Valley Railway

Railway historians Sam Tamburro and Juliet Galonska have written that David L. King, a wealthy attorney in Akron, obtained a state charter for an "Akron and Canton Railway" in 1869.[lower-alpha 1] This charter was turned over to the Valley Railway in 1871.[2] Ohio state historian Simeon D. Fess, however, mentions no charter for the Akron & Canton effort. Rather, he says Akron and Canton residents attempted to persuade the B&O to build a line between those two cities. They raised $300,000 ($6,900,000 in 2022 dollars) in 1870 for the purchase of land and for construction. But when the railroad declined to build the line, the citizen-investors turned this money over to the Valley Railway in 1871.[9]

Akron area historian Samuel A. Lane also discusses the fundraising attempt. He notes that King was a primary backer of the effort, but mentions no charter. Lane says the effort to build a railroad ended in the spring of 1871 for reasons which were unclear. The idea, however, gave rise to the Valley Railway.[10] Canton railroad historian Craig Sanders also claims that area residents obtained a state charter for the Akron & Canton. However, Sanders says the line began construction 1873, and then ran out of funds. The route must have been different from the Valley Railway's route, as Sanders says both were being built in 1873.[11][lower-alpha 2]

Whether there were antecedent roads or not, the Valley Railway Company was incorporated in the state of Ohio on August 21, 1871.[10][13] The incorporators consisted of Henry Chisholm, co-founder and primary investor in the Cleveland Rolling Mill (a steel mill); James Farmer, president of the Ohio National Bank; Samuel Augustus Fuller, founder of the Union Iron Works (a Cleveland iron foundry); David L. King; Nathan P. Payne, a Cleveland coal dealer; and Warrick B. Price, Midwestern real estate developer and former secretary and treasurer of the Milwaukee and Beloit Railroad and the Aetna Iron and Nail Company.[14] The state-issued charter permitted the railroad to construct a line from the city of Cleveland on the shore of Lake Erie south-southeast to the village of Bowerston, Ohio.[13]

The sale of Valley Railway stock began in January 1872. The intent was to sell $150,000 ($3,700,000 in 2022 dollars) in stock in both Akron and Canton, and $500,000 ($12,200,000 in 2022 dollars) in stock in Cleveland.[15] King, the chief organizer of the corporation,[16] raised $191,700 ($4,400,000 in 2022 dollars) from Akron area investors.[10] Sales fell far short in Cleveland,[15] even after the Cleveland Rolling Mill bought $50,000 ($1,200,000 in 2022 dollars) worth of stock.[17]

The company was finally organized on April 24, 1872.[10] Its directors were Farmer, King, and Payne, as well as George Cook (Akron-based director of agricultural implement manufacturer Aultman Miller & Co., and director of the First National Bank of Akron), James A. Saxton (Canton-based founder of the Stark County Bank), John Frederick Seiberling (Akron-based agricultural implement manufacturer), and Andros B. Stone (co-owner of the Cleveland Rolling Mill).[18] The newly-constituted board on May 6 elected Farmer president, King vice president, and incorporator Warrick Price the secretary and treasurer.[19]

Stock certificate of the Valley Railway

The route was surveyed and land purchased during 1872. On February 3, 1873, the railway contracted with Arthur L. Conger and Nicholas E. Vansickle (both of Akron) to build the railroad.[15] Ground was broken in Springfield Township in Summit County in March 1873.[20] The work initially proceeded very swiftly. By mid-August, two-thirds of the line had been graded[20] (from Canton north almost to Cleveland),[9] contracts for all the bridges had been let, and some bridges had even been partially completed.[20] A financial panic hit in September 1873, creating worldwide economic havoc. The Panic of 1873 forced the railroad to indefinitely suspend construction[9] on May 14, 1874.[15]

By fall 1874, the railroad had run out of money and incurred debts of $150,000 ($1,300,000 in 2022 dollars). To resolve the impasse and get construction going again, David L. King agreed to accept the position of president of the railway. He demanded, however, that the members of the board of directors personally assume financial responsibility for paying off the company's liabilities. The board agreed, and King was elected on September 25, 1874.[20] To raise funds for construction, King traveled to Europe in February 1875, but failed to sell any bonds.[22] Two years passed before King was able to interest bankers and investors in Cleveland and New York City to purchase the $6.5 million ($178,600,000 in 2022 dollars) in bonds the railroad needed to complete work.[20]

