July 12, 2023 Cincinnati Eastern and New Castle Southern have become trusted partners in the Heavy Haul and Rigging communities.  In May, Cincinnati Eastern handled their 6th large transformer which transloaded at Sardinia OH.  Now in July,  the New Castle Southern is handling it’s first ever tranformer, transloading to truck in New Castle. 

March 30 2023  New Castle Southern has teamed up with TTX to help stage equipment headed into shops for preventive maintenance and program repairs.  This service along with increased car load business at our online customers has cause interchange with Norfolk Southern in New Castle to increase significantly.  In 2023, we have already interchanged more cars with NS than moved over the interchange in 2020 or 2021 and have already moved half as many as we did in all of 2022.    Today, we took delivery of an entire trainload of auto carriers from NS – Train ran as 12E on NS and originated on the Union Pacific in Kansas City – the UP power was used to spot the cars to storage.  

September 16  2022.   Cincinnati Eastern would like to welcome our newest customer, Ohio Mulch.   They have officially broken ground on their recently purchased 44.8 acres at 850 Roundbottom Road in Milford OH, directly next door to our transload operations and Hanson Aggregates yard at 880 Roundbottom.  This will be their flagship manufacturing facility and will replace the rail served facility at 4710 Dues Rd in Springdale OH.  Ohio Mulch supplies bagged mulch and other landscape products to wholesalers, landscape contractors, and retail outlets including Speedway, Kroger, Home Depot, and others. Initial traffic will be box cars of bagged cypress mulch from their Georgia manufacturing facility with an eye to expand to additional related landscaping products.  More about Ohio Mulch can be found at ohiomulch.com

July 28 2022.  Click on below link for an article on raw railroad tie sourcing at McCoy Lumber in Peebles OH

McCoy Lumber, Koppers Inc. share opportunity for Adams County and surrounding communities | People’s Defender (peoplesdefender.cm)

July 18, 2022 New Castle Southern spotted the first 2 gondolas for scrap metal loading out of Neal’s Scrap at the south end of the newly reopened 1.07 mile long “Rushville Branch” on the south side of New Castle.  This marks the first time in several years that Neal’s has shipped scrap by rail.  First picture is picking up the empties on the interchange track on east side of town, second picture is shoving into Neal’s spur.

June 10, 2022 Hanson held an Open House on Friday June 10th to celebrated the official grand opening of their new Milford Terminal, located at the Cincinnati Eastern owned and operated transload terminal at 880 Roundbottom Road.  The first stone for inventory began rolling back in October of 2021 and continued to move weather permitting over the winter as the CCET finished construction of the facility and Hanson began transitioning from their old Batavia facility.  A “soft opening” occurred in March as the stockpiles at Batavia where being depleted leading up to the official Grand Opening. 

The following pictures depict the facility and #67 Limestone being unloaded during the Open House. The higher volume grades, such as #304 Limestone and 1″ Crusher Run are handled on the extended belt system and are stockpiled via a 110′ radial arm stacker.  Lower volume grades such as the #67s, as well as non Hanson products such as lightweight aggregates and marble chips come off the short stacker and are moved around the facility via front end loaders and dump trucks.  The facility also has a RBT portable railcar unloader that can unload single cars independent of the unloading pit and conveyor system.

May 26, 2022  Construction has commenced on the New Castle Southern’s track rehabilitation project in New Castle.  Phase 1 is to restore the out of service 1.07 mile long “Rushville Branch” to service, allowing New Castle Southern to directly serve Neal Scrap.  This will allow the the sand transloading for Grede Foundry to return to Neals Property, and allow Neal to begin shipping out scrap metal by rail.  Crews are shown here in the early phases of returning this line to service.

April 28, 2022 Cincinnati Eastern welcomes Jack McCoy Lumber in Peebles OH as our newest customer.  McCoy returns to rail for this first time in nearly a decade.  Initially they are shipping raw hardwood crossties with plans to expand into additional lumber and wood products moving by rail.  Welcome Aboard!

