Pennsylvania Railroad Richmond Division - Indiana & Ohio, Oasis Subdivision
Former Cincinnati & Richmond/Pennsylvania Railroad - Richmond Division from Valley (Fairfax) to Mill (Evendale)
Standard gauge line opened in 1888
Downtown terminal: Pan Handle Station (Pearl & Butler Streets)
In limited use by Norfolk Southern (via trackage rights) and I&O
Opened in 1888, the Cincinnati & Richmond Railroad was formed to construct an extension of the earlier Eaton & Hamilton Railroad south from Hamilton through Mill (Evendale) to Rendcomb Junction on the Little Miami. Absorbed by the Pan Handle system in 1928 and eventually the Pennsylvania Railroad proper, it became the Pennsylvania Railroad's Richmond Division, along with the rest of the line to Ft. Wayne after that was sold by the CH&D. Trains from the north would use this line to access the Pan Handle Station via the Little Miami. When Union Terminal was constructed however, passenger trains were routed via the B&O/Marietta over a new connecting track in Norwood, at the present location of the I-71 and Norwood Lateral interchange. Trains from the Little Miami were also routed north on the Richmond Division from a newly constructed connection in Linwood (Redbank to Valley) to the B&O in Norwood. After the Penn Central merger and collapse, the line north of Mill (Evendale) was sold to Norfolk & Western instead of being absorbed into Conrail. The remainder of the line south of Mill through Rendcomb Junction was operated by Conrail. In 1995 I&O purchased the Mill-Valley section and the remainder of the Little Miami from there to downtown. NS has trackage rights to access the former N&W Peavine and Clare Yards. Since they operate the most trains, NS dispatched the line north of Valley until sometime in 2009, when I&O took over those responsibilities.
Photographs from Rendcomb Jct. to Norwood