Walsh & Moynahan, new contractors, were hired, and work resumed on August 7, 1878.[23] Once grading was complete, track began to be laid. The first rail was laid near Old Forge in Akron (near the present-day intersection of N. Arlington Street and North Street)[24] on October 26, 1878. From Akron, rails were laid north toward Cleveland and south toward Canton; in Cleveland, the company began laying rails south to meet the line coming up from Akron.[20]

Work was once again suspended on January 25, 1879,[20] in a dispute over the quality of work provided by Walsh & Moynahan.[23] A new contractor, the firm of Strong & Carey, was hired, and work resumed on June 3, 1879.[20] When the Valley ran low on cash again, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (LS&MS) loaned it about $250,000 ($7,900,000 in 2022 dollars) to finish the track.[25][lower-alpha 3]

The 57-mile (92 km) line[23] between Cleveland and Canton was completed on October 27, 1879.[26] The first train (which carried important businessmen, civic leaders, clergy, industrialists, and politicians) ran on the line on January 28, 1880.[11][20] Regular freight and passenger traffic began running on February 2, 1880.[3][20]

Work on the remainder of the railroad slowed appreciably. The Valley Railway crossed the Pennsylvania Railroad's Fort Wayne Line in Canton,[27] and followed the valleys of various streams and creeks to reach Mineral City, Ohio,[28] which it did on July 15, 1882.[11] There, it crossed the Pennsylvania Railroad's Tuscarawas Branch.[29] It reached Valley Junction (Zoarville, Ohio) a few months later.[23] Track work beyond Valley Junction was delayed because the Valley Railway had yet to negotiate trackage rights with the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad (W&LE). An agreement was finally reached in late 1882, and became effective January 1, 1883.[11] The remainder of the line was completed swiftly, and in 1884 the Valley Railway between Bowerston and Valley Junction was completed—linking the Valley Railway with the W&LE and points east.[20]

At the time of its completion, the Valley Railway had 75 miles (121 km) of main line track, 19 miles (31 km) of branch track, 35 miles (56 km) of siding, and a 2-mile (3.2 km) spur from Mineral City to a nearby Sieberling-owned coal mine.[30] It linked northeast Ohio's three largest cities, creating a regional transportation corridor.[31]

The Valley Railway originally built 16 depots.[23] North to south, these were located at:

• Cleveland.[32][lower-alpha 4]
• Independence[23]
• Tinker's Creek[33]
• Brecksville[23]
• Boston Mills[23]
• Peninsula[23]
• Johnny Cake Lock on the Ohio and Erie Canal (later renamed Unionville, and still later Everett)[34][23][35][lower-alpha 5]
• Hawkins (later renamed Ira; now no longer in existence)[37][23][lower-alpha 6]
• Niles (later renamed Botzum)[38][23]
• Akron at Howard and Ridge Streets[39]
• Krumroy (south of Akron on Krumroy Road, between Marvo Drive and McChesney Road)[40][41]
• Myersville[42]
• Green[34]

In 1884, Akron granted permission for the Valley to build a spur into the heart of the city. On this spur the railroad built a new, larger passenger depot at the intersection of Canal and West Market Streets in 1887.[43] The railroad continued to use the old station at Howard and Ridge Streets until 1971.[39]

A portion of the Valley Railway's route followed the bed of the abandoned Ohio and Erie Canal.[15] The canal bed was originally owned by the state of Ohio. The railroad asked the Cleveland City Council if it would lease the canal bed to the company, and the council agreed to do so on March 24, 1879.[44] On October 31, 1879, pursuant to previously enacted state law, Governor Richard M. Bishop transferred title to that portion of the canal within the city limits to the city of Cleveland. On November 4, 1879, the city formally leased the canal bed to the Valley Railway[45] for 99 years.[15] Although the value of the land was estimated to be $280,000 ($7,200,000 in 2022 dollars), the city agreed to a one-time payment of $265,000 ($6,900,000 in 2022 dollars), payable in Valley Railway corporate bonds.[45] The railway filled the canal with ballast to create the track bed.[15]

