The Lake Shore Electric Railway (LSE) ran between Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, by way of Sandusky and Fremont. Through arrangements with connecting interurban lines, it also offered services from Fremont to Fostoria and Lima, Ohio, and at Toledo to Detroit and Cincinnati.
The LSE was formed in 1901, composed of four predecessor railroads, all owned by the Everett-Moore Syndicate. Operations under the Lake Shore Electric name began in late 1901 along the route between Cleveland and Toledo. In 1907 the railway constructed a cutoff between Sandusky and Fremont, Ohio, which reduced the distance between Cleveland and Toledo by five miles (8 km) and 30 minutes.
Due to the Great Depression and its impact on traffic along the line, the railway declared bankruptcy in 1932, although operations continued. In 1938 freight-service employees went on strike; the railroad subsequently ended freight operations later that year. In May 1938 the railway ended all operations.
The Lake Shore Electric at its height offered multiple-unit trains of interurban cars to and 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 northern route and others would go via the Norwalk, Monroeville, Bellevue, and Clyde southern route. The service was scheduled so the cars would re-join at Fremont and Ceylon Junction, respectively, to continue on to their destinations of Toledo or Cleveland as a train.
Upon bankruptcy in October 1932 LSE continued operation under court ordered receivership thereafter until abandonment. As its passenger business waned with the increasing number of private automobiles on paved roads and the effects of the Depression, it outlasted most connecting interurban lines by concentrating on freight business. LSE had developed a marginally profitable freight service interchanging with the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad at Toledo to deliver less-than-carload freight from southern Ohio factories to Cleveland. The C&LE traction freights continued straight through Toledo to Cleveland on LSE trackage on a tight overnight schedule providing next day delivery that competing steam railroads could not equal by at last two days. LSE also introduced an early intermodal service called the "Railwagon," that would enable truck trailers to be loaded on a specially designed flatcar without the need for a loading ramp or crane. Bureaucratic delays by Ohio motor carrier regulators doomed the service.
A poorly planned strike by LSE freight agents and office staff in 1938 caused the LSE Receiver to immediately abandon the business. The loss of the Cleveland connection seriously hurt the C&LE leading it to bankruptcy in 1939 and similarly the nearby Indiana Railroad interurban the next year for the same reason. The LSE ended all interurban rail operations on 15 May 1938 and car number 167 made the last run from Cleveland. (condensed from wikipedia, more here)
1 comment:
Though it was a sad past, freight industry is starting to make its way to be big.
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