South Hamilton Yard


South Hamilton Yard was also known as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad pit yard originally built by the Cincinnati Hamilton & Dayton Railroad mostly abandoned by CSX Transportation a little after the Chessie System a merger with the Seaboard System in the late 1980s. The yard is bordered on the west and south by the Lindenwald neighborhood of Hamilton, Ohio and by the second ward neighborhood on the north and east.
All former buildings, including the roundhouse, coal tipple, and turntable have been removed. The former Central Ave. South Hamilton Crossing as of 2018 has been replaced with the SHX South Hamilton Crossing Overpass carrying Grand Blvd. The yard is located at the intersection of Grand Boulevard and Pleasant Avenue in Hamilton, Ohio 45011.

Steam excursions

The last steam locomotive operated through Hamilton guiding a Baltimore & Ohio freight train in May 1958. A year later, in May 1959, two retired steam locomotives stored at South Hamilton Yard were sent to Cincinnati to be scrapped.
Steam excursions have stopped at the station with Nickel Plate 765, in 1984 as a Cincinnati 1984 National Railway Historical Society National Convention excursions, on August 25, 1984 from Cincinnati to Muncie, IN, which would take the Cincinnati Terminal Subdivision to Hamilton then take the New Castle District at New River Junction in New Miami, Ohio. The next day on August 26, 1984 on a trip from Cincinnati to Indianapolis over the Indianapolis Subdivision west from Hamilton, Ohio after coming up the CSX Cincinnati Terminal Subdivision again. The engine would pass by again September 4, 1984, on a one-way ferry move hauling freight taking the same route as the trip to Muncie, IN, this time headed from Ludlow, KY back home to Ft. Wayne, IN.
A train also passed thru September 7, 1982, hauling freight on a one-way ferry move from Lima, Ohio to Cincinnati on the CSX Toledo Subdivision for weekend excursions after coming from its home base in Ft. Wayne, IN. These excursions September 11-12, 1982 from Cincinnati to Muncie, IN would run on the Norfolk Southern New Castle District. Would pass thru yet again on another one way ferry move on 10/27/1986, from Cincinnati back home to Ft. Wayne, IN on the way back from pulling the New River Train in West Virginia taking the CSX Cincinnati Terminal Subdivision, than the Norfolk Southern New Castle District at New River Junction in New Miami, Ohio.
A train passed through on September 15, 1990, would on a one-way ferry move hauling freight again headed from Lima, Ohio to Cincinnati while on its way to West Virginia to pull the New River Train again then headed back thru on 10/29/1990. Also in 1993 this time dressed up as Chesapeake & Ohio 2765 on a trip sponsored by the Cincinnati Railroad Club on 10/3/1993, on another trip from Cincinnati to Indianapolis and return over the CSX Indianapolis Subdivision.
The Chessie Safety Express with Chesapeake & Ohio 614 would pass thru 5/9/1981 on a round trip from Cincinnati to Lima, Ohio and return on the Chessie System Toledo Subdivision. The American Freedom Train would pass thru with Reading 2101 on June 12, 1975, headed from Cincinnati to Archbold, Ohio on the Chessie System Toledo Subdivision heading north. On August 3, 1991 Nickel Plate 765 & Pere Marquette 1225 would both together pass thru as a doubleheader deadhead move from Lima, Ohio south down the CSX Toledo Subdivision to Cincinnati, while heading to the 1991 National Railway Historical Society National Convention in Huntington, West Virginia.