The New Castle District is a railroad line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway

Norfolk Southern Railway

The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...

 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 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...

 and Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

. The line runs from Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

 northwest and north to Fort Wayne, Indiana

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...

 along former Pennsylvania Railroad

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

 and New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad

New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad

The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad , abbreviated NYC&St.L, was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. Commonly referred to as the Nickel Plate Road, the railroad served a large area, including trackage in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois...

 (Nickel Plate) lines. Its south end is at Evendale

Evendale, Ohio

Evendale is a village in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,090 at the 2000 census.Evendale was the home of John Van Zandt, a participant in the Underground Railroad....

, where it meets the Dayton District

Dayton District

The Dayton District is a railroad line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway in the U.S. state of Ohio. The line runs from Columbus southwest to Cincinnati along former Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central Railroad lines...

 and Indiana and Ohio Railway

Indiana and Ohio Railway

The Indiana and Ohio Railway is an American railroad that operates of track in Ohio and parts of southeastern Indiana. It is owned and operated by RailAmerica, having been acquired in 2000. The Indiana and Ohio Railroad was formed in 1978 to operate a branch between Valley Junction, Ohio and...

's Oasis Subdivision. It runs along a piece of 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...

's Toledo Subdivision

Toledo Subdivision

The Toledo Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Ohio. The line runs from Hamilton north to Perrysburg along a former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line....

 from Hamilton north to New Miami, Ohio

New Miami, Ohio

New Miami is a village in St. Clair Township, located in central Butler County in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 2,469 at the 2000 census....

 using trackage rights

Trackage rights

Trackage rights , running rights or running powers is an agreement whereby a railway company has the right to run its trains on tracks owned by another railway company....

. The New Castle District junctions the Frankfort District at Muncie, Indiana

Muncie, Indiana

Muncie is a city in Center Township, Delaware County in east central Indiana, best known as the home of Ball State University and the birthplace of the Ball Corporation. It is the principal city of the Muncie, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 118,769...

. In Fort Wayne, it crosses the Huntington District and ends at the Chicago District.

History

The Eaton and Hamilton Railroad (in Ohio) and Richmond and Miami Railroad (in Indiana) opened a line from New Miami, Ohio

New Miami, Ohio

New Miami is a village in St. Clair Township, located in central Butler County in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 2,469 at the 2000 census....

 northwest to Richmond, Indiana

Richmond, Indiana

Richmond is a city largely within Wayne Township, Wayne County, in east central Indiana, United States, which borders Ohio. The city also includes the Richmond Municipal Airport, which is in Boston Township and separated from the rest of the city...

 in 1853, with trackage rights

Trackage rights

Trackage rights , running rights or running powers is an agreement whereby a railway company has the right to run its trains on tracks owned by another railway company....

 over the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad

Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad

The Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad was a railroad based in the U.S. state of Ohio that existed between its incorporation on March 2, 1846, and its acquisition by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in December 1917...

 from New Miami south to Hamilton. Later that year, the Cincinnati, Logansport and Chicago Railway opened, extending northwest from Richmond to New Castle. From Hamilton south to Evendale and beyond to Rendcomb Junction, the Cincinnati and Richmond Railroad

Cincinnati and Richmond Railroad

The Cincinnati and Richmond Railroad was part of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway system.-History:The Richmond and Miami Railroad was chartered in Indiana on January 19, 1846 to build from Richmond southeast to the Ohio state line...

 opened in 1888. This line from Cincinnati to New Castle became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

 system through leases and mergers.

The Fort Wayne, Muncie and Cincinnati Railroad opened in 1870 from Connersville, Indiana

Connersville, Indiana

At the 2000 census, there were 15,411 people, 6,382 households and 4,135 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,894.5 per square mile . There were 6,974 housing units at an average density of 857.3 per square mile...

 north via New Castle to Fort Wayne. It became part of the Nickel Plate, absorbed by the Norfolk and Western Railway

Norfolk and Western Railway

The Norfolk and Western Railway , a US class I railroad, was formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It had headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia for most of its 150 year existence....

 in 1964. In 1976, when Conrail was formed, the little-used Cincinnati-New Castle line was sold to the N&W. The N&W is now part of Norfolk Southern.