Post all maps of streetcar systems, interurbans, etc in this thread.  This can be a great collection of all the systems that were once in place in Ohio's cities.

Ohio's Interurbans

 

Urban and interurban electric railway systems flourished during the 1890s and 1900s. The replacement of the horse car by the electric car in the 1890s spurred the development of urban railway systems. One such system, the Cleveland Electric Railway Company was formed in 1893 by the consolidation of the Broadway and Newburgh Street Railway, the Brooklyn Street Railway, the East Cleveland Railway,and the Southside Street Railway companies. In 1903 the Cleveland City Railway was added to the Cleveland Electric Railway resulting in the unification of all existing lines in the city.

 

The success of this system and others like it encouraged the development of interurban transportation for a variety of reasons. The population in rural areas was becoming more prosperous due to rising agricultural prices and better educated because of improvements in educational facilities. The start of rural free mail delivery in 1896 contributed to a decline in the traditional isolation of rural areas. In addition, the U.S. Population was increasing at a yearly rate of 1.3 million due to immigration, a high birth rate, and a rising life expectancy. This growing population was moving out from the urban areas. The decreasing isolation and increasing population of rural areas led to a desire for greater mobility and easier access to towns.

 

More traditional forms of transportation such as the horse and buggy were too slow. Railroads stopped only in towns, often miles away from the farm. The automobile was still a novelty. As a result interurban railways were developed. Interurbans were generally powered by electricity and emphasized passenger service; unlike railroads, they carried little freight.

 

Ohio had the largest interurban system in the country. No Ohio town of 10,000 was without service and the area along Lake Erie and south from Toledo to Cincinnati had highly developed networks. Almost the entire system was built by 1908 and, like most interurbans in the U.S., vanished by 1939. The chief reason for this rapid decline was the automobile which replaced the interurban as the chief mode of intercity transportation.

 

Source: George W. Hilton and John F. Due: The Electric Interurban Railways in America as provided by The Ohio Historical Society

http://knorek.com/RR/Ohio/History/interurban.htm

Link to a list of Ohio's Interurban lines:

 

http://hometown.aol.com/metrafan/interoh.html

 

And a map....

wow.

 

I wish Cleveland had a better rail system and had a better commutterr rail system.

 

I hope the other rail projects ive read about here on urbanohio work out.

Here is the streetcar system that was present in Hamilton in 1920:

 

and this was the proposed modifications/extensions of the system in 1920 Comprehensive Plan:

 

*Note that each dot on these maps represents 5 families.  The system was based entirely off of population clusters and employment centers.

Some examples of what used to run on Ohio's Interurban Lines...

^^Wow! Very interesting; I don't know too much about Hamilton's system, except that it ran last in 1933.

 

I remember reading a Jim Blount article about the 1920 plan; it proposed a union station to unite the two train stations in town, expansion of the streetcar system, and construction of a belt around the west side of the city. Hamilton built the beltway (Washington Blvd), but so much for transit...

Obviously, it's not an official map, but here's a little something I did a while ago to show a friend of mine where the Lake Shore Electric used to run in Rocky River and Bay Village.  The blue line is the LSE's old route.  I admit, it's not spot-on and there are a few errors here and there (especially around downtown Rocky River).

 

I'd like to know where the Cleveland-Southwestern interurban used to run.  I know it did run on Lorain Road in Fairview at least (a pity... it would have rolled right by my doorstep if it still existed... :(), but I'm curious to know its exact route.

Equillibrius, The LSE crossed into Rocky River from Lakewood on the old Detroit Road bridge, part of which still stands and has the bridge building on it. It went straight west across Wooster Road, and ran next to what is the new Detroit Road today. It then turned a little more westerly and made an S-curve under the Nickel Plate RR tracks (Noozer posted the picture above). That same underpass is used by Smith Court today. It turned westerly again, running down the middle of Beaconsfield Blvd and stayed roughly a quarter of a mile south of Lake Road into Bay Village (you have a little too far south on your map). Some places in Rocky River it was a little closer to Lake Road. For example, you can see some of the right of way off Arbor Cliff Lane and Hidden Valley Road in Rocky River. It ran on what is today Electric Blvd, between Upland and Forestview, as well as sections of Electric Blvd farther west. Your routing west of Glen Park is pretty much spot on.

