Licking County Railroads, Part I - The Toledo & Ohio Central Railway

I like riding the bike path.  It allows me to imagine the past.

A long time ago, in the last half of the 19th Century, some businessmen decided that if they could carry the coal from coalfields in southeatern Ohio to Toledo, they could make some money. They went broke. Then, someone else bought the partially completed railroad, and with a fresh infusion of money, moved the railroad further along and after four more bankruptcies and reorganizations, the railroad operated as the Toledo and Ohio Central, or T&OC.

Eventually, the railroad became a subsidiary of the New York Central, and was made largely redundant, but there was a time when it was an important thing...

The railroad entered Licking County in the northwest, swung through Croton, then to Johnstown before a rather steep downhill run into the Raccoon Valley. Two stations were established, Alexandria and Clemons, before levelling out in Granville, then on to Newark.

Today, the original roadbed of the T&OC has been purchased by the T. J. Evans Foundation and is now a bike path.

The Alexandria Depot originally sat on the south side of the tracks at the end of a short road that went north off of Granville Road. The station was about two-thirds of the way between North Liberty Street/Mounts Road and Granville Road on Depot Street. Here, the railroad follows the side of a hill on a gentle downhill curve as it enters the Raccoon Valley flood plain. The T&OC offered residents of Alexandria the ability to travel into Newark; the interurban was a better choice for a journey to Columbus. Long time resident of Alexandria, Edith Irwin, recalled that when she was young, she would take her daughters on the T&OC to Granville where she could take the interurban to Newark, then Hebron where she transferred, and then along the old National Road into Columbus to do their shopping and return home for a late dinner.

A few miles downhill to the East is Clemons Station. There was never much there, even less today. Clemons offered water for thirsty steam engines chugging uphill towards Croton, a twenty-four-hour telegraph, a minor freight and passenger facility, and a bunkhouse for train crews. Sitting at the end of Loudon Street, where the Raccoon Creek has its closet approach to the rail, and water for the engines, Clemons provided an important place for the farmers who lived between Alexandria and Granvile.

Nothing remains of Clemons today, except some concrete footers. Bicyclists zip through the old station, many not even aware of the important role Clemons held in T&OC operations. Today, few residents of Alexandria even know Clemons Station existed.

Alexandria Station is partially gone. The building has been re-sited and restored in downtown Alexandria from its position along the tracks. The railroad no longer runs through Alexandria.