The Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway (CL&N) was a
local passenger and freight-carrying railroad in the southwestern
part of the U.S. state of Ohio, connecting Cincinnati to Dayton via
Lebanon. It was built in the late 19th century to give the town of
Lebanon and Warren County better transportation facilities. The
railroad was locally known as the "Highland Route", since it
followed the ridge between the Little and Great Miami Rivers, and
was the only line not affected by floods such as the Great Dayton
Flood of 1913. The company went through multiple bankruptcies, both
before and after its 1881 completion, until the Pennsylvania
Railroad gained control in 1896 and leased it in 1921. Except for
several years in the mid-1880s, when the line was under control of
the narrow-gauge Toledo, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad, it was
not a major line, in part due to its steep approach to downtown
Cincinnati. For this reason, portions of the line have been
abandoned, beginning in 1952 with a segment north of Lebanon.
Passenger service was eliminated entirely in 1934. Conrail, the
Pennsylvania Railroad's successor, sold the remaining trackage in
the 1980s to the Indiana and Ohio Railway, a short line now owned
by RailAmerica. That company continues to provide local freight
service on the ex-CL&N, and the Lebanon Mason Monroe Railroad
operates tourist trains on a portion of the line near Lebanon.
Congratulations to "amlgeocach" for the
FTF