 

As for the Cleveland Southwestern, it had two routes which branched at Kamms Corners. The original Cleveland Southwestern line (full name was the Cleveland Southwestern & Columbus Railway) went south to Medina via Rocky River Drive (it also offered the first electric rail transit to a major airport -- Hopkins). It then turned due south along Eastland Road and went under the B&O at the Rocky River crossing. It headed cross-country toward Prospect Road and then to Subtstation Road in Medina County (that's how that road got its name). From Medina, it turned southwest to Bucyrus.

 

The other Cleveland Southwestern line (originally called the Cleveland, Elyria & Western Railroad until the Southwestern acquired it) crossed the Rocky River valley from Cleveland Kamm's Corners into Fairview Village on an iron bridge with the tracks in the wooden street deck (it made for some interesting car/interurban meets on the narrow bridge!). Through Fairview Village and North Olmsted, the track ran on the south side of Lorain Road. Somewhere near the Lorain County, I still haven't figured out exactly where, it turned due west and went cross-country and began following Center Ridge Road (US 20) into Elyria. On the south side of Downtown Elyria, the line split again. One route went through LaPorte to Grafton. The other went southwest to Oberlin where the line split again. One branch headed due south to Wellington with the other heading westerly to Norwalk.

 

Nearly all of these paralleled steam railroad lines which also offered multiple passenger train services as well. While the electric lines were cleaner (no soot!), they were slower than the steam railroads. But if you wanted to get to your final destination, they were a terrific feeder/collector service. That's why they were the first rail services to see abandonment -- aside from the fact that they were shaky financially to begin with. And, after the Supreme Court forced the split of the transportation, real estate and electric utilities operations of the interurbans, it made the interurbans easy pickings for the likes of National City Lines, Pacific City Lines, Yellow Coach, Greyhound and a myriad of other bus lines who were using an increasing number of paved roads paid for public funding. But, at that time, the interurban, real estate and utility syndicates were seen as the bad boy monopolies that were responsible for the corporate scandals and such that led to the Great Depression, as well as the isolation of rural interests and other societal ills. Funny how the pendulum has swung wholly in the opposite direction to where the automobile and highways are now the monopolies causing all sorts of societal ills. But that's what happens when you put all your economic eggs in one transportation basket.

In the Akron streetcar thread, I noted how the Northern Ohio Traction & Light and the Lakeshore Electric both had double-track, 80 mph, dedicated rights of way once they left Cleveland city streets. Here's some pictures of those alignments....

 

The NOT&L operated trains between Cleveland and Akron every 20 minutes during rush hours, offering a one-hour trip between those two cities (that, despite the street running in Cleveland and Akron). Here's a photo of a special train operating to Cleveland during the 1920 World Series, shown next to Northfield Road just south of Bedford....

 

 

Crossing the Cuyahoga River, between Cuyahoga Falls and Akron...

 

 

This appears to be the Akron Interurban terminal, complete with a train shed, with a three-car NOT&L train bound for Cleveland...

 

 

A three-car train headed to/from Cleveland. This appears to be near the end of service in 1932 during the Great Depression, based on the condition of the right of way. Yet, despite the deferred maintenance, the NOT&L kept running its trains at 80 mph to compete with the auto. It resulted in numerous derailments and only caused costs to rise and ridership to erode further...

 

 

This is a freight motor on the Crittenden Cutoff (you can tell by the heavier-duty catenaries), between Northfield and Silver Lake, which the NOT&L built to replace a slower, curvacious route next to old Route 8 just west. This is where NOT&L trains really flew...

 

 

A better view of the Crittenden Cutoff...

 

 

An even better view of the Crittenden Cutoff, also called the Northfield Cutoff. A classic interurban scene if there ever was one...

 

 

 

 

 

The fate of the interurbans....

