Rebuilding the ND&W Railroad and a new Santa Fe GP20 PREX 3001
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- The Napoleon Defiance and Western Railroad shown at their yard in Defiance Ohio. The line is infamous for it's days as the Maumee and Western Railroad where trains were constantly falling off the tracks into to Black Swamp soil of NW Ohio. The deferred maintenance started at the end of Norfolk Western ownership and carried on through the Indiana Hi-Rail days. Pioneer Railcorp acquired the railroad in 2013 from the MAW, restoring service to 10 miles of embargoed track so that shippers have the option of interchange with Norfolk Southern at Woodburn or CSX at Defiance.
The railroad has abandoned the track east of Rt 24 to Liberty Center and the rails have been pulled. ODOT never built an overpass and after a fatality at the crossing the state of Ohio paid them to cut service east of the highway. Those funds were used to relocate the transload from Liberty Center to Napoleon. Also they are now financially able to do a full rebuild of the railyard in Defiance. These videos taken 10/24, 10/25/19 show that rebuild mid process.
Also the Pioneer Railcorp has a new owner so some motive power changes are happening to their various railroads. Here at the ND&W PREX 3001 GP20 in Santa Fe livery arrived, having last been on the Elkhart & Western Monticello line. I was lucky to catch them cross FC diamond after waiting for CSX Q172 with a BNSF/Ferromex pair. PREX 1601 is seen in my video and left the line days later, having been photographed in the CSX Garrett yard 10/27/19. About 30 PREX locomotives are currently for sale on the Sterling Rail website, including the Gettysburg 105 seen in the yard. Unknown if it will be replaced....
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Awesome, they are finally doing something to the spaggetti rails
Sweet, I'm glad to see a line being saved instead of it becoming a trail. Kudos to them.👏👏👏👍👍👍
A real yard and everything. An engine and cars not doing to the PC rock n’ roll, hell yeah!
Crazy but it's finally happening!
Always like hearing some good news about the ND&Spaghetti Western. The little railroad that could!
Yes this sure makes them look like they'll be around a lot longer!! The MAW days looked like something that could be forced out of existence.
Great to see Santa Fe locomotive in original paint.
Yes glad they relocated that unit near me!
Wow, visible ballast on the ND&W. I remember driving between houses in Liberty Center and hearing a train horn and realizing that a train was speeding toward me at some 2 and a half miles an hour. I couldn't really see the tracks I was crossing because of the neglect. My ex wife was living near there and teaching near Archbold. Proving that nothing good ever came out of Liberty Center.
😂😂😂
Lol we went through Liberty Center a few weeks ago and I thought my 5 year old was about to cry because the rails were gone!
The new yard looks wonderful. Hopefully they can do the same to their mainline tracks.
I’m so glad that Pioneer Railcorp bought this line and is rehabilitating it!! I have been along this whole line many many times in the past with many many a derailment. Glad to see it’s getting the love it needs
They are a good fit for owner of the line
Wow.... its amazing how much change this railroad has seen throughout the years. Another great video.
Thank you! Some day I'll do a location by location before and after...
Great footage of the ol hometown.
Wow Scott, that is looking great, and I can't wait to see it once they are done. Nice job, and thanks.
Yes this is exciting for railfans in the area to see
Unbelievable and thought I'd never see this happen like the next person! I guess better late than never! Man I'll tell you watching the videos of the ND&W made me extremely nervous but glad to see this much needed work getting done. Thanks for sharing this video Scott.
Holy crap Batman we got actual ballast and real ties. Good God, it's a railroad.
It's great to see that they r actually doing something with this railway!
Wow Scott, this so amazing. I was happy to hear about the railroad did it and came back thanks!!!!
Thank you
Hopefully, this rebuilding will go all the way to the other end of the line. Once it gets fully rehabilitated, we could very well see trains going faster
Nice, I see Pioneer is rehabilitating the line.
Yes they’re making great improvements, just so much track to work on!
Glad to see they are finally turning the corner on improving their right of ways.
Yes this will eliminate many of the issues.
Nice video! I like the fact that the ND&W is finally rebuilding their train yard in Defiance! Really nice!
Thank you!
@@ScottTaipaleRail You're welcome!
This is an awesome video! I'm glad to see them restore the five tracks and have more capacity but I hate seeing the tracks lifted from the highway crossing east to Liberty Center. Street view shows the tracks removed at the crossing but the aerial photos still show them in place with storage cars on them.