The state of Ohio was displeased that the city had leased the canal bed, and challenged the lease in 1879. A special joint committee was appointed by the Ohio Senate that year to examine the issue, but concluded that the city properly held title to the canal bed and could do with it as it wished. The joint committee's report was subsequently adopted by the Ohio Senate.[45] This did not put an end to the dispute. In late 1895, Ohio Attorney General John K. Richards announced that, in his opinion, the lease to the railroad was illegal. The state then sued to recover the canal bed and evict the railroad.[46] The state legislature adopted a resolution later that year in which it expressed its opinion that the transfer of title to the city had been proper under state law.[47]

Discussions among the city, state, and Valley Railway continued until 1908. That year, an appraiser once more found in favor of the railway. Frustrated, the state attorney general filed a motion in state district court in early March 1908 demanding title to the canal bed.[48] In October of that year, the railway filed a demurrer in the case.[49] The case dragged on into 1910. The 1896 legislative resolution became an issue before the courts, with the state attorney general arguing that a resolution was inadequate to affirm the city's title to the canal bed. Only a bill could have confirmed title, the state argued in March 1910.[47] The district court held for the state of Ohio. The railway appealed, and an appellate court held for the state of Ohio. The railway appealed to the Supreme Court of Ohio.[50] In late January 1912, the Supreme Court of Ohio held in favor of the railway.[51][52]

The B&O took majority ownership in the Valley Railway in 1889.

The Valley Railroad found itself in tight competition with the Connotton Valley Railway,[36] which opened in January 1882[53][lower-alpha 7] and had a similar route into the Tuscarawas County coal fields. Yet, coal was the key to the Valley's financial success: By 1888, 75 percent of the Valley Railway's income came from freight, and 40 percent of its freight tonnage was coal.[36]

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) wanted to gain access to Cleveland, but lacked a route of its own into the city.[3] In the spring of 1889, Taintor & Holt, a New York City investment firm, began buying up the Valley Railroad's stock on behalf of the B&O. The firm turned this stock over to the B&O in the fall of 1889.[20] With the assistance of Valley board member Sylvester T. Everett and Valley president Jeptha Wade, the B&O obtained majority ownership of the Valley Railroad in late 1889. At the board of directors meeting on January 8, 1890, the B&O installed three of its own candidates on the Valley's board of directors. Wade resigned as president, and the new board elected Thomas M. King (a B&O official from Baltimore) president in his place.[55] Sylvester Everett was elected the railroad's new vice president.[56]

The Valley Railway was financially successful. In its first decade, the railroad's main cargoes were coal, copper ore, iron ore, lime, sand, and stone, but it carried much less agricultural produce than had been estimated.[23] By 1892, four trains a day ran the entire length of the railroad, with two additional trains running each day between Cleveland and Akron.[20]

Worldwide financial difficulties led to the Valley Railway's collapse in 1892. They began with the Baring crisis in the United Kingdom, a banking panic which spread to the United States and caused a major recession in 1891. The Valley Railway went into receivership in 1892.[56][57] The railroad might have recovered, but the Panic of 1893 led to another significant downturn in both passengers and freight traffic.[11] The railroad tried to build revenue by constructing a 3-mile (4.8 km) branch from the main line at Willow (Old Brecksville Road) along Mill Creek to E. 76th Street, and then E. 76th Street and Jones Road to Broadway Avenue. This track was intended to serve the old Newburgh area's steel industry, and became known as the Newburgh Branch.[58][lower-alpha 8]

Expansion proved unsuccessful. The Valley Railway had been the primary means of travel from Canton to Akron to Cleveland, but in 1895 the Northern Ohio Interurban Railroad opened.[56] This inexpensive light rail service effectively destroyed the Valley Railway's passenger traffic between Cleveland and Akron,[59] eliminating a major source of the company's revenue. The Valley defaulted on its bills and interest payments and went into full bankruptcy on August 2, 1895.[60]

The company was reorganized as the Cleveland Terminal and Valley Railroad (CT&V) on October 3, 1895.[11] As part of the reorganization, the Valley transferred property worth about $250,000 ($8,800,000 in 2022 dollars) to the LS&MS as payment for the 1879 loan.[25]