 

Thanks for the info and corrections, KJP.  I was mostly guessing for the Rocky River side, although Beaconsfeld Blvd. makes it pretty obvious that a rail line once ran through there. The topographic map I used (from topozone.com) also showed some evidence of a former right-of-way near Elmwood Park, and I thought it was part of the LSE's old route.

 

It boggles the mind to think what exists along these routes, and what could have existed had they been running for a while longer.  One could argue that places like Bay Village and Avon Lake are, basically, very large TODs.

 

Also, it still amazes me to think how far these tiny, streetcar-style vehicles traveled, some before the 20th century even. A modern rapid transit line, if built today, is lucky if it makes it more than a couple of miles.

Nice pics.  Nice thread... btw, I've read the Van Sweringen's ultimate plans were to have the various interurbans divert to their grade-separated Rapid ROWs to reach Terminal Tower @ Public Square rather than tediously/slowly creaking over city streets (usually behind streetcars).  In particular, that the NOT&L would have been routed through the now defunct Kingsbury tunnels where the Red line connects with the Shaker (Blue & Green) lines -- imagine hopping Rapid cars for Akron and Canton from Blue/Green platforms (maybe we can capture some of that when/if the CVSR is extended to Tower City).  Unfortunately, apparently for reasons in part noted by KJP, the interurbans were already financially shaky then ultimately taken down by GM and it's bus holding companies (like the infamous National City Lines)... The orphan Shaker lines -- then called the Cleveland Interurban RR passed through several hands before RTA and never hosted any other transit lines other than their own until CTS built the current Red Line.

 

Damn shame, but obviously the Vans, despite their showiness, lacked capital to finish off the connection, too, as they shot their wad on Terminal Tower which, in part due to the Depression and decline of the passenger RR, saw their empire collapse before realization of the plan... Turns out, the Vans never even ponied up and bought the cars running on their Shaker Rapid during their lifetimes... they leased them for Cleveland Railway.

 

 

Wow, interesting shot... this Crittendon Cutoff looks heavily built like an Eastern commuter rail line - or, closer to home, the famed South Shore Line Line still operating btw Chi-town and South Bend, Ind.

Here's what electric commuter service looked like between New Haven and New York on the old New Haven Railroad back in the 60's: light-weight steel and aluminum cars on a very well-maintained roadbed and heavy-duty overhead wires.  Not unlike the multiple-unit (MU) cars of the interurban lines KJP has depicted. (Photo credit to the Sessions Station website.)

lake shore electric from wiki:

 

 

 

 

 

Lakeshore Electric (shown at its Sandusky station in 1927)

 

Lake Shore Electric Railway

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Map from an actual LSE timetable dated 1 July 1922The Lake Shore Electric Railway (LSE) was an interurban electric railway that ran between Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio. Through arrangements with connecting interurban lines; it also offered service to Fostoria and Lima, Ohio, and Detroit. The line served many communities along the south shore of Lake Erie, at a time of mostly horse-drawn vehicles on dirt roads, with innovative, high-speed transportation that rivaled the area's steam railroads.

 

It helped to develop tourism as a major industry in northern Ohio; through the establishment of several lake shore recreation areas (some owned by LSE and others privately owned) such as Avon Beach Park in Avon Lake; Linwood Park in Vermilion; Crystal Beach, Beulah Beach, Mitiwanga Park and Ruggles Grove (Ruggles Beach) between Vermilion and Huron; Sage's Grove and Rye Beach in Huron. It also brought great numbers of visitors to what started as a small local beach park and picnic ground off Sandusky called Cedar Point that evolved into the giant amusement park resort of today.

 

It was formed August 29, 1901 through the merger of several smaller interurban railways:

 

Lorain and Cleveland Railway, running between Cleveland and Lorain, and intent on building westward at the time of the merger.

Sandusky and Interurban Railway (S&I), which had begun as a local transit operation in Sandusky, and was building eastward from Huron to Lorain at the time of the merger.

Toledo, Fremont and Norwalk Railway (TF&N), serving Toledo, Fremont, and Norwalk and building eastward toward Lorain at the time of the merger.

