The Marietta Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...

 in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

s of West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

 and Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

. The line runs from Parkersburg, West Virginia

Parkersburg, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 33,099 people, 14,467 households, and 8,767 families residing in the city. In 2006 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that Parkersburg's population had decreased 4.4% to 31,755. The population density was 2,800.5 people per square mile . There were 16,100 housing...

 west to Belpre, Ohio

Belpre, Ohio

Belpre is a city in Washington County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. It is part of the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 6,441 at the 2010 census....

 and north via Marietta to Relief, Ohio (near Beverly) along a former Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road line. Its south end is at a connection to the Ohio River Subdivision

Ohio River Subdivision

The Ohio River Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The line runs from Wheeling southwesterly along the east shore of the Ohio River to Huntington along a former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line.The Ohio River Subdivision...

; the line crosses the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

 on the Parkersburg Bridge between Parkersburg and Belpre.

History

The short piece of the Marietta Subdivision from Moore Junction northeast to Harmar (part of Marietta) opened in 1857 as part of the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad

Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad

The Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad is a defunct railroad of southern Ohio that was later absorbed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ....

. The Union Railroad, from Moore Junction south to Belpre, opened in 1860. The Parkersburg Bridge opened in 1871, connecting Belpre to the B&O's Parkersburg Branch. In the 1880s or 1890s, the Zanesville and Ohio River Railway built from Harmar northwest past the current end of the line towards Zanesville. The lines became part of the B&O and CSX through leases and mergers. The Parkersburg Branch east from Parkersburg (formerly part of the Monongah Division) is now gone; the only connection there is with the Ohio River Subdivision

Ohio River Subdivision

The Ohio River Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The line runs from Wheeling southwesterly along the east shore of the Ohio River to Huntington along a former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line.The Ohio River Subdivision...

.