Project News
11-20-2004: Wheeling & Lake Erie Rwy Co. President Steve Wait offers $30M for the Panhandle Rail Line, claiming the offer is twice the value of the line (See also ME Companies valuation of the Panhandle Rail Line appraisal report 6-30-2004 [ME Cos-ORDC 6-30-2004.pdf] 72KB)
9-23-2004: The Ohio Rail Development Commission announced at the Ohio Mid-Eastern Govts. Assn. meeting in Cambridge, OH on 9-23-2004 that it will solicit a bid from the Columbus & Ohio River RR Co. for the Panhandle Rail Line.
4-20-2004: The Mill Twp. (Tuscarawas County, OH) Board of Trustees approved a resolution requesting the Columbus & Ohio River RR Co. restore Uhrich Jct. (Uhrichsville) that belongs to R.J. Corman RR Co. which C&OR removed without permission, thereby out-of-routing R.J. Corman users desiring expedited access via Uhrich Jct. to the Panhandle.
4-19-2004: Licking County (Ohio) Commissioner Marcia Phelps and Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority Executive Director Rick Platt lobbied the Tuscarawas County Commissioners against privatization of the Panhandle Rail Line. Ohio Central RR Presedent William Strawn and Vice President Michael Connor offered rebuttal.
4-16-2004: Digital GIS files for Tuscarawas and Harrison Counties in Ohio, and Brooke and Hancock Counties in West Virginia have been obtained to continue right-of-way valuations. Jefferson, Coshocton, & Muskingum Counties have yet to fully digitize their county maps.
4-8-2004: The State of West Virginia is looking for ways to expand high speed Internet access to rural areas of the state. (Associated Press)
4-7-2004: The Project received a reply from its inquiry with the Lackawanna Coalition in New Jersey, which advocates competition in the Conrail Shared Assets regions in the Northeastern ports. A cooperative effort between the projects will be attempted.
3-29-2004: The prospectus and organization chart for the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Interstate Multimodalway Authority are now available on the PFtW&C page.
3-25-2004: The end of the Columbus-Bradford-St. Louis line in Columbus in was located and determined to be at approximately Mile Post 9.8, or 30 yards east of Main St. in Hillard. The remaining rail was cast in 1976 and laid in 1977, and both tracks carried 75M gross tons each annually, according to Conrail's 1984 track chart records.
3-15-2004: A request was submitted to Vilage of Dennison Solicitor Ken Welch for his opinion as to whether 16' of land between the Caprail I. ROW and adjacent property owners from Park St. to Johnson Ave. is an alley owned by the Village or is part of the Conrail property conveyed to Caprail I. Current maps show it is Caprail I.'s; earlier blueprints show it as an alley. Proper designation affects railroad and adjacent unimproved proverty valuation for the Project's Public Way financial models.
3-15-2004: The Tuscarawas County Commissioners granted the Newcomerstown Community Improvement Corp. a loan at 4.5%. County officials also stated loans to the Tuscarawas County Port Authority were assessed a 3% interest rate.
3-15-2004: There is a report and a denial that Summit View, Inc. plans to purchase and construct a new roundhouse & turntable on the abandoned site of the second PRR Dennison Yards roundhouse. However, Summit View staff have been spotted in the Tuscarawas County Map Office apparently looking at the site, which they would have to purchase from current owner Village of Dennison. Construction would help with a facility shortage for their growing number of steam locomotives.
3-10-2004: The Tuscarawas County Regional Planning Commission accepted and approved the Project's infrastructure information and suggestions for land use to be used as a guideline. The links to the draft and final reports will be mounted shortly.
3-9-2004: US Rep. Robert Ney (R-Ohio) held a town hall meeting in Cambridge, OH to discuss jobs and the economy. Complete sets of Commissioners from Panhandle Counties Harrison, Tuscarawas, Licking & Muskingum were in attendance, including officials from numerous cities, townships, and other organizations. Licking County Port Authority Director Rick Platt who was a panelist proclaimed three times that the Panhandle was important and must not be privatized. I presented Mr. Ney's staff with the latest US DOT Inspector General's report plus copies of maps showing the maximum extent of Ohio's railroads, and what is left today (those maps will be redesigned to avoid copyright infringements before they are posted online).
3-2-2004: Project and website registered with eGovOS- The Center of Open Source & Government at http://www.egovos.org
3-4-2002: "The trestles" http://www.timesreporter.com/printable.php?ID=6041 (Courtesy of the Dover/New Philadelphia, OH Times-Reporter (http://www.timesreporter.com)
3-1-2002: "Goodbye to an era: Remnant of Mineral City's train days being dismantled" http://www.timesreporter.com/printable.php?ID=5989 (Courtesy of the Dover/New Philadelphia, OH Times-Reporter (http://www.timesreporter.com)
of this page; updated
3-22-2005