would make a good acquisition in the event of future flooding, and had the CL&N buy and begin operating the DL&C for about $700,000 in December 1914. (Through service between Cincinnati and Dayton had begun that summer.) The DL&C built a short connection from Lebanon Junction to the Panhandle Route at Clement in early 1915, and on July 1 its property became that of the CL&N. Abandonments, 1917–1975 Competition from interurbans, specifically the Cincinnati-Lebanon Interurban Railway and Terminal Company, took away passengers from the CL&N beginning in 1903. But the interurban began to decline, going out of business in 1922, and it was motor vehicles that would kill the CL&N's passenger service. The first line to go was the Middletown Branch, discontinued in 1917; the short branch to Montgomery became freight-only in 1926. All service north of Lebanon ended in 1928, and in 1931 only one mixed train between Court Street and Lebanon was left on the schedule. The less-convenient Cincinnati Union Terminal replaced Court Street in 1933, as agreed upon by all railroads participating in its construction. CL&N trains reached the station via trackage rights on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (ex-M&C) south of East Norwood. This was never popular among CL&N riders, and the last scheduled passenger train on the former CL&N ran on January 31, 1934. With passenger service gone, and several cross-connections to other Pennsylvania lines, the CL&N was no longer needed as a through route. Several years after the Montgomery Branch was fully abandoned in 1933, the Pennsylvania discontinued freight service between Blue Ash and Mason and between Lebanon and Lytle; trains continued to reach Lebanon via the Little Miami Railroad and Middletown Branch. Service was resumed on the entire line during World War II, but the Lebanon-Lytle segment was torn up in 1952. After the Pennsylvania merged into Penn Central in 1968, a piece north from Brecon was again abandoned, as was the short piece of the Middletown Branch east of the main line at Hageman, with Lebanon service now coming from the ex-New York Central at Middletown. The line through the Deer Creek Valley into Court Street was also abandoned, and the old freight depot was torn down in 1975. Sales, 1975–present When the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) acquired the assets of the bankrupt Penn Central in 1976, it was allowed to choose which lines to keep and which to abandon. The line