April 12 , 2022  New Castle Southern Railroad has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Transportation’s Industrial Rail Service Fund (IRSF).  The INDOT IRSF was established by the Indiana State Legislature (I.C 8-3 -1.7) to assist in funding for the rehabilitation and construction of Class II and Class III Freight Railroad and Port Authority infrastructure.   These funds with help facilitate a 3-tiered project to rehabilitate and restore rail service to customers in New Castle IN.    The first tier of the project is a rehabilitation of the currently out of service 1.07 mile long “Rushville” branch from downtown New Castle to Neal’s Scrap on the southside of town.  Second tier will be rehabilitation of 1.8 miles of mainline and sidings from downtown New Castle toward the eastern city limits.  Third tier of project is the construction of a new 1100′ siding in New Castle.  This work will allow NCS’s current customer to expand their volume and allow for additional customers to come on line. 

March 18, 2022.  Last year at this time, Cincinnati Eastern Railroad teamed up with Edwards Moving and Rigging of Shelbyville KY to move a large 138 KV electrical transformer into Sardinia OH for a new electrical substation north of Mt Orab OH.  One year later, we teamed up again to move two more similar transformers.  Each tipping the scales at 380,153 lbs, they measured 17′ 7″ tall, 11′ 1″ wide and  27 feet long.

January 4, 2022

Meet the newest member of the CCET roster – SD40-2 #3512.  The 3512 began it’s career as BN 7010, before becoming BNSF 7010, spending a brief time as HLCX 7010 before becoming NS 3512.  The 3512 will become the primary power for the new stone trains.

November 29, 2021

Monday November 29th marked the first revenue unit stone train operated by Cincinnati Eastern (CCET) for Lehigh Hanson Aggregates.  These trains originate at Hanson’s quarry at Plum Run OH and operate to the CCET Transload Facility on Round Bottom Road in Milford OH.  Hanson is relocating their Clermont County Distribution Yard from Taylor Road in Batavia to this new rail served facility, eliminating thousands of trucks annually from the Ohio SR 32 corridor.   

October 5, 2021

Monday October 4th marked the fist revenue train operation for the New Castle Southern Railroad (NCS), shown here at 15th Street in New Castle IN with 10 loads of sand for Grede Foundry.  NCS operates 21 miles of track in  Henry and Wayne County Indiana, serving New Castle IN, Cambridge City IN, and Beesons IN.  Line services Homestead’s newest transload center in New Castle IN, offering customizable full commodity transloading and warehousing services.

July 28, 2021

Meet the newest member of the CCET Roster – GP15-1 # 1686, shown here in her new livery at Sardinia OH.  The 1686 and sister unit 1657 began their careers at the Missouri Pacific Railroad as MP 1657 and MP 1686.  We look forward to these units providing many years of service to the CCET

May 12, 2021

ORDC Press Release
The Ohio Rail Development Commission today approved a $150,000 grant to the Cincinnati Eastern Railroad (CCET) to provide rail service to the new Purina facility in Batavia.
 
These funds will be used to help construct a 1,100-foot connecting track, the last piece of rail infrastructure needed to link CCET with the Purina facility and ensure timely, effective rail service. The track is estimated to cost about $910,000. This work is in support of the $550-million investment in the Purina facility which will have 300 employees when construction is completed. The company plans to be operational in early 2023. Rail is an integral part of this facility’s logistics chain. Served by the CCET, Purina will receive a significant amount of inbound grain via rail. The facility will have extensive on-site rail infrastructure. This CCET project is the access point to that on-site infrastructure connecting the Purina plant to CCET’s network.
 
James Nobbe, Vice President and Director of Business Development, CCET, said: “Cincinnati Eastern Railroad, in conjunction with our partners at Norfolk Southern, is honored that Nestle Purina PetCare has chosen a location on our railroad to construct their new $550 million state-of-the-art pet food plant. We appreciate the continued support of the Ohio Rail Development Commission on this and other projects which have preserved and expanded rail service in southwest and south-central Ohio.”
 
Matthew Dietrich, Executive Director of the ORDC, said: “ORDC is happy to be able to help CCET make all the necessary improvements to connect the new Purina facility to the national rail network. Not only will this project provide Purina with better logistics but it will also help build traffic on a line that was once in jeopardy of being taken out of service. The Purina project is a great example of how rail-served sites benefit Ohio’s site selection efforts.”