Thank you! I don’t understand why ODOT never put a bridge over them on Rt 224. I75 crosses many abandoned lines. Plus Liberty Center has the station that’ll never see a train again.
Scott Taipale I mean it could be possible if the nd&w rebuilds the line and gets enough traffic, freight and revenue moving to rebuild that segment of line
That Santa Fe unit looks good and sounds good, too.
Amazing the difference it makes when a former line is someone's bread and butter, rather than an appendage!
Yup
Awesome video! I always like watching this railroad, one of my favorites on TH-cam
Thank you!
Oh, no. Oh no no no no no.
I really hope they keep the old track for railway excursions or something. It really made this railroad something special.
Great camera work and editing. It was a pleasure watching. Keep the videos coming. 👍👍
Thank you!
Wow!!! This is amazing! Nice work, Scott!
I used to not like the sloped hood on the GP-20.. now i can't get enough of them :D
Same here, thought they look weird.
Awesome video!! Please show more of this rebuild process!!!!!
Thank you, I will
You truly love to see this. Fantastic job.
Thank you!
Great flying and cool footage, Scott.
Thank you Drew!
well shot. Fantastic capture of this operation
Its refreshing to see a untouched Santa Fe GP20 still laboring on.. Of course I would have preferred it in its classic blue and yellow scheme with large Santa Fe on its side.
I was born to late to see true Santa Fe
Awesome vid! Very nicely done. Good to see the railroad getting in better shape too.
Thank you!!
I'm glad they are renovating it cause it needed a renovation
Outstanding footage. Great to see this railroad get resurrected from the dead. This yard is a great centerpiece for the company. Still a long way to go though.
Thank you! Hopefully they’ll continue to upgrade the main beyond Defiance
This is what Trump was talking about, "Make America Great Again" .It is depressing to watch railroads being run into the ground all these years, for me, this is proof positive America on the up swing. Go ND&W!!!
Great video Scott. Thanks for doing what you do.
Thanks for watching! People enjoying them is why I film. For a long time I was content just to watch but then I became aware of all the shortlines that had little coverage on here.
Wow What A Rare Ferromex EMD SD70ACE
I'd have been happy just to film that!
Very nice to see them coming along....DON'T SELL THE SPIRIT OF GETTYSBURG! That a old geeps been in that paint scheme for a long time! 👍👍👍
I hope it doesn’t find a buyer
@@ScottTaipaleRail right! Sell the rest but keep her!!
Good to see an old railroad coming back to life. This doesn't seem to happen up my way, here in the central New England area.
Great video!
Thank you
Fresh ballast looks great. Don't know about having three tank cars literally parked in my backyard!
I'd be more worried about CSX running the oil trains 40-50mph half a block away!
As long as those tank cars aren't hauling hazmat their fine.. many things travel by tank car including corn syrup. But I garontee you're in range of explosion/fire that could be caused if a BNSF oil tanker train derails near that double diamond. I wouldn't want to live within a mile of a high speed main line like that but would love to have a slow speed short line behind my house.
It looks a lot better there!!
Good video and informative 👍
Thank you for watching!
Hurraaaaaaa, endlich wird dort alles neu gemacht. Perfekt.
Awesome Video and thank you for posting. If you can get more of the progress of this...
Thank you, I'll try to check in again in a few weeks
Wow, fantastic! That's what I was looking for!
Thank you
nice catch and another great video
Thank you
I like seeing the Santa Fe blue bonnet, I don't think the cat cared 1 way or the other
Such a great livery. ATSF had some beautiful trains, and BNSF ain’t bad for a modern road.
Yes even the modern BNSF livery looks great!
i hopw they keep the 105,love that high nose geep!!!
I wish but it’ll go if it finds a buyer
4:07 I've seen that beat up red engine around in other videos. I will have to look for it in more videos
impressive
looks like they've made quite the improvement
They sure have
Great video!!!!
Thank you
Your welcome!!
Why is no one commenting on the Ferromex loco that’s all the way from Mexico 🇲🇽 here? That’s a crazy catch
Is there a map showing the line removed from Liberty Center to 24? A map of the line covered by this week's grant?
Its about time
Love that bluebonnet (and what is that in the background of that yard?!! That's St. John's, isn't it? I've been there a couple times. Forgot how striking it really is) ... but back to the trains ... such an awesome old geep! Don't get to see them down here ...
