I have been researching the Manufacturer’s Railway that ran along the Maumee River in downtown Toledo. The company was owned and operated by the Pennsy and operated out of the Olive Yard on the west bank of the river. The line was incorporated in 1872 and abandoned by Conrail in the early 1970’s. It was only about 3 miles in length and half of it ran down the middle of Water Street. The Pennsy maintained the trackage and supplied the equipment and crews for operations. I have all track maps and the names and pictures of customers served, but I have pretty much exhausted the local library and any online sources I can find for this line. Has anyone out there ever heard of this line and if so, do you have any information on it. I am looking for pictures of equipment and any operations information. Thanks
My father worked for the C&O out of Walbridge yard and would sometimes switch that trackage. They would come down the tracks on the east side of the Maumee, switch coal into the Toledo Edison electric plant on the east side, cross the river on the P-Company bridge then deliver to Tidkies (spelling?) deprtment store as well as coal hoppers into the Toledo Edison, which I think was a steam plant for the downtown buildings. IIRC They would also put covered hoppers in the Kuhlman concrete plant by the Cherry Street bridge as well as an warehouse of some sort upriver from the Edison near the end of the line near Swan Creek. That was in the 50s and into the 60s. I at least know about it, and I recently saw a picture of switcher, but for the life of me I can not remember where I saw it. The Toledo Library web site has many pictures on line, so maybe that was where I saw it. The Edison on Water Street was converted to an oil fired operation, and I don’t know how they got their oil. Unfortunatly my father passed away a few years ago, so I can’t ask him any more, and he was a great source of railroad information in and around Toledo.
Paul
Dayton and Mad River Railroad
There are two groups you should join. The Pennsy West group on Yahoo has several experts on the western end of the PRR including the Toledo area who can answer just about any question you may have. The other is PRR-Talk that can answer just about any question you may have about operating practices, engines, cars and buildings. You can subscribe to that one by sending an e mail to DSOP@PRR-Talk with subscribe in the subject line. You should also check out the Keystone Modeler that is free on the PRRT&HS web site.
Hi Paul: Thanks for the information. Sounds like your Dad worked during the PennCentral years. The Edison Steam Plant did indeed convert to oil around the time of the urban renewal of downtown Toledo. At that time, most of the Mfr. Rwy trackage was torn up beyond the Cherry Street Bridge (now the Martin Luther King Memorial Bridge). The oil tanks were installed down by the river’s edge at the end of two of the rail sidings for the plant. They could have been serviced by either barge or truck. The warehouse was most likely the Bostwick Braun hardware warehouse across Monroe St. at the end of the line. It had an inside track. Tietdkes was a major rail customer too. I am sorry your Father passed. He must have been a great source of history. The only locomotive picture I have seen on Water Street is a 1955 picture of a pair of E7s at Water and Adams Streets waiting to depart on a railfan trip. I am not sure why they didn’t use the PRR passenger station at Olive for that trip.
When I got home from work this morning I was looking through my books ( I am a NYC fan) and I have a book by Aracadia Publishing called Toledo Railroads. It is not a large book, but it does have many photos of old toledo railroads such as T&OC coal docks on the east side, many of the towers, stations and other rail facilities. The same publisher produces one called Toledo Trollyes, and it is just as it sounds. Have a great time researching the small railroad.
Paul
Dayton and Mad River RR
By the way it is spelled Tiedtke’s. The store burned down in 1975 after it had been closed for a few years. Both my father-in-law and mother-in-law worked there during the depression.
I do not remember much about the trackage in Water Street but I knew it existed. Everybody avoided Water Street due to the cobblestones and tracks in the street made driving it very difficult. The joke was if you wanted your wife to deliver on time, take her for a ride on Water Street.
The other thing was that the PC engineers knew when they derailed because the it was a lot smoother on the cobblestones than the trackage!
Rick