The line ran from the company's Central Furnaces (the area roughly bounded today by the Cuyahoga River, Interstate 490, and Broadway Avenue) and ran briefly south before crossing the Cuyahoga River at the now-demolished Jefferson Avenue Bridge.
The track ran through the company's plant on the west side of the Cuyahoga, and recrossed the river near the now-demolished Clark Avenue Bridge.
The line ran south (passing over Campbell Road and under Harvard Avenue) before turning east.
Traffic on the road declined significantly after World War II, and largely ceased when U.S. Steel closed its Cuyahoga Works in 1984.
The NSR sold 2.2 miles (3.5 km) of its main line to the Cuyahoga Valley Railway, and then closed on June 30, 1986.