The NEWBURGH & SOUTH SHORE RAILWAY, a beltline railroad providing freight service to most of the industrial plants in the Cuyahoga Valley, operated only 7 miles of main track connecting with all the major railroads serving Cleveland. Incorporated in 1899 by the American Steel & Wire Co., the N&SS, a Class I, standard-gauge railroad became wholly owned by the newly created U.S. Steel Corp. Completed in 1904, the N&SS was built primarily for hauling molten metal from American's Central Furnaces to its Newburgh Steel works.
The main line started at the central furnaces near the CUYAHOGA RIVER and ran under Jefferson Ave. across the river, across Huston Ave. south under Clark Ave. again across the river, across Campbell Ave. under Harvard Ave. across E. 49th St., bridging E. 71st St. and finally across Aetna Rd. By 1927 the N&SS operated 32 locomotives. It introduced its first diesel locomotive in 1939, and in 1947 retired its remaining Baldwin locomotives, becoming the first Ohio railroad to abandon steam completely. In 1951 U.S. Steel transferred ownership of the N&SS to its Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad and in 1952, moved its offices from their original location on Broadway to E. 71st St. adjacent to its terminal and railway shops.
After WORLD WAR II, business on the N&SS steadily declined, reflecting the industrial closings in the Cuyahoga Valley, and when the Cuyahoga Steel Works closed in 1984 the railway lost almost all of its remaining business. The N&SS filed for abandonment with the ICC and sold 2.2 miles of its main line to the CUYAHOGA VALLEY RAILWAY. The last train on the N&SS operated on 7 Mar. 1986, and the railway received permission to close 30 June 1986. Later that year, the N&SS was purchased by the Chicago West Pullman and Southern Railroad, which later became Omnitrax. With the revival and expansion of the former Cuyahoga Works, traffic on the line has increased.
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