The right-of-way of this Baltimore & Ohio branch line was first conceived by the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad in 1849. However, the line was not completed until the ROW was purchased by the Newark, Somerset and Straitsville Railroad, which completed and opened the line in 1867.
The line itself ran from Rock Run Junction in Newark, OH to Salt Lick Mine in Shawnee, to the south. It was then sold to the Ohio Midland Railroad in 1900, followed by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, who abandoned portions of the line beginning in 1927.