Sandusky, Milan and Norwalk Railway, formed in 1893 and one of the earliest interurban railway companies in the United States, between Sandusky and Norwalk, via Milan. This line served as the earliest physical connection between the Sandusky and Interurban Railway and the Toledo, Fremont and Norwalk Railway after the merger. It became a branch line after completion of the previously planned TF&N line east from Norwalk to connect to the S&I at "Ceylon Junction", a few miles east of Huron. It was also the first portion of the Lake Shore Electric system to be abandoned, ending service on March 29, 1928.

The LSE later added the following interurban lines and operated them as branches:

 

Lorain Street Railway, which ran between Lorain and Elyria and operated Lorain local transit services.

Avon Beach and Southern Railway, which ran between South Lorain and "Beach Park" in Avon Lake, the location of a Lake Shore Electric resort park, passenger station, car barn and electrical generating station. A small portion of this line is the only part of the original LSE system still in operation today, becoming what is now a Norfolk Southern Railway branch serving the FirstEnergy Corporation's Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company(CEI) generating station at Avon Lake. This plant was first built to replace the LSE power plant at the same location that was destroyed in an explosion and fire in 1925.

The Lake Shore Electric built a short branch to Gibsonburg, Ohio that opened on December 21, 1901. It built a new route between Fremont and Sandusky via Castalia, commencing service on July 21, 1907, and later relocated some of its lines in Huron (opened in 1918) and Sandusky (opened in 1931).

 

The Lake Shore Electric at its height offered multiple-unit trains of interurban cars from Cleveland and Toledo. These trains would split in Fremont on the west and at Ceylon Junction (a passenger station on the former S&I line east of Huron at the connection with the former TF&N branch to Norwalk) on the east. After splitting; some cars would travel via the Huron, Sandusky and Castalia route and other cars would go via the Norwalk, Monroeville, Bellevue, and Clyde, route. The service was scheduled so the cars would re-join at Fremont and Ceylon Junction, respectively, to continue on to their destinations in Toledo or Cleveland.

 

As its passenger business waned with the increasing number of private automobiles on paved roads, it outlived most connecting interurban lines by concentrating on freight services. However, the Lake Shore Electric went into bankruptcy on October 5, 1932 and ended interurban rail operations on May 15, 1938, with Car #167 making the last run out of Cleveland.

 

While only a few physical remnants of the Lake Shore Electric can be found today, its routes can be followed in northern Ohio by power lines on high utility poles; where LSE's former electrical transmission infrastructure became the property of area utility companies.

 

 

[edit] References

Harwood, Herbert H., Jr. and Korach, Robert (2000). The Lake Shore Electric Railway Story. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33797-6.

 

 

Hilton, George W. & Due, John F. (1960, 2000). The Electric Interurban Railways in America. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4014-3. 

 

[edit] External links

Images of Lake Shore Electric equipment at Dave's Electric Railroads

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Shore_Electric_Railway"

 

After being given several names in the last few years; the "Lake Shore Electric Railway Trail" is now the official name for what is in several online or printed lists of Ohio Rail-Trails as either the "Huron Trail." or the "Edison Greenway Trail."

 

It is a former right-of-way for the Lake Shore Electric Railway, considered by many as one of the premier electric interurbans in the nation early in the last century. The trail route was opened in November 1918, replacing the former interurban route through Huron streets and ended operations in May of 1938. Ohio Edison became the successor to the rights-of-way for the LSE, and used it as a utility corridor for many years. A new electrical transmission line was built in the late 1970's at a different location; thus, the remaining utility lines serve only the nearby neighborhoods and now only extend about halfway down the trail.

 

The trail follows the US 6 - Ohio 2 expressway; the brush between the trail and highway is quite thick. The user cannot see much of the highway, but highway noise is evident. In spite of its proximity to the highway; it was very rural in character.

 

MAN! This is just Ohio. I can't even fathom how much infrastructure was destroyed around the country. Really, if we were to recreate what was lost, I wonder what that monetary value would be. Talk about a regressive....

