[N&W] Re: Is station really Coal Grove?

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

 > On the Virginia Tech site is a station picture, #ns370.jpg, that is kind of
 > dark. This station has a unique round tower over the bay window area. The
 > name appears to be COAL GROVE. Is it indeed COAL GROVE? And,
 > where is this?
 > There appears to be a navigateable river and some industry in the
 > background. Interesting station!
 >
 > Charlie Long

Charlie,
The area you are refering to is in OHIO at the southern tip of the
state,the river is the Ohio river,and the
industry is most likely the coke facilities near Ironton,and portsmouth
Ohio. If memory serves me correctley
Coal Grove is Where the Bridge that crosses from Ashland Kentucky ties into
Rt 52.along the Ohio River,thus basicly putting Coal Grove between
Chesapeake and Ironton Ohio.
If any other member can add to this please do so.
Stephen Daniel,
Chesapeake,Va.
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Charlie
Coal Grove is in Ohio on the Tadpole it was the first station east of
Ironton, The River is the Ohio. At one time there was a railroad ferry
operation at Coal Grove.
R F Smith
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I have a small book titled "Along the Right of Way". This list all stations
located on the N&W with a population over 100 based on the 1940 census. Coal
Grove is listed as being in Ohio. The accompaning description is: Coal Grove,
Ohio, in Lawrence County, has a population of 2,351, and is situated 557 feet
above the sea. The manufacture of brick and tile are important industries of
the town, and general farming and stock raising are carried on in the
surrounding community. Principal crops are corn, small grains, hay, and truck
crops. A current map shows Coal Grove to be located near Ironton, Ohio.

Alan Cox
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Charlie - you'll find Coal Grove just east of Ironton on the Kenova
District. And it's really Coal Grove.
EdK
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Good Morning Listers,
Yes, certainly Coal Grove(Ohio)was a station on the N&W. The one I know of was
just across The Beautiful Ohio River from Ashland, KY.
I do not have an N&W station book handy so I cannot check to see if there were
other "Coal Grove" locations on the N&W.
This of course is just east of Ironton, Ohio and on the main line of the N&W
between Kenova, WV and Portsmouth, Ohio.
Mr. Tim Hensley of Kenova, WV has parts of the old Coal Grove station built in
to his home such as the bay window, ticket counters and the like.
Tom "N&W" Dressler
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Sounds like it could be Coal Grove, Ohio. Coal Grove is located on the Ohio
River near Ironton.
A. J. Gemperline
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Coal Gove, OH had their station at the foot of the ASHLAND, KY / COAL GROVE,
OH bridge. It sat at the top of a ferry landing that had worked prior to the
bridge. The Station Master when I was approx. 6 yrs old went to our
Methodist Chruch in Coal Grove and I remember him as very old (probably 50).
But, he dressed sharply in his uniform.
Also, you could cross the tracks and have your pick of two bookies to place
any type bet you wanted.
West of the station was a ferry crossing for the ??? OHIO & WESTERN RXR ???.
We played on the piers that were left as rubble on the OHIO RIVER shoreline.
The ramp down to the river went pass our families' trucking business
terminal.
It was a fun childhood running loose on the riverbank but never in the water
(filthy) until July 1, 1968 (I believe this was the date) when Nixon enacted
the enforcement of the RIVERS AND HARBORS ACT OF 1899 which started the
clean up of all navigable waterways in the US, which is 93% of all water
flow in the country.
COAL GROVE sat in the middle of "rust belt USA" with coking plants, steel
mills, iron foundries, scrap processing, coal tar processing, cement kilns,
refineries, alloy production, and awful STEAM ENGINES of N&W and C&O. N&W
was on the north river bank and C&O was on the south side. C&O had their
Russell, KY yards about 5 mles west and N&W went on 30 miles to Portsmouth,
OH.
IRONTON, OH is next door neighbor of COAL GROVE.
Anything else ?????

Oakie G. Ford
IRONTON, OH
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Gary Rolih writes: The photo of COAL GROVE shows the station at COAL GROVE 
Ohio, just to the east of IRONTON, Ohio.

The majority of the stations photographed (see the TECH collection) for the 
1918 Valuation on the Scioto Division, Kenova and Columbus District show 
stations built by the Scioto Valley Railway somewhere between 1876 and the 
creation of the Scioto Valley and New England Railroad of 1889-90 when the 
N&W bought this line. Presumably this means most of the stations were built 
in the late 70's or early 80's.

Although, the 1918 Valuation photos don't show the "turrets" on all of the 
stations, apparently the SVRy had some type of turret on almost all of the 
stations they built. The only odd tower was the one on the Kingston, Ohio 
Station which was quite small. The remaining towers appeared to be large 
enough for a spiral staircase and human access. I speculate that sometime 
around the early 20's ( the date of some of the 1918 Valuation photographs) 
the N&W rebuilt or reworked these stations and removed the towers. I have 
older photo postcards that show towers and valuation photos showing the 
station rebuilt or reworked.

The only stations that seem to never have had towers were the SVRy station 
in Portsmouth and the SVRy station at Waverly, Ohio. I have photographs of 
each just after 1900 which do not show anything but a simple roof. I have 
never seen a photograph of the SVRy station at IRONTON, replaced by the 
existing brick station in 1913, so I cannot comment about this one.

Next time you are at the Archives, notice the photograph near the front 
door showing the station at OMEGA, Ohio. It clearly shows the turret style 
of construction. This photo was taken from an uncirculated photo postcard 
and probably dates from around 1910-1915.

As a closer, the Portsmouth, Ohio station that looks like a pagoda is the 
ex-CP&V station built in 1898. This was taken over by the N&W after the 
1901 purchase and used as the main station for the N&W. This station was at 
10th and Waller.

( Do any of the old timetables show connections with the B&O there? A 
little help , please. I know the B&O had a station in Bonneyfiddle Yard 
roughly a mile east.)

The other stations along the Cincinnati District were either Cincinnati & 
Eastern construction or CP&V construction, such as the station at 
Williamsburg and Batavia, Ohio. The N&W did rework or rebuild many of the 
ex-C&E or CP&V stations in the early 'teens- C&E stations were VERY basic 
as befits a narrow gauge road.
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The N&W station at Coal Grove, OH was almost on the riverbank of the
Ohio River and set next to US 52. Coal Grove was really a wide spot in
the road across the river and at the end of the Ashland, KY bridge. I
don't ever remember a train stopping at the station, but I suspect that
it was used as the N&Ws stop for Ashland. Onother interesting name in
the same area was Hanging Rock.

Larry Smith