BELLEFONTAINE, OHIO THE RISE AND FALL OF A BIG FOUR TERMINAL

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Part Number:125153

New Book
Scott Trostle 184 pages softcover

Bellefontaine, Ohio, was on the survey of the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad in 1847. It was the first railroad chartered west of the Appalachian Mountains and the very first to specify the use of steam locomotives.  It mad a connection with Sandusky, Ohio on Lake Erie with another pioneer railroad, the Little Miami Railroad, that connected it with the Ohio River to the south.  The next railroad to build into Bellefontaine was the Bellefontaine & Indiana Railroad; the first train ran out of Bellefontaine in 1852.  It started a movement to connect Cleveland to a new railroad at the Ohio-Indiana state line.

Several owners later, the lines came under the Big 4, controlled by the Vanderbilt empire.  It was 1891, and President Melville Ingalls saw a need to consolidate several roundhouses across three states into a single facility and build shops to facilitate locomotive overhaul and new construction.  He turned to Bellefontaine, Ohio - a crossroad on his railroad.  In addition he proposed the construction of a major yard, the first of three that eventually handled over a million cars a year. 

The heart of these operations was BS Junction, where the two important lines met, and site of the passenger station.  The neighborhood grew to include restaurants, saloons, hotels and boarding houses. 

A sleepy town, and highest point in Ohio suddenly found itself with explosive growth, the need for homes, new enlarged schools, merchants, and churches.  Hundreds of men seeking work on the railroad came to town.  Just nine years later the situation brought a need for a Railway Y.M.C.A.   It was very popular and demand drove its growth. It was the first of three facilities and by 1920 included a 3 story building and a train of sleeping cars for use by the railroad men.

The shop eventually switched to car maintenance and the roundhouse grew to 39 stalls.  The important passenger trains, including the Southwestern Limited and the Knickerbocker, made station stops in town. 

The railroad facilities had a tragic end.  A locomotive explosion at the roundhouse was an ominous sign.  The next year, 1943, saw a horrific fire destroy the roundhouse and support buildings.  The station burned down in 1946.  Dieselization in 1955 meant that there was no need to maintain such a large facility.  The coal tower burned down in 1956.  The skeleton of the abandoned roundhouse burned in 1965 and 1975.  The rationalization of the Sandusky Division brought an end to BS Junction.  The collapse of Penn Central brought several additional cuts and Gest Yard was abandoned.  Amtrak brought an end to passenger service in 1971.  The creation of Conrail was the death knell for the terminal.   All operations in the terminal were closed out by 1983. The only evidence of the once great terminal is a double track main line.