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General Ohio University Discussion/Alumni Events Topic
Topic: B&O Railroad
Page: 2 of 2
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Pete Chouteau
2/4/2023 9:08 PM
So anyway yeah there were trains going through campus and it was crazy man
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Cellis033
2/5/2023 2:32 PM
rpbobcat wrote:expand_more
Just found out today that the new South Green walking path that I take a lot to Stocker was formerly a Baltimore and Ohio railroad line: https://ohiotoday.org/all-aboard-the-bo-at-ohio /

I'd imagine that was a fun (and dangerous) way to get a quick way to class!
The article in OHIO TODAY is very good.

The railroad was there, and operating , when I was at O.U. in the 70's.
Part of it ran between the East and South Greens.

1. There were a number of times when a train would stop, blocking access from the South Green.

Depending on the time it happened ,that meant either waiting for the train to move and maybe be late for or miss a class.
Or climb across a car.

2.I lived in GAM.
When a B&O train was coming, they hit their horn.

It was very common for a train to come through a lunch time.

Some of the guys in the dorm played a game of "chicken".
When they heard horn they ran from GAM across the tracks to the South Green (Brown Hall I believe) and back.

The winner was the person who could go back and forth the most times before
the train came.

Some guys cut it VERY close.

Never knew anyone who tried to "hitch" a ride on the train.
Haha, but in all seriousness can imagine how dangerous it could be at times. I believe Stewart St. partly follows the former track route.
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Alan Swank
2/5/2023 6:22 PM
We lived in the RD apartment in Pickering from 79 - 81 (as you face the building it's the left corner of the first floor). The tracks were on the opposite side of the basketball courts between the courts and the four houses across from Gam. It took a bit of getting used to but the first few weeks, it sounded like a train was coming through the walls some early mornings. 1:00 classes were particularly difficult some days. We saw a few folks hop a slow moving train and ride it up to Stimson Avenue for the fun of it. Fun times.
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OhioCatFan
2/5/2023 9:08 PM
Okay, for details on the history of the east-west RR through Athens my son recommends this link. He says the information here is primarily what he supplied.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marietta_and_Cincinnati_R...
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Ohio69
2/7/2023 6:40 PM
Pete Chouteau wrote:expand_more
So anyway yeah there were trains going through campus and it was crazy man
Yeah. Me and my buddies robbed it once, but Butch used too much dynamite and just about got us all killed.
Last Edited: 2/7/2023 6:40:29 PM by Ohio69
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The Optimist
2/7/2023 9:33 PM
Ohio69 wrote:expand_more
So anyway yeah there were trains going through campus and it was crazy man
Yeah. Me and my buddies robbed it once, but Butch used too much dynamite and just about got us all killed.
Live ten years in Athens and you get colorful
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OhioCatFan
2/7/2023 10:19 PM
Ohio69 wrote:expand_more
So anyway yeah there were trains going through campus and it was crazy man
Yeah. Me and my buddies robbed it once, but Butch used too much dynamite and just about got us all killed.
Did bobcatsquared give you the dynamite? Or, was it SBH? That duo is notoriously not good with pyrotechnics.
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MonroeClassmate
2/26/2023 12:50 PM
Pete Chouteau wrote:expand_more
So anyway yeah there were trains going through campus and it was crazy man
I lived in Pickering Hall in 73-74, at the time named Old South vs New South.

I had a class with a scheduled test in Morton Hall just a stones throw away. But I overslept and the Long Train was Runnin-- very slowly. I recall starting to run upon reaching the ground at the bottom of Pickering's steps and seeing empty flat cars going by up ahead. I continued my pace and calculating my approach and dove up onto the car and tumbled/rolled off the other side and continued my run leaving numerous onlookers to their opinions of what they had witnessed.

My dad had been a hobo in his middle teens in the 1930's and later told stories of jumping moving trains. They quickly learned or were taught by others to have your momentum going in the same direction of the train as opposed to grabbing a speeding handle and be yanked/spun under the wheels. He also told me a sitting train is very dangerous to climb to the other side because the train could start and the cars clank together and a light grip could cause the climber to fall to the tracks between the cars. So at least some of Dad's teachings benefited me during my college days!
Last Edited: 2/26/2023 12:55:10 PM by MonroeClassmate
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OhioCatFan
2/26/2023 1:13 PM
MonroeClassmate wrote:expand_more
So anyway yeah there were trains going through campus and it was crazy man
I lived in Pickering Hall in 73-74, at the time named Old South vs New South.

I had a class with a scheduled test in Morton Hall just a stones throw away. But I overslept and the Long Train was Runnin-- very slowly. I recall starting to run upon reaching the ground at the bottom of Pickering's steps and seeing empty flat cars going by up ahead. I continued my pace and calculating my approach and dove up onto the car and tumbled/rolled off the other side and continued my run leaving numerous onlookers to their opinions of what they had witnessed.

My dad had been a hobo in his middle teens in the 1930's and later told stories of jumping moving trains. They quickly learned or were taught by others to have your momentum going in the same direction of the train as opposed to grabbing a speeding handle and be yanked/spun under the wheels. He also told me a sitting train is very dangerous to climb to the other side because the train could start and the cars clank together and a light grip could cause the climber to fall to the tracks between the cars. So at least some of Dad's teachings benefited me during my college days!
The insanity of youth. We’ve all done things at that age that our older, wiser selves shudder to think about.
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rpbobcat
2/27/2023 8:44 AM
MonroeClassmate wrote:expand_more
My dad had been a hobo in his middle teens in the 1930's and later told stories of jumping moving trains. They quickly learned or were taught by others to have your momentum going in the same direction of the train as opposed to grabbing a speeding handle and be yanked/spun under the wheels. He also told me a sitting train is very dangerous to climb to the other side because the train could start and the cars clank together and a light grip could cause the climber to fall to the tracks between the cars. So at least some of Dad's teachings benefited me during my college days!
A bit off topic, but I took a Continuing Ed. class on surveying railroads.

We were told that it is virtually impossible, even for experienced railroad workers, to judge the speed of an oncoming train.
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