The Spring Grove, Avondale and Cincinnati Railway, now defunct, was a one and one-quarter mile long, 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge railroad of Hamilton County, Ohio that provided access to the Cincinnati Zoo.
Three foot gauge railways have a track gauge of 3 ft or 1 yard. This gauge is a narrow gauge and is generally found throughout North, Central, and South America. In Ireland, many secondary and industrial lines were built to 3 ft gauge, and it is the dominant gauge on the Isle of Man, where it is known as the Manx Standard Gauge. Modern 3 ft gauge railways are most commonly found in isolated mountainous areas, on small islands, or in large-scale amusement parks and theme parks. This gauge is also popular in model railroading, and model prototypes of these railways have been made by several model train brands around the world, such as Accucraft Trains (US), Aristo-Craft Trains (US), Bachmann Industries, Delton Locomotive Works (US), LGB (Germany), and PIKO (Germany).
Hamilton County is a county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 802,374. making it the third-most populous county in Ohio. The county seat is Cincinnati. The county is named for the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton.
The company was chartered in February 1881 to build a line connecting Cincinnati, Avondale, St. Bernard, and Venice in Butler County. However, on May 3, 1881, less than three months later, the company was leased for ninety-nine years to the narrow gauge Cincinnati Northern Railway, which built the line as a spur from a point at its own line, called Avondale Junction, to the zoo. It was a popular route, easily enabling visits to the zoo.
Avondale is a neighborhood in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. It is home to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. The population was 12,466 at the 2010 census.
St. Bernard is a village in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 4,368 at the 2010 census.
Ross is a census-designated place (CDP) in Ross Township, Butler County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,417 at the 2010 census, up from 1,971 in 2000.
On March 6, 1883, the company was merged with the Cincinnati Northern into the Toledo, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad. After that company's bankruptcy and sale at auction, the Spring Grove was sold at auction in January 1886 and became part of the Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway. In September 1888, holders of Spring Grove bonds sued over non-payment. A receiver was appointed in July 1889, all service on the road ceased the following month, and the line was torn up in September.
The Toledo, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad (TC&StL) was a 3 ft narrow-gauge railroad based in Ohio. It began as a subsidiary of the 3 ft narrow-gauge Toledo, Delphos and Burlington Railroad (TD&B), which was opened on July 4, 1875, but in 1882 the two companies merged and retained the TC&StL name, which was more descriptive of its extent.
The Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway (CL&N) was a local passenger and freight-carrying railroad in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, connecting Cincinnati to Dayton via Lebanon. It was built in the late 19th century to give the town of Lebanon and Warren County better transportation facilities. The railroad was locally known as the "Highland Route", since it followed the ridge between the Little and Great Miami rivers, and was the only line not affected by floods such as the Great Dayton Flood of 1913.