New 1896 freight depot

1896 Riverbed St. freight dock, with McMyler rotary coal hoist

New 1898 passenger depot

In February 1896, the CT&V announced it would construct new, larger freight and passenger facilities in Cleveland to accommodate the increased business it was doing in the city. The existing passenger depot at the foot of Seneca Street (now W. 3rd Street) would be demolished and a 500-foot (150 m) long, 125-foot (38 m) deep, two-story station[32] built on the same spot.[61] A 700-foot (210 m) long train shed, parallel to the rear of the depot, would also be built. A trestle would bring the trains up to the level of the station and train shed. The CT&V also acquired 2,500 feet (760 m) of riverfront[32] along Columbus Road, south of Center Street.[62] The company said it would build a second freight station and extensive new docks there,[32] complete with McMyler[63] rotary car dumpers. To connect the new freight station and docks with the main tracks, the railway asked the city to close Lime Street. The total cost of the project was estimated at $500,000 ($17,600,000 in 2022 dollars).[32] The freight station, which also featured derricks to assist with the loading of heavy cargo, was completed in June 1896 and the old freight depot retained as a storage facility.[62] The steel-frame station was 50 feet (15 m) deep and 500 feet (150 m) long, with walls and roofing of sheet metal. There were 25 loading bays on the dock side alone, and traveling overhead cranes facilitated the movement of heavy loads onto pallets or into freight wagons.[63]

As part of the freight expansion, the CT&V built a second freight depot and docks on the Cuyahoga River between Main Avenue and Cathan Avenue (just west of the Superior Avenue Viaduct Bridge). The city of Cleveland, however, wished to widen the Cuyahoga River by 80 feet (24 m) at this point. The city and the railway came to an agreement whereby the city would close West River Street and give this 80 feet (24 m) of land to the railroad. The 80 feet (24 m) of land on which the CT&V docks sat would be removed to allow for the widened river channel. Since the river was a "highway" under state law, the railway agreed to pay an assessment of about $16,500 ($600,000 in 2022 dollars) for "highway improvements"; in return, the city agreed to rebuild the CT&V's docks.[64]

The new passenger depot began construction in September 1897. Designed by local structural engineer A. Lincoln Hyde and architect William Stillman Dutton[61][65] in a modified Gothic Revival style,[65] it was built by contractor C.N. Griffin. The structure was much different than originally projected, just 100-foot (30 m) long and 43-foot (13 m) deep but with three stories rather than two.[61] The roof was of slate, mined in Virginia.[63] The building's steel frame[65] had a first floor facade of rock-faced blue sandstone, while the upper floors were of buff pressed brick[61] trimmed with stone. Turrets at the corners helped to strengthen the building, and clock tower illuminated by floodlights rose from the steeply pitched roof.[65] The clock mechanism was designed and built by the local firm of Scribner and Loehr.[63] The baggage room on the lower level had an asphalt floor.[65] At the main entrance on the first floor was a vestibule from which passengers could pass into the lobby.[61] Men's and women's waiting rooms were located on either side of the lobby.[65] First story flooring consisted of mosaic tile[61] manufactured and installed by the Newcastle Block Pavement Co. of Pittsburgh.[63] The walls were painted a reddish-orange and featured wood wainscoting painted dark green,[65] with oak trim and moldings on the walls and ceiling.[61] An elevator and stairs led from the vestibule to the upper floors.[61] The second floor housed the CT&V's corporate headquarters, and featured mosaic tile flooring and walls painted ecru with oak trim. A large brick pillar, running through the building to the foundation, supported the heavy safes in the auditor's and engineer's offices.[65] The third floor contained the railway's engineering and telegraphy offices,[61] while the attic was used for records storage.[65] The entire interior was electrically lit. The train shed was just 300-foot (91 m) and 90-foot (27 m) wide. The cost of the new passenger station was estimated at $100,000 ($3,500,000 in 2022 dollars).[61] The train shed behind the new station was only the second of its kind erected in the United States. Constructed by the Massillon Bridge Company, it consisted of two levels—one for the receiving of incoming and outgoing passenger traffic, and the other for the making up of trains and the loading of special trains.[63]

System map from 1898

With the depression caused by the Panic of 1896 ending, the CT&V did very well financially. It gave the Wheeling & Lake Erie trackage rights over the entire length of the CT&V,[66] built a new freight depot in Cleveland on Seneca Street near the Central Viaduct (a block north of what is now W. 3rd Street and Harrison Street),[67] and purchased 3.4 acres (14,000 m²) between end of its tracks and Lake Erie for use as a rail yard. This land was obtained from the city of Cleveland for $6,000 ($200,000 in 2022 dollars). The CT&V subsequently built up the land so it would no longer flood.[68]

