Green Party, NAACP and Greene Township officialls intend to derail the Cincinnati streetcar.

The city of Cincinnati at one time, along with it's suburban neighbors, had one of the best streetcar systems in the nation. By the mid 1950's the streetcars disappeared from the city streets, as did the street car lines connecting suburban and urban communities such as Fairfield, Hamilton, Middletown and Dayton. Cincinnati is currently on the 'upswing.' Crime rates have dropped, the riverfront is in the process of being redeveloped and everywhere downtown new developments and renovation projects are taking place. Every night this holiday season hundreds upon thousands migrate from the suburbs to enjoy holiday festivities at Fountain Square. Downtown Cincinnati is currently moving forward with progress and getting better every day, why would anyone want to stop that? With so much to do downtown these days, how great would it be to only park once and ride a modern streetcar around town to all the activities? There is no doubt that Cincinnati would benefit from a modern streetcar system, and as the system grows into the future the surrounding suburban communities would benefit as well. However, the local SW Ohio Green Party, NAACP and Green Township trustees wish to create a petition in an attempt to not just stop the first phase of the streetcars from happening, but even go so far as to amend the city's charter to never allow streetcars or possibly any light rail to be built.



-Don't let the local NAACP, Green Party and Greene Township stand in the way of light rail, economic development and improved transportation for the Tri-State! (Image courtesy of: www.cincystreetcar.com)

Beneath Your Feet - Exploring a Forgotten Railroad Tunnel - and More.

Nearly two years ago I first learned about the nearly forgotten CL&N RR Tunnel. About a month ago I was crawling through thorn bushes along I-71 trying to find it.

Before I ever thought of creating this website and while I was still getting used to my refurbished Olympus Digital SLR Camera (I now shoot Canon), I read about a group of explorers who had ventured to the tunnel the summer before I found out about it (2006). Their claim: "This train tunnel was built in 1881 and used for freight operations and access for a major railyard that was demolished to make way for Interstate 71. It was used as the setting for the ghost train scene in Ghostbusters II and a shooting platform built of railroad ties still sits in the middle of the tunnel. It has been retained in the hopes that it might be used for light rail eventually." As I started getting into both Urban Exploring and photography more and more, I added the CL&N tunnel to my list of places to see, but never got around to it or knew anyone who knew where it was located or was willing to go. I did some reading and was able to dig up a lot about the history of the CL&N rail line.

The Cincinnati Leabanon and Northern (CL&N) Railroad ran passenger service from Cincinnati, Ohio through Lebanon, Ohio to Dayton, Ohio from 1881 until the late 1930's. Passenger service ended and the line was used mostly for freight until the late 80's when it was abandoned. Today most of the track remains along the railroad's old right of way with many other remnants located along the line, many of them within the city limits of Cincinnati.




-This unused overpass above Victory Parkway near Xavier University once carried part of the CL&N line. This is one of three overpasses left abandoned after the line closed.

Pardon the Interuption.

I got a lot of response to the last article I wrote about the abandoned nursing home in Avondale and the adventure to find the "Ghostbusters" tunnel. I thank everyone for reading and for their responses and emails. I promise, a follow up to the "Ghostbusters" adventure will be posted soon, however, as I was working on the photographs from the soon-to-come article, the LCD screen on my Macbook Pro became a tinted blue:

Adventures in Avondale, in search of The Ghostbusters.

As I stood there on Nov. 22, 2008, I thought back to Nov. 22, 1994. No, this date means nothing significant to me, nor do I even remember what happened in my life on that day. However, as I looked at the calendar in my hands, I realized that if you were an elderly individual residing in an Avondale retirement community on Nov. 22, 1994, then that day may have been very important to you. At 11:00 A.M there was "coloring group" followed by "discussion group" at 1:00 PM later day that. I'm not sure what the residents did the rest of the day until 6:00 PM when the calendar indicates it was time for "Open Cassette." I'm not sure exactly what "Open Cassette" is, or was rather. When it comes to this place there isn't much to be sure of anyways. All the historical information that could be found through some internet browsing was that complex last operated in 1999 and had received a 'D' grade. What place am I talking about? Where did the calendar come from? Well, about two weeks ago I woke up at 8 AM by myself without the help of my alarm. I fumbled around for my Blackberry realizing I may have overslept. "8 AM, good, plenty of time to sleep more until we meet." I set the alarm for 10 and went back to sleep. Woke up 3 hours later at 11. Some times my phones alarm doesn't go off and some times you have to push the meeting time to 12:30, which is when I finally met up with my friends Sherman and Zach. We piled into a car talking about what to explore, looking up at the gray sky which was in contrast to the sunny skies and moderately warm temperatures 700 WLW had predicted. The day was not starting out well.

We cruised north into the neighborhood of Avondale when we came across the day's first adventure: The Hillside Retirement Home, a now abandoned retirement complex in the hills of Avondale overlooking Cincinnati. Hillside was a combination of Parkside Nursing Home, a two story, 1960's era building and Oakside Nursing Home, a former residence converted into a nursing home. Together they formed the Hillside complex, featuring 67 beds for their residents. They last had an operating license for 1999 and had received a 'D' rating by the Hamilton County Board of Health. Now, nine years later, the buildings sit vacant with overgrown lawns, broken windows and graffiti. Trashed by copper thieves and vandals. The first building we checked out was the Parkside complex: