Frank Curtis Railroad Collection

This collection was donated by Frank Curtis to the Bellaire Public Library and contains numerous black and white photographs of the narrow gauge railroad chartered as The Bellaire and Southwestern Railroad in 1875, later named the Bellaire, Zanesville and Cincinnati Railroad in the 1880’s, and finally as the Ohio River and Western Railroad   after 1900, when it was absorbed into the Pennsylvania Railroad system, each railroad originating in Bellaire, Belmont County, Ohio; passing through Woodsfield, Monroe County, Ohio; and terminating in Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio.  The collection includes B & W photographs of each of the railroads between 1875 and 1931, showing locomotives, rolling stock, stations, bridges, tunnels, trestles, turntables, derailments, accidents, and railroad workers.  Also included are written articles which appeared in newspapers and magazines, locomotive rosters, and a poem, authored by the following individuals: Vernon Perl St. Clair, Frank Curtis, Norris F. Schneider, Robert W. Richardson, Jack Cowie, Jimmy Mountain, and Bill Arter.  Also included is a 1974 Beallsville, Ohio Pamphlet for the Ohio Sesqui-Centennial Celebration.