Streetcars in Cleveland

Cleveland street railways in 1900

Like most large cities in the United States, there existed a large network of streetcars in Cleveland in the first half of the 20th century. The streetcar lines in Cleveland, Ohio were operated by the Cleveland Railway, which was formed in 1910 with the merger of two companies. The Cleveland Railway converted a few streetcar lines in the 1930s, but the onset of World War II stopped any further conversions.

In 1942, the Cleveland Transit System took over the operation of all streetcar, bus and trackless trolley lines from the Cleveland Railway. Following the war, CTS undertook a program of replacing all existing streetcar lines with either trackless trolleys or buses.

The last CTS streetcar ran on January 24, 1954 with a free ride celebration on the Madison line from Public Square to West 65th and Bridge.

List of streetcar lines

The following table lists the conversion of the Cleveland streetcar lines to trackless trolleys (or trolleybuses) or buses in reverse chronological order, with the last date of streetcar service, the line name, the modern line number, the type of vehicle replacing the streetcar, and the length of time that lasted. Shuttle lines or "dinkeys" are not included.

Date	Line	No.	Replaced with	From	Until	Then	Notes
January 25, 1954	Madison	25	Bus	January 26, 1954	Present	—
August 15, 1953	Clark	23	Bus	August 16, 1953	Present	—
August 15, 1953	West 25th	20	Bus	August 16, 1953	Present	—
March 20, 1953	Superior	3	Trackless trolley	March 22, 1953	April 12, 1963	Bus
March 7, 1953	East 55th	16	Bus	March 8, 1953	Present	—
June 14, 1952	Lorain (Public Square to West 140th)	22	Trackless trolley	June 15, 1952	November 14, 1958	Bus	Also used by the Cleveland, Southwestern and Columbus Railway [1]
April 26, 1952	Euclid (Public Square to Windermere)	6	Bus	April 27, 1952	Present	—	Also used by the Cleveland, Painesville and Eastern Railroad (Main Line) [1]
November 3, 1951	St. Clair	1	Trackless trolley	November 4, 1951	May 4, 1962	Bus	Also used by the Cleveland, Painesville and Eastern Railroad (Shore Line) [1]
August 25, 1951	Detroit	26	Trackless trolley	August 27, 1951	November 14, 1958	Bus
April 7, 1951	St. Clair (East of East 129th)	1	Bus	April 8, 1951	Present	—	Became Bus # 5 Now Bus # 1 again
July 1, 1950	West 25th (Broadview branch)	20	Bus	July 2, 1950	Present	—	Became Bus # 67 Now part of Bus # 35
June 17, 1950	Lorain (West 140th to Puritas)	22	Bus	June 18, 1950	Present	—	Became Bus # 85 Now Bus # 22 again
March 25, 1950	Kinsman	14	Trackless trolley	September 6, 1950	October 19, 1962	Bus	Also used by the Eastern Ohio Traction Company (Cleveland and Chagrin Falls Railway) [1]
September 6, 1949	Mayfield	7	Bus	September 7, 1949	Present	—	Also used by the Eastern Ohio Traction Company (Cleveland and Eastern Traction Company) [1]
August 15, 1949	Euclid (Hayden branch)	6	Bus	August 16, 1949	Present	—	Became Bus # 30
July 31, 1948	East 55th (Washington Park branch)	16					Shut down because of construction of Willow Freeway (now I-77).
July 31, 1948	Fairmount	?	Bus	August 1, 1948	Present	—	Became Bus # 32C Now Bus # 42
June 30, 1948	Buckeye	13	Trackless trolley	September 8, 1948	October 19, 1962	Bus
April 30, 1948	St. Clair (East 140th Euclid Beach branch)	1	Bus	May 1, 1948			Became Bus # 44 Now part of Bus # 30
April 30, 1948	Fulton	24	Trackless trolley	June 22, 1950	November 14, 1958	Bus	Now part of Bus # 79
April 15, 1948	Euclid (Windermere to Ivanhoe)	6	Bus	April 16, 1948	Present	—	Became Bus # 28
March 20, 1948	Euclid (Ivanhoe to East 212th)	6	Bus	March 21, 1948	Present	—	Became Bus # 28
March 15, 1948	Woodland	12	Trackless trolley	February 16, 1949	October 19, 1962	Bus
March 6, 1948	Harvard–Dennison	18	Bus	March 7, 1948	?	—	Now replaced by several bus routes
January 31, 1948	East 105th	10	Trackless trolley	February 1, 1948	June 14, 1963	Bus
November 15, 1947	Clifton	27	Trackless trolley	July 5, 1949	November 14, 1958	Bus	Also used by the Lake Shore Electric Railway [1] Now replaced by several bus routes
September 2, 1947	Union	15	Trackless trolley	May 1, 1948	June 14, 1963	Bus
August 15, 1947	Broadway	19	Trackless trolley	December 1, 1947	June 14, 1963	Bus	Also used by the Northern Ohio Traction and Light Company (Akron, Bedford and Cleveland Railroad) [1]
July 31, 1947	West 25th (Pearl Road branch)	20	Bus	August 1, 1947			Became Bus # 51
June 15, 1948	Cedar (Downtown to Cedar Glen)	8	Trackless trolley	June 16, 1948	April 12, 1963	Bus
May 6, 1946	Scovill	11	Bus	May 7, 1946	?	—	Now no bus service
March 15, 1945	Cedar (Cedar Glen to Taylor)	8	Bus	March 16, 1945	Present	—	Became Bus # 32
November 15, 1940	East 79th	2	Bus	November 16, 1940	Present	—
November 15, 1940	East 30th	17	Bus	November 16, 1940	?	—	Now no bus service
April 15, 1939	Wade Park	4	Trackless trolley[ citation needed ]	December 16, 1945	April 12, 1963	Bus
June 15, 1938	Central	33	Bus	June 16, 1938	Present	—
October 31, 1935	Payne–Hough	38	Trackless trolley	March 1, 1939	April 12, 1963	Bus
April 3, 1935	Fairfield	74	Bus	April 4, 1935	Present		Streetcar service ended when Central Viaduct closed Now part of Bus # 81
August 16, 1920	Shaker	?	Streetcar	August 16, 1920	Present	Light rail	Disconnected from Fairmount line in 1923 Now part of RTA Rapid Transit Green Line

See also

• Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
• Northern Ohio Railway Museum
• List of streetcar systems in the United States (all-time list)

References

Inline references

1. Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade & Douglas, Report on a Rapid Transit System for the City of Cleveland, 1919, p. 55

Books

• Christiansen, Harry (1975). Trolley Trails Through Greater Cleveland and Northern Ohio. Vol. 3. Lakewood: Trolley Lore/Western Reserve Historical Society. pp. 444–446, 470.
• Toman, James A.; Blaine S. Hays (1996). Horse Trails to Regional Rails: The Story of Public Transit in Greater Cleveland. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. ISBN   0-87338-547-0.

External links

• Tom's North American Trolleybus Pix Cleveland Page