Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway Company

Product Details

Historical Context

The Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad was chartered on March 14, 1836, but no work began on the road, and the charter fell dormant. On March 12, 1845, the state of Ohio reactivated the charter, and on February 8, 1847, the state amended the road's charter to permit the construction of branch lines.

Construction from Cleveland through Galion and Delaware to Columbus then began. The road entered Columbus from the north, running east and parallel to Fourth Street, then swinging southwestward to enter the passenger depot of the Columbus and Xenia Railroad. On February 21, 1851, a grand excursion train with 425 passengers took members of the state and city government to Cleveland, returning them to Columbus after a day's layover. Regular traffic began in April 1851, a full year after service was inaugurated on the C&X.

Meanwhile, the Springfield, Mt. Vernon and Pittsburg Railroad had fallen into receivership. On January 1, 1861, the portion of the road between Delaware and Springfield was sold to the CC&C, and operated as its Delaware Branch.

On May 16, 1868, the CC&C was merged with the Bellefontaine Railway to form the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway. At that time the railroad still hadn't reached Cincinnati, and it was up to the CCC&I to finish the job.

By 1872, the CCC&I made agreements to operate the Cincinnati and Springfield Railway between Cincinnati and Dayton and the Cincinnati, Sandusky and Cleveland Railroad between Dayton and Springfield, finally providing a through route from Cleveland to Columbus to Cincinnati. In 1889, the CCC&I merged with lines in Indiana and Illinois to form the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, known as the Big Four Route.

It eventually became a part of the New York Central Railroad.

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