Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad

In 1901, the merger of the Detroit and Lima Northern Railway and the Ohio Southern Railway formed the Detroit Southern Railroad. This company was purchased at foreclosure on May 1, 1905, by Harry B. Hollins & Company of New York, which reincorporated it in the state of Michigan under the name of the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railway.

The president of the Detroit Southern, Samuel Hunt, was to remain as president of the reorganized road but died suddenly on May 15, 1905. He was followed by two short-term presidents: George Miller Cumming (a New York City lawyer who was a former first vice-president of the Erie Railroad and the former chairman of the board of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway) was elected in June and served for one month, after which F. A. Durban was elected in July and resigned in November. The next president was Eugene Zimmerman, under whom Cumming and Durban continued to serve as officers.

The name was changed to Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad on March 1, 1914.

Though the company went bankrupt in 1908, it remained solvent until it was purchased by Henry Ford in 1920. Ford recognized the strategic importance of the line to his automobile business; the line connected Dearborn, Michigan, to all of the major east–west rail lines in the Midwest. This gave Ford direct control over shipments of raw materials and finished goods to and from his factories in Dearborn.

Under Ford's management, the line thrived. In the words of a later historian, "the line was transformed from a streak of rust into an extremely efficient and profitable operation, the likes of which has or will seldom be seen in this country." Ford double-tracked the Detroit area main lines, and made a deal with the workers that they would take better care of the equipment in exchange for unusually high wages. Moreover, Ford funded the purchase of new equipment. For the daily Detroit-Bainbridge, Ohio train, the DT&I purchased a pair of "doodlebugs"; for the intensive Detroit-area freight service, the line electrified as far as Flat Rock yard. Ford hoped to electrify the entire line, and thence to an interchange with the Virginian, but electrified at 22 kV 25 Hz AC, the wrong voltage for interoperable equipment (the Virginian electrified at 11 kV AC). The concrete catenary masts of the electric years survived for decades after de-electrification, as it was deemed too expensive to demolish them; some remain today.

In 1929, Ford sold the line to a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad after becoming disgusted with what he considered interference and over-regulation from the Interstate Commerce Commission. In 1930, the railroad de-electrified in favor of standard equipment.

In April 1982, a collapse in Royersville Tunnel (the only tunnel on the old DT&I) prompted GTW to shut down the line between Jackson and Ironton. The tunnel had suffered collapses many times in the past but limited remaining business south of Jackson and the operational problems of the tunnel led to GTW's decision. At the same time, GTW bypassed the steep and treacherous Summithill section between Bainbridge and Waverly by rerouting trains onto Chessie System trackage from Washington Court House, Ohio to Waverly, then back onto the former DT&I to Jackson. In 1984 all operations south of Waverly and the C&O interchange at Glenn Jean ended with the closing of the Jackson Shops and abandonment of the remaining tracks from Glenn Jean to Jackson. GTW continued to operate to Waverly and Glenn Jean and in May of 1985 was forced to buy 10 miles of the B&O just outside of Washington CH South to Frankfort. The beginning of the end occurred in September of 1986 when a bridge outside of Chillicothe on the former B&O Renick Sub failed. The resulting detour around the bridge and the impending abandonment of the former B&O they used south of Washington CH to reach Chillicothe, GTW decided to end service south of Washington CH in March of 1987. Traffic to Waverly and Glenn Jean the last 12-18 months of service had shrank to coke off of NS and occasional unit coal trains off of CSX. The cost of purchase any of the former B&O up for abandonment wasn’t worth the cost.

A short section of the DT&I main west out of Jackson is still in place serving as a connection from industries to the only remaining line into Jackson. A short section of the DT&I north from the junction with the B&O Southwestern near Greenfield is still in place to serve local industry. Portions of the line between Greenfield and Washington Court House were purchased by Washington Court House with the intention of creating a rail-trail, but they were unable to acquire enough conjoined sections to build a trail.