Eastern Railroad Discussion > Ex ATSF and BN Units Still Earning Their Keep In Ohio

Yesterday I made a visit to one of the less known railroads in Ohio...The Napoleon Defiance and Western. This Pioneer owned shortline runs from Napoleon, Ohio to Woodburn, Indiana over Ex NW tracks. The railroad was made "famous" a few years ago on youtube for their bad track. Parts of the line are so bad they move at 5mph or less. However they have improved parts of the line over the past year or so. The railroad runs M-F with a train usually heading to Napoleon and back and a train to Cecil/Woodburn. Power for this line is about as cool as it gets. 2 Ex ATSF GP20s still in their original ATSF paint and 2 other Pioneer painted GP20s. The old Gettysburg GP9 is sitting dead in Defiance awaiting to be shipped out. We lucked out and found the morning train to Napoleon a few miles east of Defiance in the morning with 2026 leading. After learning they would make a round trip we caught it heading east LHF a couple times and then headed west to look for anything else we could find. We came back to Napoleon around 1pm as the crew was preparing to head back west. Part of the line just west of Napoleon is 10mph while the rest is all 5. It sure didn't look like Ohio as a ATSF GP20 made its way through the cornfields and little towns, one would think it was Kansas back in the 70s or 80s.

Shortly after the train got to Jewell my friend called and said the IORY WCH-B turn had IORY 3488, 4082 and 4083. We quickly made our way to Quincy. As we pulled in town the northbound turn was calling CSX to get permission across the diamond. This turn runs from Washington Courthouse to Lima. It meets the Lima South Local out of Lima and they swap crews and continue on their way. I usually don't blink an eye anymore with IORY because of it being mostly GW orange now so a green and red IORY consist was a nice sight to see. Enjoy!

A few shots of the 2026 near Jewell

Gettysburg GP9 at Defiance

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A few shots of the 2026 leaving Napoleon with 14 cars

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Passing the golf course in Napoleon

Just west of Naploeon

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Okolona

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Jewell, Ohio

IORY at Quincy

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IORY south of St. John

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St. John

Uniopolis

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Nice series!  Thanks for going off the beaten path to cover these places.

Great set of photos and angles, I had no idea a GP20 was still running around in Santa Fe (or anyone's) paint in this day and age.

Oh they're pretty well-known I'd say. Not for the right reasons, and their tracks have gotten a lot better, but ask any Midwestern railfan and I'm sure they'll have at least heard of the ND&W and it's tracks, if not it's predecessor, the Maumee and Western.

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Nice pics!!