Maumee Valley Railway

[Y@]

The MVRR is a little bit more than just a paper railroad to me. A friend and I have often discussed different scenarios in which, if we came into some money, we could purchase the current MAW and restore it to a better operating condition with some classy power. But, in this case, let's pretend the MVRY took over the MAW a few years ago, shall we?

In August of 2008, the former Wabash "Fifth District" (originally from New Haven, IN to Maumee, OH) was sold to a private investment company after the former operator Maumee & Western went bankrupt. Recognizing it as a line with good potential, HGI (Howard-Gordon Investment Company) purchased the line and immediately went to work on upgrading track and bringing in new power.

Throughout 2008 and 2009, new ballast, ties and rail were laid along the line in order to upgrade it from the deplorable state left after years of deferred maintenance from previous owners like the Wabash, N&W, NS, IHRC and MAW. A handful of GP15T's were brought in from North American Locomotive Leasing (NALX) at the startup, and were purchased and painted into a Wabash inspired livery in the fall of 2009.

In the spring of 2010, RailAmerica's Indiana & Ohio railway and the MVRY joined up to build an interchange track in Liberty Center, and the portion of the line between Napoleon and Liberty Center was rehabbed in order for interchange to take place. Since then, the number of carloads interchanged has grown and both railroads work in the interchange 2-3 times per week. The LaFarge Cement plant in Cecil also began shipping cars again in 2010, and the Defiance-Cecil portion was rehabbed a bit as well in order to accommodate the extra traffic.

2011 saw another increase in business, as a new Lowe's Distribution Center was constructed along the line just west of Jewell. A spur was built into the facility, which ships and receives a decent amount of cars every week. Two SW1500's were added to the roster, joining the six GP15T's already on roster.

Below are a list of customers.

Customers

Woodburn
-NS Interchange

Antwerp
-Mercer Landmark Elevator

Cecil
-LaFarge Cement

Defiance
-CSX Interchange
-Johns Manville Plant 2
-Johns Manville Plant 8

Jewell
-Lowe's Distribution

Okolona
-Jewell Grain Company

Napoleon
-Advanced Drainage Systems
-Cloverleaf Cold Storage
-Interstate Cold Storage
-Railtech

Liberty Center
-IORY Interchange

I'll post the engine roster and paint scheme later.

[AARR]

And operations schedule too, please.

[Y@]

Here's the rest of the info.

Engine Roster
EMD GP15T 500 (Wabash heritage scheme)
EMD GP15T 501
EMD GP15T 502
EMD GP15T 503
EMD GP15T 504
EMD GP15T 505
EMD SW1500 800
EMD SW1500 801

Here's the 500 and 501.


The 500 was the first MVRY engine to get paint, and received the Wabash lettering in recognition of the history of the line. The 501-505 all received the same paint with MVRY lettering. The Wabash flag is also used on the nose of the GP15T's, however the 501-505 read "Maumee Valley" on the inside. Currently, the 800 and 801 are in all dark blue with no logo's or lettering on the long hood. The paint on these units will be complete sometime this summer.

[Y@]

As far as operations go...

DF-1 - Defiance West Job - 05:30 Call Time
-Handles interchange traffic to/from NS
-Mon/Wed/Fri

DF-2 - Defiance Local - 13:00 Call Time
-Works Mercer, LaFarge, Johns Manville, Lowe's and CSX interchange
-Mon-Fri

DFNA - Defiance-Napoleon Turn - 05:30 Call Time
-Takes cars to/from Napoleon for interchange with the NA-1 Job
-Tue/Thu/Sat

NA-1 - Napoleon Local - 18:00 Call Time
-Switches all customers in Napoleon and Okolona
-Mon-Fri

NA-2 - IORY Interchange Job - 13:00 Call Time
-Takes cars to/from IORY interchange in Liberty Center
-Tue/Sat (As needed any other days)

The NA-1 is typically the only nocturnal job working on the MVRR, but the NA-2 will run at night on off days.

[AARR]

Customers
Napoleon

How about coal for Campbell's 500 cars per year