Deshler Crossroads Park

Deshler Crossroads Park was set up for exactly this purpose. The Village of Deshler describes it as "a safe, friendly place to watch trains and take photos of a huge variety of engines and cars" and says the park "welcomes rail fans from around the country." It sits at 110 Mulberry Street, just off Ohio State Route 18, in the south-west quadrant of the CSX diamond - between the diamond and a transfer track, according to a railfan guide. You park on the gravel lot inside the park and watch from beside the shelter house.

The village lists a shelter house, WiFi, a 24-hour rail radio scanner, a BBQ area, a fire ring and portable restroom facilities, with gas stations, shopping and restaurants nearby. A railfan guide adds that a floodlight allows night train-watching and that a sandwich shop and a mini-mart stand across the tracks. Because the scanner plays the dispatchers continuously, you usually hear a train called before you see it - useful at a crossing where movements can come from four directions, and where trains on one line sometimes wait for a train on the other.

Mulberry Street crosses both the Toledo Subdivision and the Willard Subdivision right beside the park, so the public street gives you a second angle without leaving public ground. The etiquette is simple: stay inside the park and on public streets. The tracks, the diamond and the former interlocking tower belong to CSX.

The park is a small, level plot in the village of Deshler (population 1,588 at the 2020 census), tucked into the corner where two CSX main lines cross at grade. Across the diamond stands the former Baltimore & Ohio interlocking tower, the visual anchor of every Deshler photograph. Signals, the diamond itself and the village streets that cross both lines fill the view; this is a working junction in a small town, not a scenic setting.

Brush Creek winds around the village: the FRA bridge inventory places the Toledo Subdivision's Brush Creek bridge approximately 300 m (1,000 ft) south of the park, and the east-west line's bridge over the same creek approximately 750 m (2,450 ft) east of it.

After dark, the park's floodlight, the signals and the village street lights keep the scene visible, and the scanner keeps the atmosphere busy through the night.

Deshler was platted in 1873 and named for John G. Deshler, the original owner of the town site. From the early 1900s the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was a large economic presence in the village and gave it the nickname "the Crossroads of the B&O": here the B&O's Detroit/Toledo to Cincinnati line crossed its busy Chicago to Washington, D.C. main line. CSX Transportation now owns and operates both lines.

The interlocking tower that controlled the crossing still stands. A railfan guide reports that it closed in 1988 and is still used by CSX maintenance crews. The B&O depot did not survive: it was demolished on 11 August 2022, so older guides that still show it are out of date.

The park exists because a local railfan wanted it to. According to the Village of Deshler, the land was purchased in 1990 by Ronnie Thatcher and donated to the Bartlow Township Historical Society "to establish the park to preserve the ability of those who wanted to be able to sit and watch trains".

Few junctions in North America offer a purpose-built railfan park right on the diamond with a shelter house, WiFi, a round-the-clock scanner and restrooms, all listed by the village itself. Deshler adds a flat crossing of two busy CSX main lines, the surviving B&O interlocking tower, and a 24-hour Virtual Railfan livestream hosted by the park, so you can watch the diamond from home before and after a visit. The Fostoria Iron Triangle Rail Park, another dedicated railfan park where three main lines meet, is approximately 41 km (25 miles) east in a straight line, which makes a two-park day possible.