Jewell Depot/Railroad Station

In 1967, the Jewell Depot/Railroad Station was moved to the Village. The depot had been built in 1856 by the Toledo Wabash & Western Railroad. It included a ticket master's office and had a freight room added in 1904. The depot housed tools, and a telegraph office, a baggage room and sold tickets to passengers. In the baggage room, visitors can see an ornate trunk that went west with a former Defiance resident to the California gold fields in 1849. After his death, in the 1870's, his personal effects were returned in the trunk.

Two thousand feet of rail and four hundred railroad ties were donated by an anonymous donor. In 1968, only 41 steam railroads were operating in all of North America. A sum of $50,000 was needed to build the railroad at AuGlaize Village. Tickets were printed and sold. A steam locomotive, Old "29" , was steamed up and every ticket holder was able to blast on the steam whistle. The first 100 tickets were stamped in gold and auctioned at the August Village event. In October of 1972, volunteers laid the one-mile of track. The railroad bed was donated by Webb Brothers Excavating contractors. They also donated machinery and manpower.

Three large steam traction engines were donated by John Harper of New Haven, IN. The oldest of them is an 1885 Rumley. It possesses a 12 h.p. drawbar pulling ability. The other two date from 1917. These are a 10-ton Buffalo-Pitts and a Port Huron. The Buffalo Pitts has a drawbar pull of 18 h.p. The Port Huron, designated a 24-75, has a drawbar pull of 24 h.p. and a belt pull of 75 h.p. A fourth engine, donated by Harper is a 1922 Case. Its weight is nearly 12 tons. It is designated as a 22-65, that has a drawbar pull of 2 h.p. and a belt pull of 65 h.p. The latest addition is a 40-ton caboose.

The Chessie System Railroad had agreed to donate an estimated half mile of track. This track was originally located in Defiance behind Brickell Elementary School from Second Street to the end of Main Street. Track was later picked up from Second Street to Hopkins. This railroad spur had served the Turnbull Wagon Company, which was Defiance's largest employer until it's devestation in the 1913 Flood.

AuGlaize Village's Railroad Club (a speicial interest group of the Village) operates the train at Village events. Train rides are $2.