On November 9, 1898, the Sandyville and Waynesburg Railroad was chartered to build a line between the C&TV line at Sandyville northeast about 3 miles (4.8 km) to Waynesburg, Ohio. The line was completed on July 1, 1899, and leased to the CT&V.[69] (The line was originally intended to be 9.5 miles (15.3 km) long.)[70]

In April 1899, the Davis Railway Co. constructed a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) extension of the spur at Mineral City. This branch pushed east along Huff Run to Linden (an unincorporated crossroads hamlet)[71] and the Davis Mine No. 2 coal mine. The entire 4.9-mile (7.9 km) length of the spur from Valley Junction to the mine became known as the Huff Run Branch. Mining was so important in the area that the Huff Run Branch later added 2.63 miles (4.23 km) of second track and 7.53 miles (12.12 km) of sidings.[72]

The B&O was threatened with losing access to many of the southern Ohio markets it relied on in 1899. The first threat came from the Cleveland and Marietta Railway. In 1872, it built a branch line from Marietta, Ohio, to the B&O main line at Harmer Junction.[73] This allowed B&O and CT&V freight to be shipped on the Cleveland and Marietta (C&M) directly to Cleveland (or to be transferred at Canton and shipped to Cleveland). The Cleveland and Marietta said it would no longer accept freight for either railroad beginning January 1, 1900.[74] That same year, the Wheeling & Lake Erie acquired the Cleveland, Canton and Southern Railroad, whose track from Cleveland to Canton and then to Coshocton and Zanesville. The W&LE said it would cancel the CT&V's trackage rights,[3] which threatened to cut the CT&V completely off from all southern routes and markets. In response, the CT&V began to swiftly survey a route from Valley Junction to Canal Dover (now Dover)[75] and then to Newark, Ohio,[74][76] which would give it a link to the B&O's main line and threaten to eat significantly into traffic on both the C&M and the W&LE. To avoid construction of an independently owned new main line, the Pennsylvania Railroad agreed to give the B&O subsidiary trackage rights between Valley Junction and Canal Dover. At Canal Dover, the CT&V connected with the Lake Shore and Tuscarawas Valley Railroad (now operating as the Cleveland, Lorain and Wheeling Railroad).[3]

The CT&V thrived financially, and so did business along its route—and the railway expanded to meet this demand. In 1900, the Cleveland-Boston Bag Co. built a large mill near the tiny hamlet of Boston Mills to take advantage of the railroad. Boston Mills soon grew into a town.[33] In 1904, the railroad built a 4-mile (6.4 km) spur from Willow (the modern intersection of Fuhrmeyer Road and Old Brecksville Road) along Mill Creek to connect with the Cleveland Short Line Railway near what is now E. 73rd Street and Deveny Avenue in Cleveland.[77] That same year, the railway spent $115,000 ($3,700,000 in 2022 dollars) strengthening all the bridges along its route, and even rebuilding some older ones, so that it could haul heavier loads and use new, heavier, more powerful locomotives.[78] In 1905, the Jaite Paper Mill opened 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Boston Mills to take advantage of open land near the railroad as well.[79]

B&O rail yard in 1946 (top center) with roundhouse visible

In 1906, the B&O closed the existing CT&V roundhouse[80] and built a $400,000 ($13,000,000 in 2022 dollars), much larger roundhouse and rail yard on W. 3rd Street in Cleveland. The 10-stall semicircular roundhouse measured 280 feet (85 m) on the outside and 145 feet (44 m) on the inside and cost $45,347 ($1,500,000 in 2022 dollars). Another $200,000 ($6,500,000 in 2022 dollars) was spent building the rail yard.[81]

Other improvements included:[81]

