- Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad
Infobox rail
railroad_name=Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad
locale=Ohio
gauge=4 ft 10 in (1,473 mm) (Ohio gauge)
start_year=1835| end_year=1892
hq_city=
The Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad was the firstrailroad to be built and operated in theU.S. state ofOhio . It was also the first railroad company chartered west of theAllegheny Mountains .History
The railroad first broke ground in Sandusky, for construction on
September 17 1835 at the site which is currently Battery Park Marina. OnDecember 2 1837 , the MR&LE took delivery of its firststeam locomotive , "Sandusky", built by Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor ofPaterson, New Jersey . "Sandusky" was also the first locomotive built by Rogers and the first to include features such as castiron driving wheel s and counterweights. The locomotive's transportation fromNew Jersey was overseen by Thomas Hogg, the railroad's chief mechanical engineer.The MR&LE used a
rail gauge of 4 ft 10 in (1,473 mm), a gauge that soon became known as "Ohio gauge".Construction continued on the MR&LE, reaching Tiffin by 1841 and Kenton in 1846. The railroad was completed to Springfield in 1849. Over the next several decades, the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad changed ownership at least four times. In 1892, it came under the control of the
Big Four Railroad (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad ), which itself became part of theNew York Central Railroad . Most of the original MR&LE lines were abandoned byPenn Central at the advent ofConrail in 1976, if not earlier. However, a portion between Bellefontaine and Springfield continues in operation byRailAmerica 'sIndiana and Ohio Central Railroad . [cite journal| journal=Trains| month=March| year=2007| title=The road of the Century in 2007 (a map of today's remaining New York Central trackage) ]Most of the MR&LE lines that once ran through Downtown Sandusky have been removed, but structures created for the railroad can still be seen today. The break wall directly southeast of the Battery Park Marina and the Sandusky Police Station is one of these structures. It once supported tracks, although the bridge connecting the end of the break wall to the main land has been removed to allow larger boats to pass through to several apartments with boat garages. In addition, tracks serving the
Norfolk Southern coal docks located west of downtown still use a small portion of the original MR&LE right-of-way.References
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External links
* [http://www.abandonedrails.com/article.asp?id=367 The abandoned Mad River and Lake Erie]
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