December 4, 2020.  Homestead Rail in conjunction with our partners at the Union City Terminal Railroad, now offers full service, all commodity transloading services in Union City TN, with connecting service to the Canadian National Railroad.  Here we see a UTC locomotive spotting the FIRST car to arrive at the new Homestead Rail managed transload center on December 3, 2020.    

November 10. 2020.  Progress is being made at CCET’s two large projects.  The new entrance to the CCET Transload Center on Roundbottom Road is complete, and the unloading equipment is being installed.  Meanwhile, construction is in full swing at Nestle Purina’s new plant on line.

 

October 26, 2020.  Cincinnati Eastern Railroad, in conjunction with our partners at Norfolk Southern, is honored that Nestle Purina PetCare has chosen a location on the Cincinnati Eastern to construct their new $550 million, state of the art pet food plant.  Welcome Aboard Nestle Purina PetCare

September 9, 2020.  Tuesday Sept 8 saw the installation of the unloading pit for Transload Facility in Milford.  Conveyor installation coming soon.

August 3, 2020.  Work continues at CCET’s new transload facility in Milford.   Several loads of conveyors and unloading equipment have arrived for installation.  Unloading activity taking place at BZak Landscaping will transfer to this new facility soon. 

June 8, 2020.  Cincinnati Eastern has broken ground on a new transload terminal in Milford OH. This will be a full service terminal with truck scales and is a replacement for our current transloading operations.  It is also the future home of Hanson Aggregates Clermont Resale Yard, which will be fed by unit trains of stone originating at Hanson’s CCET served Eagle and Plum Run facilities.

March 24, 2020.  Cincinnati Eastern Railroad teamed up with Edwards Moving and Rigging of Shelbyville KY to move a large 138 KV electrical transformer into Sardinia OH for a new electrical substation north of Mt Orab OH.  This critical piece of infrastructure orignated on the Kansas City Southern Railroad System, who handed it off to our partners at Norfolk Southern in St Louis,  The massive load had a gross weight of 443,695 lbs and was over 18 feet, 6 inches tall and 11 feet 4 inches wide. 

December 10, 2019.   Cincinnati Eastern Railroad (CCET) is happy to announce that we have secured a lease extension with Norfolk Southern.  Docket Number FD 36370 was filed with the STB today.  This lease extension secures CCET’s future and allows for continued investment and commitments needed to continue growing the franchise.

September 30, 2019.   WELCOME GARICK LLC as the newest customer of the Cincinnati Eastern Railroad.  Garick is a leading distributor and processor of renewable and sustainable natural resource products in the United States and Canada, servicing the landscape, recreation, lawn, garden, and construction markets. With 8 processing facilities, and over 40 independent copackers, terminals and ports located throughout the United States, Garick has the capability to supply a complete range of products in bags, bulk, or barges throughout North America.

September 25, 2019.  Service to one of CCET’s newest customers has commenced with the arrival of the first two pressure differential covered hopper loads of crushed limestone at Omni Materials,division of Mt Carmel Stabilization Group.  Mt. Carmel Stabilization Group, Inc. provides soil stabilization services in the United States and Canada. The company offers soil drying, soil modification, full depth reclamation, asphalt pulverization, bentonite lining, and frozen coal pulverization services. It handles airports, departments of transportation, commercial/residential, wind energy, and oil and gas development projects.  

APRIL 25, 2019  WELCOME Pavestone Company LLC to the Cincinnati Eastern Railroad family of customers.  They are one of our newest customers, receiving raw material by rail.  Pavestone Company, LLC manufactures and distributes segmental concrete products for commercial, residential, contractor, industrial, and retail consumer markets. The company offers stone and concrete brick paving products, including concrete pavers, patio stones, retaining and freestanding wall systems, concrete edging, and landscape accessories. Its accessories include landscape rock, sealers and cleaners, vinyl edging and plastic edging, geosynthetic reinforcement, landscape fabrics, wall adhesives, soil amendments, and paver accessories, as well as joint, base, and play sand. The company also provides driveway, pathway, patio, wall, step, terrace, pool deck, and commercial design ideas; stone fireplaces and fire pits for outdoor living space; and how to guides for installing pavers, landscape rock, and landscape edging, as well as building retaining walls, patios, and rumblestones. It offers its products through retailers, distributors, and dealers in the United States.