Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad to Reopen Complete Track Line By Year's End

A ride upon the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad carries a kind of duality to it.

On one side, it's a blissful novelty for train lovers and the locomotive intrigued, a leisure ride fitting for a family reunion or a Saturday morning with the kids. Or, a cocktail hour with the girls. A Mother's Day brunch, perhaps.

On the other end comes a delayed perspective, one only made clear mid-ride as you zoom past picturesque lakes and streams: the CVSR, as its commonly abbreviated on train merch in the Café Car, is—or at least could be—an alternative to traveling by car down a chaotic, and a lot less scenic, interstate route.

"People come and ride and realize how fun trains are," Harold Koltnow, an affable trainman who's been volunteering with CVSR for the past seven years, said during a recent Saturday ride in June. In his black vest and porter cap, Koltnow owned the role effortlessly. "Oh, and the kids, the kids get a total kick out of it."
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As of today, the CVSR, long-touted as the country's most celebrated tourist railroad line, currently stretches about 18 miles from its depot in Peninsula to a station hugging a parking lot for Akron's Northside Market. Since 2022, however, river erosion and hillside repairs in Brecksville and Peninsula's Lock 29 has cut off eight miles of the ride, ending at a small Rockside Station on the northern fringe of Independence.

That is, at least until December, when CVSR construction crews are set to wrap up years of work and restore the line to its original length.

Yet, being out of full commission for roughly two years, and more during the height of the pandemic, the country's only rail link that covers a national park in its entirety is bound for a cultural shift come the end of the year.

Not just due to repairs. The Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency is set to finish a study analyzing the viability of extending the CVSR's stretch from its northern terminus at Rockside Road to ten miles north along the Cuyahoga River into Tower City Center in Downtown Cleveland.

The benefits, at

least in theory, are promising. An expected boost to the CVSR's already meaty 170,000 riders a year. (A study in the late 1990s predicted 100,000 more riders.) A revival of idled commercial track line. Tourism spikes along the Towpath and the Cuyahoga River.

And in NOACA Director Grace Gallucci's mind, a way for some to actually see the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in the first place.

"If you live in Cleveland that becomes an equity issue," she said. "It would be fantastic if we could have a way to get to [CVNP] that is not automobile centric. So, to have a form of public transportation that allows individuals, families, schools—to take people to the park—that's the overall goal here."

That is, of course, if NOACA's study shows the cost is worth it.  The CVSR's most recent study, one completed with the National Park Service (its landlords) in July 2013, gave a "rough estimate" of $13.5 million for an added eight miles of trackline. Throwing in added operating costs, the study said any new track "should be considered carefully."

Or, if it could be extended at all. CSX International, the national freight behemoth who owns the essentially abandoned track from Rockside to Tower City, would have to be convinced to both sell and transfer liability to the National Park Service.

"However," the study read, "past negotiations with CSX have not been fruitful."

Lynee Bixler, a CVSR spokesperson, confirmed that there was still visceral "pushback" in June, months away from the study's expected completion.

"I mean, it's abandoned, but they're [still] not wanting to either sell it to us or lease it to us," Bixler said in a phone call. "We're just not getting any response from them. And in order for them to be successful, we have to get through that." (CSX did not respond to Scene's multiple calls and an email for comment.)

Such cold-shouldering seems to be at odds with CVSR's post-pandemic rebound, fully in effect this spring, represented by the hundreds of families, park-bound cyclists and couples in search of weekend stuff-to-do that pack each two-hour ride.

On a recent trek to Akron's Northside Station, kids checked out the blue sky peering into the Silver Solarium dome. Parents sipped on white wine from the Café Car. Others played cards while occasionally snapping pictures of park greenery, listening to Koltow, the trainman, entertain with a Christmastime anecdote. (CVSR hosts a Polar Express-style ride, with volunteer elves, during the holidays.)

It's also possible the feasibility study, currently in its public engagement phase, will suggest the Scenic Railroad just stay scenic. Its 70-year-old locomotives—two new ones from the Grand Canyon Railroad—chug along at a meager 29 MPH. More non-volunteer train staff, namely in bike storage and locomotion, would need to be hired. Fuel costs would go up. As would complications with the RTA.

"It's a great challenge to look at," Bixler told Scene. "We've had so many people enjoying the two-hour ride that when we do [that] open full track. We're really going to have to look at the marketing of doing a full three-run route."

With new track to Tower City, nearing a four-hour run at Scenic speeds. Which could be too expensive. (Your average ticket costs $35 with fees.) Too out-of-reach for those simply seeking respite from car centricity.

"To be honest," Bixler admitted. "I haven't ridden the whole thing, yet." [content-2]

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