Camp - Railroads depots of Northwest Ohio

This early 1900 scene of the Wabash depot at West Unity shows many of the characteristics of a small town combination depot. The high semaphore signal in front of the depot is the order board. The two semaphores on the left side of the track are for the passing siding beyond the depot and the crossing of the Cincinnati Northern, West Unitys other railroad, behind the photographer. Pipes running along the track are interlocking conduits from the out-of-view interlocking tower, from which this picture was probably taken. A baggage cart rests on the plank platform. Sheds in the foreground are for a hand-car and tools. (Mark J. Camp collection.)

In 1837, a primitive rail line, then known as the Mansfield and Sandusky City Railroad, was building a line between Sandusky and Monroeville. Horses were the initial power source, on into the mid-1840s. By 1855, the line had reached Newark and was known as the Sandusky, Mansfield and Newark. From 1852 to 1863, a branch operated from Prout (Station) to Huron. By 1869, the SM&N was under control of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and served as a future connection between B&Os Central Ohio line and a proposed line to Chicago and Pittsburgh in northern Ohio.

In August 1859, the first Dayton and Michigan Railroad passenger train traversed a route from Dayton to Toledo. Four years later the route came under operation of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad Company. The CH&D also took over the Bowling Green Railroad, Cincinnati Fort Wayne and Findlay (to be covered in a later volume), and the McComb, Deshler and Toledo Railroad in northwest Ohio. The Bowling Green Railroad opened in 1875 between Tontogany and Bowling Green and became part of the CH&D in 1886. The MD&T opened in December 1880 as a branch of the Dayton and Michigan from Deshler to McComb. This line was extended to Findlay in 1889 as the Columbus, Findlay and Norwalk Railroad. In 1890, the CH&D opened the North Baltimore extension between Bowling Green and North Baltimore, known corporately as the Toledo, Findlay and Springfield Railway. In 1917, the CH&D disappeared into the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

In 1872, the Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Chicago Railway was projected from a point west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the Ohio line westward to the Indiana line near Hicksville and on to Chicago. A change in the charter made the eastern terminus a point on the Sandusky, Mansfield and Newark Railroad to be called Chicago Junction. The line opened to North Baltimore by October 1873, to Deshler by November 1873, to Defiance by June 1874, and to Hicksville by November 1874. The year 1878 brought reorganization and a new namethe Baltimore and Ohio and Chicago Railroad. The year 1891 marked the completion of the extension to Pittsburgh, by way of Akron and Youngstown; a line chartered as the Akron and Chicago Junction Railroad.

By the early 1900s, replacement B&O depots were built to a series of standard plans across the entire system. Unfortunately, examples of the smaller town structures no longer exist in the area; only larger brick depots remain at Defiance, Deshler, and Fostoria and a larger frame building at North Baltimore. CH&D depots from Bowling Green, Findlay, Leipsic, Ottawa, and Weston also survive.

Baltimore and Ohio Depots

This large passenger depot opened in September 1875 after the B&O opened its line across northwest Ohio to Chicago. A roundhouse and shops joined the depot in 1876, and Chicago Junction became a major engine terminal. In 1917, Chicago Junction became Willard after B&O President Daniel Willard. The depot had a restaurant, offices, and sleeping rooms. Passenger service ended in 1969, and the depot was demolished in 1976. The railroad yard is still there, used by CSX, but a few prefab buildings have replaced the roundhouse, coaling station, water tanks, and various shop buildings. Architectural parts from the depot now form walls of the Willard Railroad Museum on South Main Street. (Mark J. Camp collection.)

West of Willard, the B&O crosses the PRR, just north of Attica. Originally called Attica Station, it became Attica Junction to the railroads and Siam to the postal service. All that remained by 1964 was an interlocking tower of typical B&O design; even this was gone by the early 1970s. (Charles Garvin photograph.)

Five other depots were within walking distance of the B&O passenger depot on North Monroe Street in Tiffin until the mid-1960s. The brick depot dates to the opening of the B&O line from Willard to Chicago in 1874. The importance of Tiffin as a railroad center demanded separate passenger and freight facilities. A one-story brick freight house (still standing) was west of this building. Unfortunately, the passenger depot shown here in 1972 was demolished in 2000.

Fostorias B&O passenger depot opened in March 1907 and closed to passengers in 1971. This 1907 view shows a hotel hack awaiting the arrival of a passenger train back when the depot saw the arrival of several trains daily. Amtrak added a stop in Fostoria from 19901995, but didnt use the depot. In 1997, Amtrak returned to town, this time using a renovated waiting room in the depot until service was discontinued in 2005. (Mark J. Camp collection.)