

Bluffton's railroad Golden Age
It's nearly 115 years ago at the National Quarry north of Jefferson Street - the year is 1910-11 Can't you just hear the whistle? The...
Mar 12, 2024


A 400-ton monster passing through Bluffton
Right out of the Lima Locomotive Works shops in 1941 From the Oct. 16, 1941, Bluffton News - A giant, 400-ton locomotive built by the...
Feb 4, 2024


Can you image a trip to Lima in 1905 on an electric trolley boarding on Bluffton's Main Street?
It was 119 years ago this week that Main Street Bluffton changed forever. It witnessed the arrival of the first interurban (electric...
Jan 8, 2024


125 Christmases ago, 2 Bluffton railroads offered excursions
Sorry you missed them - maybe next year It’s too late to take advantage of Bluffton’s two passenger railroad holiday excursions, which...
Jan 4, 2024


Larger than dinosaurs
Two Lima Berkshires stopped in Bluffton in November, 1961, on their way to the scrapyard This story and the two accompanying photos were...
Nov 10, 2023


It's 1969 - here's the Golden Spike Ltd
Lima-built Berkshire NKP 765 roared through Bluffton It’s springtime in 1969 and 25 minutes before this photo was taken Nickel Plate 765...
Aug 1, 2023


So, you think you know Bluffton?
A sign that lights up only two times each day, or rather evening So, you think you know Bluffton? Okay, where is this "NO LEFT TURN"...
Jul 27, 2023


One-time frequent Bluffton visitors
Here's an interesting publicity page from an Akron, Canton and Youngstown Railroad brochure. It shows several railroad freight and...
Jul 23, 2023


Once a frequent Bluffton visitor
Lima-built Berkshire steam locomotive 759 Nickel Plate Road locomotive 759 sets off from Lima toward Bluffton in this photo taken in...
Apr 12, 2023


A blizzard stopped this AC&Y freight outside Bluffton
February 1977 taught us not to mess with Mother Nature Forty-six winters ago this month – it was the famous blizzard of 1977 – a freight...
Feb 16, 2023


Here's an 1897-era Bluffton publicity photo
And, you'd have to go to Greenfield Village to see a locomotive like this one What a scene! And, it's a marketing photo, promoting many...
Jan 4, 2023


A winter's day on the railroad
Here's a scene that you won't find today in Bluffton. This photo was taken in the early 1980s. Gone is the Nickel Plate Road passenger...
Oct 24, 2022


Fast east-bound freight through Ada
It's 1938 on the Pennsylvania Railroad's double-tracked main line No, it’s not Bluffton. But it’s nearby. Here’s a Pennsylvania Railroad...
Aug 24, 2022


Picture this: 1,200 residents take a train excursion to Detroit from Bluffton in 1899
Passenger train passing through Bluffton from Findlay around 1920 Vacation plans in order? That question asked by two earlier generations...
Jul 8, 2022


Over 100 Bluffton residents attended the 1893 Chicago World's Fair
And they traveled there on the Nickel Plate Railroad from Bluffton, to Findlay to Chicago In 1893 the village of Bluffton (population...
Jun 24, 2022


Are you kidding? An electric trolley on Main Street?
Western Ohio Railway served Bluffton from 1906 to 1932 An electric trolly car on Bluffton’s Main Street? Yes, from 1906 to 1932 the...
Jun 20, 2022


1892 - Bluffton's worst railroad accident
This story includes the complete Bluffton News version and several photographs of the accident Imagine an out-of-control and fast-moving...
May 21, 2022


It's 1969 & here comes the Golden Spike Ltd.
Lima-built NKP Berkshire 765 roars through Bluffton It’s springtime in 1969 and 25 minutes before this photo was taken Nickel Plate 765...
May 16, 2022


Rawson's railroad depot
Like, Bluffton, Rawson was a stop on the Lake Erie and Western Railroad Like Bluffton, the railroad came to Rawson and Mt. Cory in 1872...
Apr 25, 2022


Meanwhile in Ada
A scene from 1902 at the Pennsylvania station in a village south of Bluffton A few miles south of Bluffton, traveling on the County Line...
Apr 18, 2022