Thank you! St Johns makes an awesome backdrop for westbound movements in the yard
@@ScottTaipaleRail - it sure does! That's something else you don't see here, at least not in this immediate area, but if you go over to St. Augustine, there's some amazing stuff (and plenty of FEC action too).
They are making great progress, this is what can happen when class 1's stick to long haul's and give the delivery side of the business to short lines. I wish the Canadian government would have figured this out 20 years ago when CN and CP tore gave up on branch line service.
I'm glad we have so many branch lines here, still fells plenty more could be saved though!
great video, any chance that you could do a follow up video to how what things look like now?
Thank you, I hope to soon.
MOW on the MAW? It must be the end of the World...
It is good to see a Bluebonnet on this line again, it harkens back to your famous video of CNUR 5 nearly tipping over.
Holy shit it's actually really happening!
Yes glad tonsee
Now the same needs to happen to the Elkhart and Westerns short stretch of track in Elkhart. Their yard little yard and single track is crumbling.
That would be great to see!
Wow, soon their tracks will look better than CSX's
Lol maybe
another old abandoned railroad is seeing life again. the lake village Arkansas railroad. old ties were pulled new ballast and ties and tracks. and new bridges built and brush cleared out and freight is rolling again for lake village Arkansas
I have not heard of that line, I will have to look them up.
I understand the need for a yard that you don't derail in every other move. But one would think that taking all that money it cost for all new rail, ties and ballest should of gone to their mainline. Even replacing every 3rd tie and ballest could save money on crew time to say deliver a one car train. Rails are longer lasting so the mainline rails wouldn't need to be replaced right away and that money spent on rails could of paid for substantial upgrading of the yard as well, every forth tie and some ballest. Just my thoughts on how they spent their money. Either way it's cool they stuck money into that line. They can switch at 40 mph but deliver at 6 mph.
i must say this one very fun and interesting and funny line to have on a train simulator! lol. used a shay engine this time! that worked out better! lol
Once they get that rail fixed they will sure be able to move alot more carloads
Gettysburg #107 is also on the block here. Hearing 1-2 new units showing up for the Gettysburg & Northern, yet to see them or what they will be. Going to have to start searching for the new "worst maintained railroad" with all the upgrades happening
I wonder where new power is coming from because the power left doesn't look better than what is being sold! The former owner of the MAW still owns the Wabash Central and CNUR in Indiana. Their tracks hold up better since they were not built on a swamp!
Rumor here is PREX 1000 is being transferred to the G&N which you filmed earlier this month with 911. PREX 1001 has been here for a few years. There is also an ex Algoma Central FP9 1755
ND & W has received state and federal funding for rehabilitation of their main line.
Have replaced any mainline since?
@@maxim430 The work on the main line is to be done over the next few years. It does include the replacement of the existing rail, which is approximately 40Kg/M and very old with approx. 62Kg/M relay welded rail.
An abandoned railroad being rebuilt. I've built an N-Scale diaromia of an abandoned railroad being rebuilt and I wish I could find some railroad construction machines in N-Scale for it.
Are they improving the rail trackage from Napoleon to Defiance?
Yes it is much improved but still bad!
Where did Pioneer Rail get the money? It's still spaghetti on 80% of the line but they can brag that they increased their yard speed by 100%
The state gave them money to pull up the tracks crossing rt 24
Hey my PFP is of one of the sante fe units they have at defiance
Cool
Long Love The g
i noticed 2 swithches on each side of the diamond with csx, i checked google earth and there not there,are the new??
John Spencer I would suggest that is a split rail derail designed to protect the diamond with CSX. It likely throws OFF the mainline when the signal is lined against the short line. It’s certainly has a control box and electric motor.
@@restoredoutboards thanks
Hope they’re working on the mainline. Looks like they’re going into the car-storage business.
Looks like they're doing the yard tracks first, 3001 is on the main
They're putting some real capital to work here. Hopefully, they have sustained business to recoup their investments.
They have a strong customer base!
Wonder if the engineer knew he was running around without a headlight.
Bet it's broke, I filmed them 3 days and never saw it on.
good video but a lot has to be done. lets see all the spaghetti replaced.... im not impressed unless the spaghetti rail videos end.
who bought pioneer railcorp
BRX Transportation Holdings
I thought MAW ran this track
Sold to Pioneer in the end of 2013
I love you daddy. when are you coming to CLE?
I haven't been to Cleveland in 2 years now. I need to!
Geep
"worst railroad in the world"