This rail line began in 1881 as the Cleveland, Delphos and St. Louis Railroad. A narrow gauge railroad, the line ran from Delphos to Carey, where it went east to Mogadore. Originally intended to go through Findlay, the railroad could not make it, and instead went through Bluffton, thus explaining the sharp "kink" in the route to Pandora. It was converted to standard gauge in 1890.

The Lake Erie and Western leased it in 1895, and it eventually became the Northern Ohio Railway. In 1920, it was leased by the Akron, Canton, and Youngstown Railroad (AC&Y), itself becoming part of Norfolk and Western (NW) in 1964.

It operated separately until 1982, when it was officially merged with the NW. NW merged with the Southern Railroad later that year, to become Norfolk Southern (NS). The last train to use the track between Delphos to Carey was in December 1982, with the rails being pulled up in 1984.

NS sold the remainder of the line to the new Wheeling and Lake Erie railroad in 1990, where it still is in use.