The Lake Shore Electric Railway Story

Robert S. Korach, Herbert H. Harwood Jr.

Description

This is the fully illustrated story of "The Greatest Electric Railway in the United States" connecting the Lake Erie cities of Toledo and Cleveland. Before its untimely death in 1938 it left a rich legacy of bold innovation and imaginative marketing practices.

From 1901 to 1938 the Lake Shore Electric claimed to be—and was considered by many—"The Greatest Electric Railway in the United States." It followed the shore of Lake Erie, connecting Cleveland and Toledo with a high-speed, limited-stop service and pioneered a form of intermodal transportation three decades before the rest of the industry. To millions of people the bright orange electric cars were an economical and comfortable means of escaping the urban mills and shops or the humdrum of rural life. In summers during the glory years there were never enough cars to handle the crowds. After reaching its peak in the early 1920s, however, the Lake Shore Electric suffered the fate of most of its sister lines: it was now competing with automobiles, trucks, and buses and could not rival them in convenience. The Lake Shore Electric Railway Story tells the story of this fascinating chapter in interurban transportation, including the missed opportunities that might have saved this railway.

Introduction: The Lake Shore Electric — What It Was and Where It Went
1. Genesis: 1901 - 1903
2. Putting It All Together: 1904 - 1907
3. The Developing Years: 1908 - 1913
4. The Great War: 1914 - 1918
5. Not Quite Normalcy: 1919 - 1922
6. A Snapshot at the Summit: The Lake Shore Electric in 1923
7. Transition: 1923 - 1929
8. The End of the Line: 1930 - 1938
9. Epilogue: The Afterlife
10. The Predecessors : 1883 - 1906
11. Passenger Services
12. City Operations
13. Freight Services
14. The Equipment
Appendix 1: Roster of Equipment
Appendix 2: Carbarns, Shops, Power Houses, Substations

Sujets

• Railroads
• HISTORY
• Histoire
• General officer
• Rail transport
• History of the Americas
• General
• United States

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 14 septembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253017703
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

