Imported from: Google Blogger site
Original publish date: June 9, 2015
Minor expansion: January 6, 2024

View at North Bend, Ohio

This vignette is labeled "View at North Bend, Ohio." North Baned was named such because this location is the northernmost bend in the Ohio River west of the mouth of the Kanawha River in West Veriginia. The vignette was engraved by the Franklin Bank Note Company for the Cincinnati Indianapolis St. Louis & Chicago Railway Company (CIStL&C) in about 1880. The image appeared that year on the company's bonds and stock certificates and saw use for about nine years.

The image also appeared on bonds for two nearby Indiana railroad companies at about the same time (the Columbus Hope & Greensburg Railroad Co. and the Vernon Greensburgh & Rushville Railroad Co.). I haven't had time for research, but I bet those two companies were related to the CIStL&C.

Because of inevitable artistic license in magnifying the terrain, I cannot pinpoint the image's exact location. Still, I suspect the image was created very close to the small community of North Bend, Ohio (Hamilton, County). The view is looking east, up the Ohio River Valley. The sidewheel riverboat is heading upriver for Cincinnati, which is about twelve miles (15 river miles) beyond the train. The hills at the viewer's right are across the river in Boone County, Kentucky. The Indiana border is about four miles behind the viewpoint.

2024 further commentary: This vignette is one of only a handful that was ever specifically labeled on railroad stocks and bonds. Moreover, with the exception of vignettes of terminals and some train sheds, it is one of very few where the location is known.

2024 footnote: The area remains an important railroad freight route. Two rail lines come out westward from Cincinnati to this point: CSX Transportation Company and Central Railroad Company of Indiana (CIND, part of the Genesee & Wyoming system since 2012). The CIND was originally part of the Conrail system and CSX occupies tracks of the old Baltimore & Ohio. The lines diverge behind and very near this point with the CIND heading toward Indianapolis and CSX crossing the state to Vincinnes and on its way to St Louis. At Shelbyville, Indiana, CSX picks up cars from the Central of Indiana and takes traffic the rest of the way to Indianapols and ultimately Chicago.