Ohio Southern Railroad (1881–1898)

The Ohio Southern Railroad operated between Ironton, Ohio, and Lima, Ohio, from 1893 and 1905. Beginning in 1878 as the narrow gauge Springfield, Jackson and Pomeroy Railroad, it ran from Jackson-Wellston, Jackson County to Springfield, Ohio. The line was converted to a standard gauge by 1880 and renamed the Ohio Southern Railroad in 1881. From Jeffersonville, branch lines were started towards Columbus to the northeast and Cincinnati to the southwest, but never completed. By September 1893, the Ohio Southern had reached north to Lima with a bridge over the Great Miami River at Quincy. At Lima, the freight could link to the Lima Northern Railway for points further north. In 1898, the Lima Northern became the Detroit and Lima Northern Railroad (D&LN). Ohio Southern depots continue to stand in St. Johns, Uniopolis, Jackson Center, Quincy, and Rosewood.

Planned as a narrow gauge railroad from the southeastern Ohio mineral lands connecting to Springfield, Fort Wayne and on to Chicago, the Ohio Southern Railroad never left the state of Ohio until it was taken over by the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton (DTI), serving the automobile industry in Detroit, Michigan. Originating as the Springfield, Jackson & Pomeroy Railroad on December 17, 1874 as a means to link the three towns incorporated in its name. The Dayton & South Eastern (D&SE) had been incorporated earlier to provide the same linkages, by a circuitous route, avoiding the large hills on a more direct alignment. The townspeople of Springfield did not wish to be a branch line, so joining with the other towns missed by the D&SE the SJ&P was born.

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