Oasis Subdivision

The southern part of the line was built by the Little Miami Railroad, the second railroad chartered in Ohio, from 1837 to 1848. In 1870, it came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad.[2] The northern part was built by the Cincinnati and Richmond Railroad in 1888, and came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1928.[3]

After Pennsylvania Railroad successor Penn Central Transportation went bankrupt, both sections became part of Conrail in 1976.[2][3] The remainder of the Little Miami Railroad was closed by 1984 and became the Little Miami Scenic Trail. The connections through Downtown Cincinnati over the Waterfront Belt Line to Queensgate and over the L&N Railroad Bridge to Kentucky were severed in 1984 and 1986 respectively.[2] The remainder of the Cincinnati and Richmond Railroad to the north became the Norfolk Southern New Castle District.[3]

The Indiana and Ohio Railway acquired the track in 1995.[2][3] The northerly of two tracks on southern portion of the line was acquired by the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority in 1994, with the Indiana and Ohio Railway having an easement on it, through it remained unused.[4] In 2021, an agreement was reached to convert the northern track into a rail trail filling a gap in the Ohio River Trail.[5][6] Commuter rail uses have also been considered for this portion of line, although the rail trail agreement was seen as an impediment to this.[7][8]