I grew up in Loveland. That old B&O line that is now the I&O is but a ghost of what it was back in the day. When the line ran all the way to Parkersburg, WV they would average 25 trains a day on this line. Plus the Pennsylvania wasn`t the bike trail yet and they ran 10 -15 a day on it! The big change occurred in the 80`s for this line when some fool at the helm of the Chessie System decided that they didn`t need the track to run all the way to Parkersburg and they filed for abandonment. Well, Union Pacific tried to buy the line and Chessie`s boss said no way was a West Coast railroad going to get a foothold on the East side of the Mississippi River and he had the tracks removed. Nowadays they realize what huge mistake this was and can`t reinstall the tracks because the right of way has houses and whatnot sitting on it way out East. Hopefully Norfolk Southern doesn`t make the same mistake with the Peavine!
