In General
Getting Here
Map
Sights
Pictures
Signals
Fire & Police
USGS Maps
Floobydust

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In General

Location / Name:
Deshler OH, Henry County

What's Here:
Diamond and interchange between the divisions listed below
Deshler Tower
Former B&O depot
Railpark for watching trains from

Data:
GPS Coordinates: 41.206360, -83.901867
Phone A/C: 419
ZIP: 43516

Access by train/transit:
None

The Scoop:

Deshler is a very active junction between CSX N-S and E-W lines, which are all part of CSX's Great Lakes Division.......

The E-W double-track line runs between Cleveland and Chicago.  East from Deshler, it's the Willard Subdivision (Deshler to Willard), and runs through Fostoria.  Going west out of Deshler, it is the Garrett Subdivision to Auburn OH.

The N-S line runs from Perrysburg (Toledo) to Cincinnati (via Lima and Dayton).  It is the Toledo Subdivision from Perry to Trent OH (~161mi).  Deshler is at milepost BE164.8.  The busiest interchange is the SE connection - for WB trains coming from Fostoria going south to Cincinnati.

Local railfans have been fortunate in their quest to set up a railfan park on the SW corner of the diamond, and it is frequented by railfans a lot!

On the opposite corner stands the Deshler Tower, and it is out in the open and easy to shoot.

The line between Cleveland and Chicago is very busy, with easily 100 trains on an average day.  Maybe 20 of them take the interchange track between Fostoria and Lima.

East and west of Deshler, trains run at a pretty good pace, and Deshler Road (OH18) offers a good vantage point of them for the most part.

Radio frequencies are:



Nearby hotbox detectors are at 52.2 to the east, 73.3 to the west, 160.6 & 158.9 to the south, and 178.8 to the north.

Other (kinda) nearby hotspots include:
-- Fostoria OH (~27mi east via OH18)
-- Leipsic OH (~8-10mi south on OH65)(the B&O line running south out of Deshler goes thru here)
-- Lima OH (~40mi south)(ditto for the B&O line going south out of Deshler)
-- Marion OH (~70 SE)
-- Sidney OH (~35mi south of Lima off I75)
-- Butler IN (~50mi NW on US6).

Over on the other side of North Baltimore (and I75), the line crosses the Toledo Line Subdivision.

If anyone has them, I could use some good pictures of the signals at locations 10, 13, and 14 on my map, or of the CPL's that used to be on the E/W mainline, as I ran out of time and sunlight on both occasions I was in town on a recent trip to MI and OH.

BTW, the angle of the diamond is 71 degrees:



Acknowledgements:
Denver Todd
Eric Davis, for all of the signal photos he sent in!
Thanks to Jim Mihalek for several of the photos, including the top of the page, looking east across the Deshler crossing, while everything was still all CPL's!
Robert L. Wheeler Jr, for corrected radio frequencies
Michael Maurer, for suggesting I add the angle of the diamond.... great idea, Thanks!

Websites and other additional information sources of interest for the area:
https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/26809 listen in on the action in Deshler
http://railfanlocations.weebly.com/deshler-oh.html


Getting Here

From the north or south of town, probably the easiest way is to take exit 167 off of I75, and heading west on OH18.

From the east, say, coming from Fostoria, take OH18 out of town and all the way into Deshler.  From the west, again, it's OH18.

If you're into chasing the E-W line, OH18 is the only game in town, but it is not always that close.


Map





   


Sights


   Deshler Tower



       

         


   Ex B&O Depot



   

  Picture by Cecil Hommerding, collection of Doug Leffler from a fan trip Toledo-Deshler 10/12/1952.


  Crossroads Railfan Park



         
An EB freight coming thru.


A WB to SB freight on the interchange track passes the crossing on Mulberry Street, across from the park.




Signals


  EB Interlocking Color Lights

     


  SB to WB Interlocking Color Light

 


  NB to WB Interlocking Color Light

     


  EB to SB Interlocking CPL

         
Dusk comes to Deschler... there's a small pond adjacent to signal #4.....


  WB to SB Interlocking CPL

                    Bright Marker!


  SB Interlocking CPL's

          SB freight passing signals at 6, a little fuzzy...


  NB to EB Interlocking colorlight along with EB Interlockers



     


  Southside NB Dwarf CPL

   


  Southside NB Cantilevered CPL's

           

  Looking south from the cantilevered signals.

  Looking even further south, pushing the limits of my little SX130.

  SB freight passing under the cantilevered signals..... photo by Eric Davis


  Northside NB and SB Interlocking CPL's







Another far off shot, taken from the cantilever location and across the diamond....... Guess we'll have to do another trip to Deshler :-)

    Two close-up shots of the dwarf, one is a time exposure.... cool... Thanks Eric!


  SB CPL at the diamond



               


  WB Colorlights at the diamond

     


  Southside SB CPL on Signal Bridge



In this far off distant shot (taken from the cantilever), we can see the signal bridge, and on the other side of it, a NB CPL off to the side.... even further, the two red dots is probably another intermediate signal another 2 miles or so down the tracks.... didn't have enough time or sunlight to investigate..... anyone have pix?

    Photos by Eric Davis.... GP-30 #2312 passing under the signal bridge on its way south, and another cool time exposure!


  WB colorlights

the new colorlight era


Fire and Police


Deshler Fire Department

126 E Main St, Deshler, OH 43516
419-278-3771
GPS Coordinates: 41.20650, -83.90043




Historical USGS Maps


Courtesy of the University of Texas Library, click here for their index page.




Floobydust



EATS....
Admittedly, there are not a lot of choices when it comes to eating in Deshler, however, I can find three places, and one comes recommended, Ron's.
-- Subway, at the Shell station on Main St.
-- Ron’s Supervalu Sandwich Shop, by the track about 3 blocks west of the park
-- Moma Rose's, at 119 East Main St, altho Google Maps streetview is not recent enough to capture the place.

Ron's

  Subway at the Shell station

  Don't see this a whole lot anymore with the digital signs....




One of the grade crossings on Main St with the N-S line.




Disclaimers:

I love trains, and I love signals.  I am not an expert.  My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page.  This is something I have fun with while trying to help others.

Please Note:  Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them.  For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.

If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct.  Once in a while, an error may creep in :-)

My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning.  Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or disoriented.  Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost!  I belong to AAA, which allows you to get local maps for free when you visit the local branches.  ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the railroads on them.  If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads.  Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.

Aerial shots were taken from either Google Maps or Bing Maps as noted.  Screen captures are made with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it! 

By the way, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous and/or other stuff.

Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit is always given!  Please be NICE!!!  Contact info is here

Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly being inaccurate, wrong, or not true.

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