Lake Shore Electric Railway

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

Lorain And Cleveland Railway , running between Cleveland and Lorain, Ohio , and building westward at the time of the merger.

Sandusky And Interurban Railway , which had begun as a local transit operation in Sandusky, Ohio , and was building eastward to Huron, Ohio , and Lorain, Ohio and southward toward Norwalk, Ohio , at the time of the merger.

Toledo, Fremont And Norwalk Railway , serving Toledo, Fremont, Ohio , 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, Ohio . This line served as the earliest physical connection between the Sandusky and Interurban Railway and the Toledo, Fremont and Norwalk Railway until the completion of the original planned expansions of these companies. It was also the first portion of the Lake Shore Electric system to be abandoned, ending service on March 29 , 1928 .

The Lake Shore Electric later added the following interurban lines and operated them as branches:

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

Avon Beach And Southern Railway , which ran between South Lorain and "Beach Park" in Avon Lake, Ohio , the location of a passenger station, car barn and electrical generating station. A small portion of this line is the only part of the original Lake Shore Electric system still in operation today, as a Norfolk Southern Railway branch serving the First Energy Corporation electrical generating station at Avon Lake.

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, Ohio , 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 a few miles east of Huron) 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, Ohio , Bellevue, Ohio , and Clyde, Ohio , route. The service was scheduled so the cars would re-join at Fremont and Ceylon Junction, respectively, to continue on to 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.

REFERENCES

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

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Lake Shore Electric Railway