Columbus Neighborhoods: Columbus by Rail

Explore the evolution of rail and public transit in Central Ohio, from Columbus' railroad and streetcar history to the future of public transportation in the city.

[@Davett53]

March 2022,.....just a few months ago, developers just restored the Trolley barn, on the east side of Columbus. Near Kelton Ave. & Oak St.,..it is has been turned into a market,..like North Market,.....called East Market. Food vendors, fresh produce, a brewery, and a couple of taverns and restaurants. The Trolley barn was just about ready to fall down, decayed and vandalized. Now it has a new lease on life. I kind of wished they could have installed an old, restored trolley car inside or outside as a focal point. There were other buildings on the site, that had been used to maintain the trolleys. A machine shop and a small foundry, and a paint shop. Those auxiliary buildings were too far gone to save, but a couple of the brick walls may be incorporated, in some outside patio spaces.

[@drby0788]

I found a brass Toledo and Ohio Central Railroad lock out along the riverbed when they had it drained a few years ago.

[@nssteampunk4865]

Speaking of city streetcars and long distance interurbans, if you visit the Ohio Railway Museum on Sundays you'll get the experience of what it was like riding on the old Columbus Delaware and Marion Interurban Railway, built in 1903 and ran until 1933. The line was rerestored 15 years later with our "Worthington Cutoff".

[@pilsudski36]

Warren Harding rode on the CD&M from Marion to Columbus when he was a member of the legislature.

[@tfh5575]

Love learning about our historic heritage

[@kerryincolumbus]

Saw this exact same episode on TV last night... it's fantastic! GREAT JOB WOSU!!!

[@Rajnoma]

'm from Boston, Massachusetts and I love to learn more about the rest of our country and its history, particularly our "Heartland", the American Midwest, once an economic powerhouse with all of its manufacturing cities that attracted so many people seeking jobs. Very sadly, most, if not all, of these great industries are gone, merged into other companies or sent to China, Korea and Mexico. Hopefully, a re-invigorated Midwest will begin to arise; its people are strong and resourceful and they will surely find a way to rebuild and develop new products .

[@Acres-N-Uzis]

I’m from Columbus and love to learn about New England. Boston is so full of history I love it!

[@Pdasilva0324]

I am actually originally from Boston and have lived in Columbus for years. While Boston and New England have a much more extensive and longer, more influential history than most midwestern cities, owing of anything simply due to age (Boston was already nearly 200 years old when Columbus was just being laid out), Columbus has some interesting history of its own. Cities like Boston promote and incorporate history into its modern infrastructure and way of life. 300 year old buildings co-exist next to modern highrises housing tech and research facilities and most residents don't even think about it. Unlike Boston, Columbus did a lot to try to alter and even erase its rich, albeit much shorter history around mid-century, in an effort to try to look bigger and modern. Sadly the city likely regrets the actions of the movers and shakers of those days as history in Columbus (and similar cities like Indianapolis, Louisville, etc) needs to be searched out. But if you look, you will find it. This series by WOSU is a great resource for getting started in exploring Columbus's history, both living and forgotten.

[@Pdasilva0324]

Columbus is actually somewhat different than other midwestern cities in that it is more a distribution point rather than manufacturing (there is/was manufacturing here but a much smaller scale than cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago). It's location, low density, ability to expand, and relative youth made it an excellent spoke for moving goods rather than a starting point.

[@steveboros1961]

I remember the old electric busses that ran on wire rails!

[@edavenport93]

Only 7 Cities in all of North America still have Trolleybuses.

[@meman6964]

Right down Broad Street, through our neighborhood, The Bottoms. Electric buses. Ripped them up for stinky diesel buses🤯

[@sluttyboy69]

It's called a streetcar

[@freeroamer9146]

"Mobility is the essence of freedom". Now there's your logo! Sign me up!

[@ffjsb]

12:52, there's another curve left at Hudson and Indianola, if you look at the N.E. corner on google maps, you can see it has wider radius.

[@treseatimson3349]

I love my home town C-bus!

[@garlinmiller5808]

thanks for shareing very good great video.

[@austx290]

Great video!

[@hankaustin7091]

great video!

[@Tolya1979]

The Hocking Valley, ran between Charleston, Athens, Logan, Columbus, and Toledo.

[@nssteampunk4865]

You can ride our Hocking Valley Scenic Railway between Nelsonville and Logan.

[@jasonbradford4788]

All I want to know is when are passenger rail and light rail coming to Columbus, because the transportation situation we have now isn't working.

[@johndillinger8482]

not happening

[@ffjsb]

Hopefully we'll have light and passenger rail NEVER. As much as I love trains, there's not a single passenger line in the US that would make it without government subsidies, because they're all money pits. There just isn't enough business for that form of transportation to survive. BTW, getting around in Columbus is extremely easy...

[@johndillinger8482]

It's easy to get around Columbus because this city is not really a big city.The present administration running Columbus want to turn it into another Seatttle,but it just won't work.

[@ffjsb]

Columbus actually IS a big city. It just is in fairly flat terrain, without major geographical obstructions like major waterways. Seattle is a major seaport. Big difference between the two. And since Columbus is a relatively "new" city, with most of it's major growth since the 50's.

[@richarda.w.4562]

@@ffjsb roads, parking and highways are also moneypits

[@sakeeler]

My God. I got to ride with the old Ohio Central Railroad crew on train ECL-1 (East Columbus Local #1). CSX owned the line back then. It was train #Z745), and do switching on that track when I was a teenager in 2002. Back then the engineer read the newspaper while i switched out the customers. How things have changed...

[@JOYOUSONEX]

My grandfather worked for two firms, Kilborn and Jacobs and Ollen Bishop companies in the early 1920s, 30's and 40's. I'm not sure of the exact spellings. I think they made saws of all types. Do you have any info on them??

[@mooddoom5782]

So strange, I pass by that bar everyday

[@Tolya1979]

Columbus was known as a major railroad crossroads, with the worst railroad yards in the country.

[@meman6964]

Big railroad maintenance barns on west side, Mckinley Ave. Our car would get caught between the rows of tracks as trains went in and out. As a kid I thought it was great fun

[@MikeIdy6000]

14:20 - where is this?

[@bjornpalenius2144]

I wanted more historical images, and less dining images!

[@litlgrey]

This alleged public transportation historian seriously never heard the term "straphanger" before? Really?

[@Pdasilva0324]

I won't knock her for that necessarily. That seems a term used by older generations and she is pretty young.

[@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory]

Usually they are called "trolley poles".