hi to all here at urbanohio.........total newbe here...........been recently doing more research in my area (garrettsville, hiram) and have been wanting to find out more about this company in the tread title, i've been able to locate via mapquest almost all of the route between hiram and garrettsville, but it's hard to tell where the line came into g-ville, was hoping someone here may know far more about this line, thanks ahead of time....... :-)

here's a couple pics i've found from the period........

Hi Rusty, the EOT entered the center of Garrettsville along the south side of Main Street (SR82). See my tracing of the route on the Google map below. However the best way to follow the route is on historicaerials.com where you can find the oldest aerial map dating from 1952 where more evidence of the route was visible. To see the detailed routing, check out the 1943 topographical map which still shows the interurban as a railroad. Note that where an interurban's tracks and a road right of way were shared (either along the side of the road or in the middle of the street as in a streetcar), there are dashes crossways within the lines designating the roadway. Note that the Garrettsville branch operated only from 1903-14 due to being so far from the electrical generating station and thus weak/unreliable electric power distribution to the end of the line. EOT couldn't afford to construct a substation near the end of the line. Also here are some route maps and history from the Central Electric Railfans' Association hardcover book Bulletin 108 "Electric Railways of Northeastern Ohio" copyright 1965:

 

Hiram-Garrettsville EOT route by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

EOT route map c1910 by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

 

The picture on the page below is a part of the Cleveland interurban railway freight station on Bolivar Avenue off East 9th Street looking north toward the Caxton Building and, a little bit of the Rose Building (Medical Mutual) is visible too...

 

Hiram-Garrettsville EOT history-s by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

 

Thanks KJP, yep, i was looking at the route again early this morning via mapquest, at it's lowest satellite level it goes from summer mode to winter mode (without snow), the line can still clearly be seen where it passed through, and the more i looked at where the line reaches route 82, i came to the conclusion that it went right down route 82 into town........i've also located the line between Burton and Middlefield using mapquest in the same mode,..........was also hoping you could shed more light on the "Clinton air line RR" that still leaves scares in the ground near my home.......

Clinton Air Line is a fascinating story. Lots of long-distance railroads that were planned in the early years won state charters and sold stock often experienced difficulties getting construction completed. But even those that stopped construction under one regime were bought out and restarted under another regime. One that, for the most part, did not get completed was the Clinton Air Line. For those confused with the name -- "air line" referred to a very straight railroad, as if was drawn through the air with no obstructions. So it was a marketing ploy used by some railroads (e.g. Toledo Air Line -- a largely curve-less railroad west of Toledo which bypassed the old line through southern Michigan to Chicago).

 

The Clinton Air Line was to be built well south of the lake shore across the flat lands of Indiana and Ohio, from Chicago to Buffalo. Its headquarters was in Hudson, one of the then-larger towns along the route, with Clinton Street (still exists) named after the company. The most curvaceous part of the railroad was to be its crossing of the Cuyahoga River valley. Heading east, it would descend following the Yellow Creek ravine to Botzum on the Ohio Canal, turn north along the Cuyahoga River to a point at the bottom of Salt Run (along Truxell Road) where it would turn east toward Hudson on a 1% grade. The rest of the right of way description appears in this piece below from Harry Christiansen's New Northern Ohio Interurbans, published in 1965 but expanded and reprinted in 1983. This part appeared in the 1965 edition....

 

Lost steam RRs-New Northern Ohio Interurbans-c1965-83s by Ken Prendergast, on Flickr

 

Thanks again KJP, not so sure that you would ever see the rail bed from Norton road though, Norton rd is well south from the bed line, again, most all of this line can be seen using mapquest as i've stated before, also there's real good county maps in the U.S. Congress Library (portage and geauga) from 1857 clearly showing the route (which is how i finally figured out what the heck went through there in the first place), i first noticed the cut in the land where it crosses Alpha road nearly 30 years ago, it always reminded me of a canal bed and i've since that time pondered as to what it really was until i found the map from 1857, i went for a ride to look at some of the crossings a few days back and noticed a sign stating the "the famous Clinton air line RR" erected where it cross state rt 700 on the west side of the road, a little faded but looks to have been put up by the Hiram historical society, easy to miss if you don't know to look, it can be seen using google maps earth, it's located, if i remember right, just below the second driveway on the west side of 700 just south of Allen road, pull the "little man" down to the location for a street view, at this location the rail bed is built up, not a cut.........also wanted to mention that these maps from 1857 show very clearly the path of the former P&O canal (another story in the near future)