Stanley Tower, located at the north end of Conrail’s Stanley Yard near Toledo, Ohio, was an important junction. In the 1980s, Conrail trains departing the yard could here access the Toledo Branch, the former Toledo & Ohio Central line to Columbus, the Miami CUT Branch to reach the main line connections to Detroit and Elkhart near the Maumee River Bridge, and the Toledo Terminal Railroad’s line for transfers to other carriers in the Toledo area.
Stanley Tower was closed in 2008, and Miami CUT Branch lost its usefulness after Conrail was sold and split up in 1999. There is no longer a direct link from Stanley Yard to the Miami CUT.
When I visited the area on a snowy 10 March 1984, classic Conrail scenes could still be captured, as in the two photographs below.
Conrail 1902 (GE B23-7, built in 1978, scrapped in 2005) leads a transfer out of Stanley Yard to the CSXT Walbridge Yard. The train is entering the Toledo Terminal Railroad for the short distance to Walbridge. (10 March 1984)
Conrail 7824 (EMD GP38, 1969), 2774 (GE U23B, 1973) and 2246 (EMD GP30, 1963) pull out of Stanley Yard, leading a train onto the Toledo Branch towards Columbus. CR 7824 was still in existence in 2021, when it was photographed as Walking Horse Railroad #345 at McMinnville, Tennessee. (10 March 1984)
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