Rittman, OH: Restaurant/Erie & 1891 B&O Depots and Morton Salt Plant

Erie: (Satellite)

B&O Original: (Satellite)

B&O Moved: (Satellite, "64 Erie Street" and along the County Line Trail)

Street View, Jun 2024

Roger Smith posted three photos with the comment:

1913 Erie depot along the former NJ-CHI main. This is the third one in this village in different locations as the previous 2 burned.

The ABC Railway comes into town 3-4 times monthly. Rittman, OH. 

It is open as a diner Tuesday - Saturday 7a - 2p

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It appears that one of the customers of the ABC Railway is the Morton Salt Company. The CSX/B&O route at the bottom of this excerpt is close to the plant, but it doesn't have a connection to the plant.

Satellite

There are three freight cars spotted next to salt plant's long building.

Satellite

Evidently those freight cars are high-cube box cars. Does the plant ship pallets of salt?

Street View, Apr 2024

The B&O used to compete with the Erie for business at this plant. But in their singular focus on operating ratio and shareholders, CSX doesn't want to handle carload shipments.

1961/62 Rittman Quad @ 24,000

B&O Depot

Because the tracks are still active, the depot has to be moved before it can be restored.

Street View, Jun 2024

CSX is a strong believer in the efficiency of "demolition by neglect."

Street View, Aug 2011

The town will have two restored depots.

Ethan Williams posted

🚨Major Project Announcement 🚨

                    Rittman, OH

A HUGE milestone has been reached with the help of major donations. I am happy to announce that we have bypassed our $200,000 goal and the project will be moving forward to have the station moved and completed by 2027. Thank you everyone for your support in preserving Rittman history. Please watch for updates as we look toward the future. 

-Ethan W.

I found a lot of words online about the depot, but nothing that indicated where they plan to move the depot. I did find some historic photos.

akronrrclub_depot

wccfoh

They plan to move it somewhere along the County Line Trail. [akronrrclub_preservation]

May 2026 Update:

Ethan Williams posted nine photos with the comment:

It's been a while since I made a post, but that is because of the massive progress being made on the Station! 

1st: The passenger and freight sections of the Station were cleaned out of their contents and are now open spaces. Thank you to CSX and Barry Romich for helping!

2nd: Surveying has been done for the new location. (Hint hint: The little sign that says 64 Erie Street is our new address!)

3rd: Engineering for the foundation and basement has been completed by Engineering Associates Inc. 

4th: Retired B&O Telegraph Agent Fran Menssen happily stopped by his old stomping grounds to give our team an idea of what it was like to work in the Station between 1960 and 1962.

5th: Plywood walls removed in certain areas to discover the original beadboard and color scheme.

6th: Freight doors re-railed and fully functional.

What comes next?

Jacking up the bay window and the broken beam under the freight section to prepare for movers

Digging of the basement

Moving of the building

Restoration

A lot of good things are going to happen in the coming months!

Thanks to everyone for their generous support and efforts to help get this project to where it is!

If you would like to donate, here is the link: https://wccfoh.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=2386