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Adena is located two miles north of U.S. Route 250, 14 miles west of Martins Ferry and is on The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad. This community was served by
only one railroad. The railroad came to Adena in 1890, with a branch built to Robyville in 1900. Adena was an agricultural community until the coming of the railroad. Then it began to boom.
By 1939, there was no handicap as the train schedules were so arranged to meet other lines for prompt movement of freight. Over 130 cars of coal were
handled in the Adena freight yards daily. The former yard located near the center of Adena on
Mill Street and is railroad milepost 192.8. Eleven million tons of coal passed through Eastern Ohio and ninety percent of it traveled through the Adena yards.
The Railway express agency operatedtransportation service twice daily to connect with express trains on the B & O and NYC railroads.
A branch line to Harrisville, Maynard, St. Clairsville, and Neffs produced much traffic.
Eastern Ohio is renowned to have the richest coal vein in the nation and the railways were a facilitating factor.
The Adena "wye" was a point at the interface of the Nickel Plate Railroads. The main portion of the railroad was coal transport.
The Adena area had seventeen deep coalmines and five strip mines. Coal trains ran loaded and the railroads transported raw coal to prep plants and finished coal
moves to markets in all directions. Coal wasn't the only type of trains that traveled through the once prosperous Adena.
Passenger trains made connections twice daily. Mail and freight trains passed through too.
Adena's railroad today is Wheeling & Lake Erie.
The old water tank was located left of the railroad crossing on the north side. It was removed when diesel engines took place
of the steam engines. The train station is are presently dismantled. It was located slightly behind the Adena Landmark Mill and was once a lively place in town. Most
of our population used to watch trains arrive and depart. Today, most of the tracks have been removed and trains no longer travel through Adena.
Most of this information was obtained from
the book,"Our Town Adena." Some pictures courtesy of Ted & Joyce Figurski and Bud Moreland
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