THE LAKE SHORE ELECTRIC RAILWAY STORY
Railroads Past and Present
Series editor: George M. Smerk
THE LAKE SHORE ELECTRIC RAILWAY STORY
by Herbert H. Harwood, Jr. and Robert S. Korach
This book is a publication of
I NDIANA U NIVERSITY P RESS
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
First paperback edition 2016
2000 by Herbert H. Harwood, Jr., and Robert S. Korach
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
The Library of Congress cataloged the original edition as follows:
Harwood, Herbert H., Jr.
The Lake Shore Electric Railway story / by Herbert H. Harwood, Jr. and Robert S. Korach.
p. cm. - (Railroads past and present)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-253-33797-6 (cl : alk. paper)
1. Lake Shore Electric Railway Company. 2. Electric railroads-Ohio-History. I. Korach, Robert S. II. Title. III. Series.
TF1025.L35 H37 2000
385 .09771-dc21
00-039646
ISBN 978-0-253-33797-9 (cl.)
ISBN 978-0-253-01766-6 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-253-01770-3 (eb)
2 3 4 5 6 21 20 19 18 17 16
CONTENTS
List of Maps
Acknowledgments
Preface and Dedication
Introduction: The Lake Shore Electric-What It Was and Where It Went
Frederick W. Coen, 1872-1942: Mister Lake Shore Electric
Part I: The Story
1. Genesis: 1901-1903
2. Putting It All Together: 1904-1907
I NTERLUDE A: T HE LSE VS . W INTER
3. The Developing Years: 1908-1913
I NTERLUDE B: T HE LSE IN S UMMERTIME
4. The Great War: 1914-1918
5. Not Quite Normalcy: 1919-1922
6. A Snapshot at the Summit: The Lake Shore Electric in 1923
7. Transition: 1923-1929
8. The End of the Line: 1930-1938
9. Epilogue: The Afterlife
Part II: The Origins
10. The Predecessors: 1883-1906
Part III: The Operations
11. Passenger Services
12. City Operations
13. Freight Services
I NTERLUDE C: C LEVELAND TO T OLEDO ON THE LSE
14. The Equipment
Appendix 1: Equipment Rosters
Appendix 2: Carbarns, Shops, Power Houses, and Substations
Bibliography
Index
LIST OF MAPS
System map
The Lake Shore Electric Railway s original system, 1902
The Lorain Street Railway and Avon Beach Southern, 1906
Sandusky city streetcar lines, 1900
LSE lines in Lorain
Lake Shore Electric Sandusky city lines after 1907
Electric Railways Freight Company official map, 1931
Track map of Cleveland terminal, 1920s
Toledo freight terminal
Final Cleveland freight terminal
Beach Park carbarn layout
Sandusky carbarn layout
Fremont carbarn layout
South Lorain carbarn layout
Milan carbarn layout
Lake Shore Electric Railway-System Map.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As told in the Preface, this book was begun and much of its raw material was put together by the late John A. Rehor and Willis A. McCaleb, and no expression of acknowledgments can begin without recognizing the enormous amount of work that they did. Whatever the contributions of the present authors, they rest on the awesomely huge base built by these two. Clearly, nothing would have been possible without them. Nor would it have been possible without the help and encouragement of John s widow, Phyllis, who preserved all of the material and made it available to the authors.
But this book is also the product of many other generous hands - as will be quickly seen from what follows here. Not only did numerous members of the historical and railroad enthusiast communities contribute, but many former LSE employees and their relatives were interviewed, answered many questions, and gave extensive reminiscences. Unfortunately the project s long, complex, and sometimes sad history has caused problems for the present authors in recognizing some of this help. While we have carefully pored through the innumerable records and notes left by Messrs. Rehor and McCaleb, we are all too aware that the names of some have been lost, and to them we sincerely apologize.
For this reason too, photo credits may not always be accurate. The present authors have worked from John Rehor s carefully documented photo records, but there may be cases where there is either no record of a photographer or donor, or an attribution may be incorrect. Again, we apologize for any such lapses.
Special thanks must go to George Krambles, LeRoy O. King, Jr., J. William Vigrass, James M. Semon, Bruce M. Dicken, Bob Lorenz, Robert T. Hess, Ralph A. Perkin, and Richard A. Egen, who struggled through all or parts of the manuscript draft and made numerous corrections and suggestions. Most of them also supplied information and/or photographs during the research process. In addition, Mr. Vigrass contributed several parts of the text relating to technology, and Mr. King produced the equipment rosters. Tom Heinrich did a masterful job of producing the professional mapwork while juggling the demands of an engineering job with Norfolk Southern and his family. Gilbert Gonzales of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont was especially patient, helpful, and generous in providing early photographs. And finally, the daughterly devotion of Marcia Slattery must be recognized in translating the barely intelligible dictation tapes of co-author Korach into beautifully wordprocessed drafts.
Other individuals - many of them now gone - who have given of their time and materials over the years: Eli Bail, Roy G. Benedict, Mrs. Walter J. Bishop (daughter of F. W. Coen)*, Robert T. Blatt, George K. Bradley, D. Paul Brown*, Terrence Burke*, Stanley O. Chausse, Harold E. Cox, Roy Deehr*, Herb Deering*, Albert C. Doane (Black River Historical Society), Mrs. E. V. Emery*, Ray Ewers, Betty Coen Fontaine*, Albert J. Fredericks*, W. Gordon Gallup*, David Garcia, Elmer Fischer*, Charles J. Hanville*, Fritz Hardendorf, C. D. Harvey, W. Lupher Hay, David J. Haynes, William R. Heller, Kermit Hoesman (Woodville Historical Society), John D. Horachek, Peter Jedlicka, Ronald Jedlicka, Edward Jenck*, Paul Jenck*, Jack Keenan, Franklyn P. Kellogg, John Keller (Allen County Historical Society), Norman Krentel, Anthony F. Krisak, Richard Krisak, Karel Liebenauer, Norma McCaleb, Emmett Mead*, Clarence Miller*, Clifford Noe, Robert Pence*, Ralph A. Perkin, R. C. Prugh, Mrs. Bernard Reed*, Howard T. Reed*, Emery J. Reiner, Frank Rossi*, David Sayles, Ralph Sayles*, Waldo A. Sayles*, Eugene H. Schmidt, Jack E. Schramm, Frank Schroeder, James P. Shuman, Nancy Schwartz (Western Reserve Historical Society), Louis Szakacs, Charles Trapani, Jr., Martin Tuohy (National Archives-Great Lakes Region), Max Wilcox, William J. Wilkinson* (SN M), and Mariruth C. Wright (Ohio Public Utilities Commission).
In addition to those individuals, the following institutions provided invaluable original documents and photographs: Allen County Historical Society, Lima, Ohio; Bellevue (Ohio) Public Library; Black River Historical Society, Lorain, Ohio; Firelands Museum; Fremont (Ohio) Public Library; Gibsonburg (Ohio) Public Library; Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Fremont, Ohio; Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Penn. (J. G. Brill Collection); Lorain (Ohio) Public Library; Norwalk (Ohio) Public Library; Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio; Oregon Historical Society, Portland, Ore. (David Stearns Collection); Sandusky (Ohio) Public Library (Brownworth Collection); University of Oregon Library, Eugene, Ore. (Randall Mills Collection); and Woodville Historical Society, Woodville, Ohio. Our thanks to them all and, posthumously, the thanks of John Rehor and Willis McCaleb.
Herbert H. Harwood, Jr. Robert S. Korach
[*indicates a former LSE employee or relative.]
PREFACE AND DEDICATION
The odyssey of this book has lasted longer than the legendary wanderings of Odysseus himself - longer, in fact, than the life of the Lake Shore Electric as an operating railway. It was, in effect, the lifetime project of two noted Cleveland railway historians, John A. Rehor and Willis A. McCaleb. Rehor is perhaps best known among railroad historians for his monumental history of the Nickel Plate, The Nickel Plate Story (Kalmbach Publishing Co., Milwaukee, Wis., 1965) and his self-published Berkshire Era (1967); he was also a railroader, working various operating management positions on the Nickel Plate and Norfolk Western, and more recently was senior accident investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington. A professional photographer, McCaleb served many years as the Nickel Plate s official photographer and his work has recently been memorialized in several posthumous pictorials.
John conceived the idea of the book, acted as the project leader, and gathered a tremendous amount of information, documents, and photos himself. Willis and his wife Norma aided with extensive on-the-spot research in Ohio, including meticulous research in numerous local newspapers from 1890 to 1938, interviews with former LSE employees, and finding, copying, and printing