the major lines fixated on grades and fuel economy as never before, it might be time to give these two forgotten ideas a second look. |
|
|
|
What's left of CUT? The drawbridge leading to DK is still there ( in the UP position) but is cutoff from the tracks at both ends. The north tracks, that went by the Erie station, were removed several years ago for relocation of the road and installation of the Waterfront rapid tracks. The Erie station was torn down just a few years ago. The old B&O station is still there, but vandalized and empty. RD tower, at the south end of the B&O yard is gone too. The B&O roundhouse is still there, in part. DK is still there in part, used by the Flats Industrial RR to switch Cereal Foods. About two miles of the CUT was removed, and the interchange track relocated, so that NS could double track after they split up Conrail. The Silver Plate Branch was operated by both the NYC and PRR. I believe it was also co-owned by them. The western end of the branch came off of the PRR Alliance to Cleveland mainline on the near east side of Cleveland at Cleveland Shop Yard. The NYC connection was off of the Lakefront mainline just west of E55th St. Yard. A 1946 map of Cleveland railroads shows the western 3/4ths of the branch as NYC/PRR co-owned and/or co-operated and the eastern 1/4th of the branch as PRR only owned and/or operated. That map also shows the section of the branch between the PRR and NYC connections as double track and shows three more connections to the NYC off of PRR's eastern end of the branch. The branch was 2.3 miles long through a heavily industrialized urban area. A PRR C.T. 1000 C from May 1945 lists an incredible (by today's standards) 63 businesses along sidings off of the branch. Cleveland Union Terminal Electric locomotives in Cleveland. There were 22 of them with a 2-C+C-2 wheel arrangement, like the GG-1's. They were the P-2 class locomotives. They were road locomotives, not road switchers. How did the nYC and NKP reach Cleveland Union Terminal? It's shown well in the satellite image of Cleveland in Google maps. The NKP connection on the west side is shown just west of W. 25th St. On the east side it was near Kinsman road When did the NYC end their electric operations there? 1953. There were no electric operations after the last steam passenger train. I believe they were called class P-1 electrics. The P-2 moniker (P-2a and P-2b) were applied to those P-1's converted to 3rd rail and sent to the Hudson Division for GCT service. |
|
|
|
|
|
| (Photo clipped from an old New York Central Headlight) |
|
| January 11, 1922 The van Sweringen brothers buy the Lake Erie & Western from the New York Central and align it with the Nickel Plate, which they also own. |
|
|
JWH Rapid Response Temporary Housing On site containers become residential accommodation, offices and much more! Services we provide are: Transportation to your site. Site preparation for your portable shelter. Assembly of your portable shelter. Subsequent enhancements or moving of your portable shelter. |
|
|||
|
Cleveland has three rail lines; one heavy rail line and two light rail lines.
The most interesting thing about these lines is they all run on the same track
for a stretch, despite the fact their boarding levels are different.
At the shared stations there are lengthy platforms that have areas for both
Red Line and Green/Blue Line boardings, with ramps getting riders to the
proper "level" depending on which train they are using.
Red Line is a high-level line built in the 1950s and '60s by the Cleveland Transit System after WWII and the Blue and Green Line are low-floor streetcar/light-rail lines built in the 30s to help develop Shaker Heights neighborhood and were two separate companies (CTS and Shaker Heights Rapid Transit) until the 1970s or so when the current RTA was formed. These lines do operate over the same track between East 55th Street station and Tower City with each station having both high and low platforms. The three shared stations are: Tower City, East 33rd/Campus and East 55th. The Tower City station is in the bottom of Terminal Tower, the old Union Station in downtown Cleveland that was redone into a mall with a transit station below - easiest access to a mall I've ever seen (that includes the old Filene's entrance at Downtown Crossing in Boston). The Red Line leaving Tower City to the West uses the old viaduct over the Cuyahoga River the trains to Chicago used to use leaving terminal tower and continues on to the Airport. Incidentally, the Red Line was the first rapid transit line in North America to directly serve an airport since the Terminal in is the station. The only Airport Station I've used that is as easy to use as Cleveland's is Atlanta's. RTA is also redoing the Red Line stations (slowly I might add), and are closing some stations, such as East 120th/Euclid. That station is always interesting since it is only manned during rush hours and is basicaly a wooden platform that consists of what seems like untreated rail ties laid together to form a platform with a plastic shelter on top which does absolutely nothing to keep the wind off Lake Erie from blowing right through you. When the station is unmanned, you pay your fare by boarding at the front of the train and placing your money in a farebox just like on a bus. Also the Red Line is completely powered by overhead catenary, unusually for a heavy rail line in the U.S. (which the Red Line is classified as by the Federal Transit Administration). The Blue and Green Line share tracks from the North Shore Station, which is part of the Waterfront extension that opened in 1996 or so allowing the Blue and Green Line to serve the areas west of Tower City on the east bank of the Cuyahoga such as the Flats, the Browns Stadium, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Shaker Square where the lines split. After Shaker Square, each line runs in a grass median with level crossing mainly through residential neighborhoods. Vehicles are Breda light rail vehicles for the Blue and Green Line built in the '80s and Japanese built cars for the Red Line also built in the '80s. One final thing about Cleveland is the there was a streetcar subway that ran run Detroit Avenue at West 29th Street (with a branch to West 25th Street) on the lower deck of the Detroit-Superior Bridge (now Vetrans Memorial) to a power at West 6th Street with stations at either end of the bridge. This little subway saw service from 1917 to 1954. |
|
|||
|
Railroads and Snow
See some historic photographs of the railroads in snow. Rotary plows in snow! Great stories of railroad action in Winter! |
|
|
|
|
This is what the
New York Central's Cleveland Division (Cleveland to Toledo)
looked like in 1925. Click HERE or on map to see larger size. |
|
|
Nice, France Weather |
Mexico City Weather |
Philadelphia Weather |
Saint Tropez Weather |
Montreal Weather |
| Find out more about vacations in Nice, France | Find out more about vacations in Mexico City | Find out more about vacations in Philadelphia | Find out more about vacations in Saint-Tropez | Find out more about vacations in Montreal and the Laurentian Mountains |
|
Find
weather around the World
.
Temperature and forecasts for hundreds of cities.
See adverse weather conditions. Upcoming storms, snow, tornados, hurricanes. Check out our special weather forecasts for the French Riviera!!! Visit our Travel Reservations and Information Center and see our CRUISE section. Make Hotel Reservations as well as rental cars. Book a ferry from Nice to Corsica. Rent Vacation Homes. |
||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
| SEARCH THIS SITE |