Selecting the route The C&X now had enough funds to begin construction of the line, but not enough to complete it. The company was now faced with selecting a president who not only had to be an able fund-raiser but who also could oversee construction of the line without incurring any cost overruns.
Alfred Kelley agreed to become president of the railroad in spring or summer of 1847 at a salary of $500 ($ in dollars) a year. Kelley, a
Cleveland lawyer, had been elected the first mayor of the newly-incorporated Village of Cleveland in 1815. As a member of the
Ohio General Assembly, he championed the construction of canals, and as a Canal Commissioner oversaw the construction of the
Ohio and Erie Canal. Known as the "father of the Ohio and Erie Canal", Kelley was one of the most dominant commercial, financial, and political people in the state of Ohio in the first half of the 1800s. One of the ablest bankers and financiers in Ohio, Kelley personally went to New York City to sell C&X
bonds, and raised enough money to not only complete construction of the railroad but also to buy
locomotives and
rolling stock to equip it. Kelley had accompanied the surveyors when they located the route of the Ohio & Erie Canal, and now he and
engineer Sylvester Medbery traveled along the likely routes surveying them together. Kelley personally approved the route of the C&X.
Grading and tracking the line Construction on the C&X began when contracts were issued in October 1847 for grading of the line from the west bank of
Scioto River in Columbus west to
Georgesville. The west of Georgesville went under grading contract in September 1848, and the last to Xenia were under contract two months later. Grading was expected to be complete by February 1, 1849. Work constructing the
track bed began in February 1849. This would allow the line to open in October 1849. The track bed was finished in mid-June, and railroad officials hoped to have the line to open in October. For the actual track, Kelley contracted with Sir John Guest & Co. of
Wales in the
United Kingdom for
T rails. The C&X was one of the first railroads in Ohio to use T rails instead of
strap rails. The of rails did not arrive in Cleveland until July 1849, the company rushed to write rules and regulations for operating its road and to hire
conductors and track workers. Tracklaying was complete on either February 19 or February 21, 1850. The first test train ran over the track on February 22. The train was pulled by the
Washington, a locomotive built by the Bolton Works of Cincinnati. the final cost proved to be $1.4 million ($ in dollars). The C&X bridge over the Scioto River opened on December 14, 1850. This allowed the railroad to reach its permanent freight and passenger station, located on High Street at Naughten. This large,
barn-like structure covered three tracks, all of them at-grade. The location of the station had been controversial, as both sides of the river wanted the station. The 1851 station had several small additions made to it in the early 1860s, to accommodate train traffic during the
American Civil War. A new
Union Station was built north of it in 1875, and the 1851 station demolished. The C&X built a brick building on west side of High Street (across the street from the depot) as its corporate headquarters in 1853. ==Expansion and merger==