• A $12,500 ($400,000 in 2022 dollars), 150-by-50-foot (46 by 15 m), 14-foot (4.3 m) deep cinder pit located about 85 feet (26 m) south of the new roundhouse;
• A $26,370 ($900,000 in 2022 dollars), 725-by-30-foot (221.0 by 9.1 m) sand house and coal tipple located south of the new cinder pit;
• A two-story brick resthouse for trainmen northwest of the roundhouse, with second-floor reading and sleeping rooms;
• A one-story machine, blacksmith, and engine and boiler repair shop made of brick attached to the north end of the roundhouse;
• An $11,000 ($400,000 in 2022 dollars), 120-by-30-foot (36.6 by 9.1 m) storehouse and oilhouse north of the roundhouse; and
• $145,000 ($4,700,000 in 2022 dollars) in infrastructure improvements, which included a steam heating plant, smokestack, fresh water system, drain and sewer system, blow-off lines, and two 50,000-US-gallon (190,000 L) water tanks.

A freighter wedged against the CTV's Center Street swing bridge in 1904. The company's lawsuit over damage to the bridge went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A controversy broke out in 1905 over whether the CT&V would be required to replace its railroad bridge over the Cuyahoga River. At issue was a swing bridge over the Old Ship Channel of the Cuyahoga River.[lower-alpha 9] The Constitution of the United States and various federal court rulings gave the federal government control over all navigable waters,[83] and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (tasked under federal law with improving navigable waters) asserted the right to regulate the bridge. The Corps wanted the bridge removed or replaced, since the center pier of the bridge hindered traffic in the Old Ship Channel and the embankment spans, when open, used up space which the Corps wished to use for new docks. The CT&V, however, argued that the 1825 changes to the river rendered the Old Ship Channel and the New Ship Channel man-made waterways and hence not subject to federal jurisdiction.[84] Local hearings were held which documented the hindrance to water traffic,[85] and the railroad agreed in April 1905 to remove the swing bridge no later than April 1, 1907.[86] Secretary of War William Howard Taft then intervened, ordering the bridge gone by April 1, 1906.[87] Although the railroad objected to the tight timeframe,[88] it went ahead with plans for the new bridge as ordered. The railroad proposed a replacing the existing structure with a Scherzer rolling lift bridge, a plan which was approved in August 1905.[89] The new bridge opened in September 1906. Designed by the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Co., manufactured by the King Bridge Co., and erected by the Pittsburgh Construction Co., the double-track, 230-foot (70 m) bridge[90][91] cost $180,000 ($5,900,000 in 2022 dollars).[92]

The B&O, of its own accord, then rebuilt two more bridges in Cleveland. The first was over the Cuyahoga River near what is now Quigley Road and W. 3rd Street.[91] The 230-foot (70 m) rolling lift bridge[93] was built by the King Bridge Co. and completed in July.[94] Planning for replacement of a second bridge, this one spanning the Cuyahoga at what is now Carter Road (on the west bank) and W. 3rd Street (on the east bank), began in June 1908.[95] Originally, this rolling lift bridge was to be 160 feet (49 m) long and cost $200,000 ($6,500,000 in 2022 dollars).[96] Construction of the bridge was delayed, however, when the city of Cleveland began planning for a new viaduct over the Cuyahoga River valley near the same location. By November 1908, the city had decided to widen the river at this location, and asked the railroad to construct a longer bridge.[97] Discussions between the city and railroad ensued, and it was not until August 1909 that both sides agreed to a $275,000 ($9,000,000 in 2022 dollars), 200-foot (61 m) long rolling lift bridge. Built by the Pennsylvania Steel Co.,[98] construction took nearly 18 months. Taking into account its piers, abutments, and approaches, it was the largest rolling lift bridge in the world.[95][99]

The company also repaired a swing bridge just downstream from what is now the Center Street Bridge. This swing bridge was severely damaged when floods sent three ships crashing against the bridge.[100] The CT&V sued for damages, and the case went to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court held in Cleveland Terminal and Valley R. Co. v. Cleveland S. S. Co., 208 U.S. 316 (1908), that bridge piers, bridge protective pilings, and docks were not "aids to navigation" and thus damage to them by a ship (even if on navigable waters) was not a cause for action under United States maritime law.[101]