It's interesting that many other industrialized countries have state-owned and/or controlled railways where, around cities, were electrified for suburban commuter service -- like what occurred out east (and really almost exclusively in Philly and NYC, ... and the Illinois Central out of Chicago). Overall, though, it never got off the ground much in this country and the interurbans -- flimsy in structure and usually owned by small, local supported with meager or no freight service, were destroyed relatively easily by the auto and GM... It always seemed to me that electrification of railroads, with tunneling in downtown areas, made the most sense, economically... what's more, such systems can more easily be expanded to penetrate metro areas... The US, and I guess small-ish Canada, are kind of oddballs in not developing such systems.

But, of course, Europe did (around the same time as the US did). But we didn't keep them and, thus, certainly didn't improve them.

 

This is a stadtbahn (or S-bahn) linking cities, in other words, an interurban. Germany has a number of these lines, including routes from Karlsruhe to Freudenstadt in the Black Forest, or the all-double-tracked heavy-duty line between Bonn and Cologne (including sections in subway in the downtown areas). As you can see from these photos, the German interurbans have been modernized over the decades, including the tracks, trains, station and other infrastructure. But some features are historic, including stone bridges, older tunnels and renovated stations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming into Karlsruhe, roughly the same population as Akron. You wouldn't believe the number of streetcar and interurban lines Karlsruhe has (including joint operation of streetcars over the same tracks as freight trains and railroad passenger trains). Sigh...

 

 

 

A local map of Karlsruhe rail transit services....

 

 

A regional map of Karlsruhe rail transit services....

 

Say does anyone have a good map of the Columbus, Ohio system from "the day?"

question?  Does "commutter" rail mean the same thing as "interurban" rail?

What about the Warren-Niles-Youngstown are? Are there any streetcar maps (or were there streetcars here?)

Say does anyone have a good map of the Columbus, Ohio system from "the day?"

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=12273.msg172824#msg172824

Here's a Columbus Streetcar map.  The darker (Maroon) lines are where the interurban lines left the Columbus streetcar system and headed for points beyond.

question?  Does "commutter" rail mean the same thing as "interurban" rail?

 

Not generally. Commuter rail is typically on heavier duty railroad tracks (like the New Haven RR pictures posted by Noozer earlier). Interurban rail typically refers to a light-rail transit type of vehicle that can also operate like a streetcar in the cities. But, as always, there has been some cross-pollenation of these and other types of rail passenger services.

 

What about the Warren-Niles-Youngstown are? Are there any streetcar maps (or were there streetcars here?)

 

Yes, the Youngstown - Niles - Warren area had the Penn-Ohio system, which operated very frequent service generally along what is today US422 between these cities. Youngstown had its own streetcar system, and was served by interurbans to/from New Castle PA as well as Ohio's last interurban, the Youngstown & Southern which ran from downtown Youngstown, through Boardman and into Columbiana County. I believe most of the tracks are still there, as it was also a successful freight operation.

KJP... the Y&S is currently operated by the Ohio Central Railroad (one of several branch line operations they run from their headquarters in Coshocton, OH).  The Ohio Rail Development Commission has assisted in several track and grade crossing projects along the line to upgrade service.

For some reasoon I've always had a strong interest in interurbans.   But its hard to be a railfan for a type of train that no longer exists.

 

There are a handfull of books out there on the history of various interurban lines and some regional treatments, too. 

 

One could argue that places like Bay Village and Avon Lake are, basically, very large TODs.

 

That is a good analogy.  One sees this in Dayton, too, and probably other places around the country. One example I know of is in Chicago: the Chicago suburb of Villa Park was built around an interurban station.  Rio Linda, a suburb of Sacramento, was also built around an interurban stop.

 

A tour of some Dayton "interurban suburbs" (with pix of the trains, too), here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember reading a Jim Blount article about the 1920 plan; it proposed a union station to unite the two train stations in town, expansion of the streetcar system, and construction of a belt around the west side of the city. Hamilton built the beltway (Washington Blvd), but so much for transit...

 

You mean this...

sorry about the poor scan quality...it was the best I could do.  But you can clearly see the large plaza in front of the station.  It looks very impressive!  I also have maps of the belt proposal and what not...but I don't feel the need to share maps about roadway projects.