World’s Worst Maintained Railroad (Full Video)

Maumee & Western Railroad Company (reporting mark MAW) was a Class III shortline railroad, located between Woodburn, Indiana and Liberty Center, Ohio. The MAW operated on a former Wabash Railroad mainline (“The Fifth District“), which ran Westward out of Toledo to Fort Wayne. After the merger between the Wabash and Norfolk & Western Railroads, the line became a neglected branch under the auspices of the Norfolk & Western, and was partly torn up between Toledo and Liberty Center, with that part of the right of way now acting as a rail-trail. However, Norfolk Southern Railway (formed after the merging of Southern Railway and Norfolk & Western Railroad in 1982) sold the rest of the remaining railroad tracks between Woodburn and Liberty Center to the Indiana Hi-Rail Company in 1990. Indiana Hi-Rail operated the line for several years with Alco locomotives until the company was liquidated in 1997. By that time, this once prosperous line seemed to be facing a possible abandonment. But, the Maumee & Western Railroad