Niles-Alliance
Railroad Covered Bridge.
Niles-Alliance railroad covered bridge over the
Mahoning River. It was built in the late 1880's. Later the bridge
became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
In 1853 a railroad through Niles was projected
from Ashtabula to New Lisbon. The portion north of Niles was not
at the time completed, but the branch from Niles to New Lisbon
was completed in 1869 and in 1872 consolidated with the Cleveland
and Mahoning into the Atlantic and Great Western Railway. It is
now the Niles-Lisbon branch of the Erie Railroad.
Some of the earliest proposed railroads in eastern
Ohio, first referenced in 1827, involved schemes stretching from
Lake Erie at Ashtabula Harbor to coal and iron ore mines near
New Lisbon (now Lisbon). 1 2 A plan to build an 80-mile railroad
between those points by the Ashtabula, Warren & East Liverpool
Railroad in 1838 failed as it was not able to raise the necessary
capital for the venture.
In 1853, another railroad from Lake Erie southward
was proposed on the same route that had been earlier proposed
in 1827. 1 It was partially built by the Ashtabula & New Lisbon
Railroad (A&NL). 2 In 1864, the uncompleted portion, from
Niles south to New Lisbon, a total of 35 miles was leased to the
New Lisbon Railway which later became bankrupt in April 1869.
3
The newly formed Niles & New Lisbon Railroad
(N&NL) acquired the right-of-way from Niles to New Lisbon
while a new company, the Ashtabula, Youngstown & Pittsburgh
Rail Road (AY&P), chartered on February 11, 1870, acquired
the remaining right-of-way to Ashtabula. 2 The entire route from
New Lisbon north to Ashtabula Harbor opened by May 1873.
The N&NL consolidated with the Liberty &
Vienna Railroad in August 1872 to form the Cleveland & Mahoning
Valley Railway. 3 By 1900, it had become part of Erie Railroad’s
Niles & Lison Branch until 1960. The Erie then merged with
the Lackawanna Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna in 1968, falling
under Conrail in 1976. The route from Niles south to Lisbon was
soon abandoned.
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