to purchase nearby "Dayton limestone" quarries at Centerville. He bought the abandoned rail line from the bondholders' trustees for $40,000 in December 1888, and in January 1889 organized the Dayton, Lebanon and Cincinnati Railroad (DL&C). Extensions on both ends were planned, north into downtown Dayton and south to a standard gauge connection. Lewis finished converting the narrow gauge line to standard gauge in January 1891, and initially leased it to the Dayton, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, successor to the D&SE. He leased in 1890 and later bought land in Dayton for the proposed terminal, and in early 1892 he acquired the quarries at Centerville, giving the line its source of traffic. The DL&C bought the line from Lewis in March 1892 for $189,000 in stock, and in June it acquired a lease on the CL&N's line between Dodds and Lebanon. After converting the track to standard gauge, the DL&C began operations into Lebanon in late December 1892. However, it was unable to negotiate trackage rights with the Cincinnati, Dayton and Ironton Railroad (the latest name for the ex-D&SE), and only operated north to Lebanon Junction, where passengers could transfer to that company's trains into Dayton. Throughout its life, the DL&C competed with the CL&N wherever possible; for example, the CL&N advertised (along with the Middletown and Cincinnati Railroad and Big Four) a faster route between Lebanon and Dayton via Hageman and Middletown. Lewis died in 1893, and in the next decade the DL&C built no new lines. However, a group of investors bought the company, including the Dayton terminal property, in 1901 for $250,000 from Lewis's heirs. The first segment of the line into downtown Dayton was completed in late 1902, branching off the main line at Hempstead and ending at Lambeth, site of the Dayton State Hospital. Unable to obtain a franchise from Dayton, and still unprofitable, the DL&C entered receivership in January 1905, and was sold at foreclosure in April 1907 and reorganized in May as the Dayton, Lebanon and Cincinnati Railroad and Terminal Company. The bondholders who had organized the new company succeeded in obtaining the franchise, and sold the stock to a new group of investors in January 1909. Construction was restarted in April, and in November the branch reached the intersection of Brown and Caldwell Streets and the National Cash Register plant. Finally, after completing the cuts and fills required along the east bank