HAMILTON, Ohio — Relocation of the CSX train station in Hamilton, Ohio, which dates to the 1850s, could come as soon as November, reports the Journal-News of Middletown, Ohio.
There have been several delays in moving the station, which actually consists of two buildings, one a single-story structure and the other of two stories. At one point, it appeared the move might not happen until 2023, but Rich Engle, the city’s engineering director, told the newspaper that it appeared to be on track for November, although an exact schedule was not yet set.
The city accepted donation of the station from CSX in mid-2021 and was originally asked to have it off CSX property by May [see “Effort to save Ohio station may miss moving deadline …,” Trains News Wire, April 19, 2022], but preparations have been complex. Among the issues: work by contractor Coon Restoration to prepare the single-story building discovered that, while the building had been believed to sit on a concrete slab, it is actually on wood flooring with a concrete cap over a 4-foot basement. That space will have to be filled in for Wolfe House Building & Movers, which has agreed to handle the move, to properly lift the structure.
The city has budgeted $2 million to complete the move, but that may prove to be insufficient, the newspaper reports.
Back in the early ’50s, my dad had to come home from a business meeting in Chicago and while he had planned to use the NYC, the & the PRR had a work stoppage. So he took the B&O via Deshler to Hamilton where we picked him up at this station. It is where the Toledo and Indianapolis legs of the B&O join to get to Cincinnati. Amtrak passes it but quit using it many years ago.
That is why a set of plans are only good until the first shovel of soil is removed.