Maumee and Western Railroad

Was in Defiance, OH Sunday morning and got these pics of the CSX and MAW R.R.'s.
MAW has some very old abused looking track while CSX has their highly maintained Chicago to Willard Main, they cross each other on a diamond.

 

Here are some shots of the MAW's headquarters in Defiance, OH . There appeared to be a small yard in Defiance, but with all the overgrowth of vegetation its hard to tell what tracks are still in use. Here is a pic of the bridge over the Maumee River. The MAW was formerly Indiana Hi Rail Corporation, ex N&W, ex NKP, originally Clover Leaf.

 

I think i made a typo the other day, cause i think this line was actually former Wabash and not NKP.

 

The former NKP is farther east/south. It crossed the CSX/B&O at Holgate.

 

I dont know how much traffic they move. It cant be that much, I did notice one customer in Defiance that had one covered hopper in it. The remainder of the business in Defiance appeared to be storage cars. The railroad runs east to Napolean, OH and west to Fort Wayne, IN. I know at one time the line ran up to Liberty Center, OH and crossed the I &O r.r. on a diamond, but that track has been abandoned. I dont believe they go all the way into Ft. Wayne though. I do know that derailments are rather common on this line, cause I think about a month ago they had an engine flip over on its side do to the rocky track. I think i heard about this from the trainorders website.

 

I know at one time there was a tremendous amount of business on this line, especially in Napoleon. The derailment just took the engine way off the track, but didn't roll over. Also, the section from Napoleon to Liberty Center is out of service due to track condition. It's not abandoned. Their western interchange point is with NS in Woodburn, IN, about 12 miles east of Ft. Wayne.

 

It was originally leased to Indiana Hi-Rail under NS's Thoroughbred Short Line Lease program. IHRC was based out of Connersville, IN., the new "parent" company is still based out of Connersville, but I'm not sure of the details beyond that.

 

Bridge Condition?

Just noticed how close you were to the MAW's bridge. Considering the rest of their track condition, I was just wondering how well maintained the bridge appears to be?

 

I wondered the exact same thing. From what i could tell it looked alright, but do you really think a poor company like this is going to pay some big buck bridge inspector professional to tell them whats wrong? There probably are defects with it, but having worked for shortlines they arent going to spend any money to fix it unless the state of ohio coughs up some money to fix it.

 

It may be out of service but where the line crosses over the I&O ex DTI the diamond was removed in 2004 and signals taken down. Unless they replaced it but i havent worked for the I&O in a few years so i dont know its current status.

 

I'm not certain but i believe the new parent company is Indiana Boxcar, they are based in Connersville, IN. They also own the Youngstown Southeastern in Youngstown, OH and Ohi Rail in Minerva, OH. I think they own a couple others. I think the Cheasapeake and Indiana is another one of their operations. I dont know for sure if the MAW is run by them though.

 

Traffic

From what I remember reading I think they moved some 3000 loads in 2006. I will have to see if I can find that document.

 

ConrailDan is right. No doubt the trackage belongs to the State of Ohio, which leases it to the MAW, so the bridge is the state's. The operator is not going to spend the money to fix a bridge it only leases. This is a problem with many "spin-off" short lines where states have stepped up to keep track from being abandoned. Responsibility for major repairs is not clearly spelled out in these leases.

 

As far as I know, as I stated earlier, the line was leased from NS through their Thoroughbred Short Line program. I'm not aware of involvement or ownership by the State of Ohio.