The CT&V's Magnolia Branch (in green), abandoned in 1924

In the early 20th century, the B&O offered three round-trip passenger trains a day between Cleveland and Canton on the CT&V tracks. One of these continued to Marietta.[108] The high frequency of passenger trains was needed because the B&O's Chicago-to-Jersey City service ran through both Akron and Wheeling. The connection between Cleveland and Akron took on additional importance when, in January 1918, the B&O ceased to run passenger trains through Wheeling, and all of its passenger service went through Akron.[3] The B&O the CT&V line between Akron and Cleveland early in the 20th century to make it a better freight route.[54] However, the rapid availability of the automobile led to severe losses in passenger revenues, and the increasing use of trucks to move bulk goods significantly reduced freight traffic.[109] Passenger service to Marietta ended on July 18, 1933, and passenger service to Valley Junction ended on September 30, 1934.[108]

Slowly, the B&O began reducing the reach of the old Valley Railway. The B&O abandoned the Magnolia Branch in January 1924.[110] It abandoned its track between Valley Junction and Mineral City in 1936, due to construction of the Dover Dam flood control project[111] and realigned another 2.5 miles (4.0 km) of track to avoid the new reservoir.[112] About 5.25 miles (8.45 km) of track were also realigned due to construction of the Wills Creek Dam,[113] 8.1 miles (13.0 km) of track realigned due to construction of the Beach City Dam,[114] and 5.3 miles (8.5 km) of track realigned due to construction of the Bolivar Dam.[115][lower-alpha 10] The new route involved building a four-span bridge over Sandy Creek. At Mineral City, the CT&V was forced to build two wooden trestles to accommodate flood control projects. One of these was 860 feet (260 m) long and crossed a tributary of Huff Run as well as two roads.[28] The CT&V abandoned its main line north of Walnut Street in Massillon due to straightening of the Tuscarawas River, and converted its industrial spur on the city's east side into a new main line.[116][lower-alpha 11] The railroad abandoned and removed the Huff Run Branch from Valley Junction to Mineral City in 1938 following eight years of disuse.[118]

In June 1934, the CT&V moved its passenger station to Cleveland's new Terminal Tower. The 1897 passenger station on Canal Road was converted into a freight depot.[58]

The CT&V realigned the entire 14.4-mile (23.2 km) route between Beach City and Mineral City and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) around East Sparta in 1938, to accommodate the Muskingum River Conservation District's flood control initiatives.[119]

Passenger travel on the former CT&V increased somewhat during World War II, but declined sharply again afterward.[120] The B&O ceased all passenger service on the line on December 7, 1962. The last passenger train to run on the old CT&V route was the Cleveland Night Express, which provided overnight service to Baltimore.[58] It abandoned the Newburgh Branch in 1964.

A Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad train idles at Rockside Road in Independence, Ohio in 2017

On September 5, 1984, CSX announced it would abandon the Valley Railway track between Akron and Independence.[121] The National Park Service subsequently began negotiating to buy these 26 miles (42 km)[124] of track to add to the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area[121] (which had been established on December 29, 1974,[125] and became a national park on October 11, 2000).[126] The sale was finalized on September 28, 1987.[121] The northern terminus of the Park Service's track is at Independence (Granger Road and Interstate 77, approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of the Rockside station), after which CSX resumes ownership of the track.[127][128] The southern terminus of the Park Service's track is at the Akron station, at which point CSX ownership of the track resumed.[128][129]

CSX subsequently sold two more portions of the old Valley Railway. In October 1992, CSX sold 12.26 miles (19.73 km)[130] of track between Canton and Sandyville to a new Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad (which had recently been spun off by the Norfolk Southern Railway). In May 2000, Akron's METRO Regional Transit Authority purchased 24 miles (39 km) of track between Akron and Canton from CSX in May 2000.[131][lower-alpha 12] Metro provides trackage rights to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and two freight railroads, the W&LE and the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway.[131][lower-alpha 13]

CSX still owns and uses for freight the remainder of the Valley Railway (which it calls the Cleveland Terminal and Valley Subdivision) between Independence and Cleveland. It is unclear when the 0.6 miles (0.97 km) of track between the end of the line (on Whiskey Island) and Literary Road (near W. 3rd Street), or the 26 miles (42 km) of track between Valley Junction and Bowerston, was abandoned. The portion between Literary Road and Quigley Road (near Interstate 490), about 0.4 miles (0.64 km), was abandoned in 1983. Freight train use of the remaining portion of CT&V Subdivision is light, and as of 1992 the track was not in good enough condition to accommodate passenger trains.[133]