The main line continues east from Negley, up the North Fork Little Beaver Creek valley into Pennsylvania, where it ends at Darlington.
In addition to carrying passengers as an interurban railway, the company handled freight, primarily coal from the electric Y&OR and the steam Pittsburgh, Lisbon and Western Railroad (PL&W).
Large amounts of coal were shipped along the river from the mines to Smiths Ferry, and then over the rail line to Youngstown steel mills.
[2] After the Penn Central Transportation Company (successor to the NYC and PRR) declared bankruptcy in 1970, the newly independent profitable P&LE acquired full control of the Montour, and with it the Y&S.
[citation needed] The P&LE's finances declined with those of the steel industry in the 1980s, and CSX Transportation acquired its main lines in 1991 and 1992.
RVI immediately, illegally,[4] canceled the lease, forcing the O&P to issue an embargo, a process intended for a temporary cessation of service.
After shippers complained,[4] the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) investigated, and the O&P and RVI negotiated a new lease agreement in early December.
The STB penalized RVI for its "blatant disregard of its common carrier obligation to provide service", including several sales and agreements it had made and kept secret.
During its ownership of the line, RVI had also allowed it to be paved over at grade crossings and for access to a shopping center partly owned by its CEO.
[3][4][18] This too proved problematic, when RVI interfered with the escrow fund set up for this purpose, and the STB ordered the money transferred directly to the CCPA in November 2001.
[22][23] The Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad resumed temporary operations in December 2004,[24] but decided not to continue the lease upon the conclusion of the bankruptcy proceedings.
Total Waste Logistics, the line's primary customer, formed the Eastern States Railroad[25] and acquired the lease in November 2006.