Northern Ohio Railway Museum

Last updated
Northern Ohio Railway Museum
0711 switching b.jpg
A railway crane at the museum in 2005.
Northern Ohio Railway Museum
Established1965
Location5515 Buffham Road, Chippewa Lake, Ohio
Coordinates 41°02′48″N81°53′17″W / 41.0467°N 81.888°W / 41.0467; -81.888
Type Railway museum
Website http://www.trainweb.org/norm/

Northern Ohio Railway Museum is a railroad museum located near Chippewa Lake, Ohio, United States. The museum is a non-profit, educational organization. It was established in 1965, [1] granted 501(c)(3) status by the Internal Revenue Service in 1966 and incorporated under the laws of the State of Ohio in 1976. The membership is approximately 180 electric railway devotees who reside throughout the United States and Canada, with the majority clustered in northeastern Ohio.

Contents

Mission

The mission of the Northern Ohio Railway Museum is to collect, preserve and maintain for study and exhibition streetcars, artifacts, mementos and assorted railway equipment related to the origin, development and use of transit equipment and operations in northern Ohio. The major focus is building an operating railway museum that will allow the running of the current collection of railway equipment for the education and enjoyment of the public.

Location and facilities

The museum is situated on 42 acres (17 ha) in the Chippewa Valley, near two Interstate highways. It is 45 minutes from Cleveland, 30 minutes from Akron and 90 minutes from Columbus. Properties consist of two miles of former Cleveland and Southwestern interurban right of way and a 30 acres (12 ha) adjacent parcel for the carbarns, yards and visitor facilities. This property is at 5515 Buffham Road in Westfield Township. The museum also has an easement on an additional two acres for a loop near Lake Road.

On this site the museum is collecting, preserving, restoring, displaying and will eventually be operating streetcars and other railway equipment for use by the public. Over thirty railway cars and other railway equipment have been collected. Most, once restored, will be displayed and operated for the public. The collection is stored and displayed in two large “carbarns”. In 1997, the museum erected the Anson W. Bennett Carhouse. In 2003, the John R. McCarthy Carhouse was erected. In these buildings the collection is stored and protected from the elements, and will be restored to its original condition. The heart of the museum's operation will be a demonstration railroad. Once completed, it will contain over three miles of track, providing a five-mile round trip. To date over a mile of track has been constructed. Building and maintaining the museum's property, track and equipment require a number of support vehicles—trucks, tractors, and other specialized equipment. In 2000, the Rowen S. Prunkard Maintenance Facility was erected to house the fleet of internal combustion work equipment.

The museum has a master plan and all development conforms to this plan. The plan is conceptual and provides for public areas with visitors’ center and interpretive displays, and for service areas with carbarns for service, restoration and storage of streetcars and interurbans. Provisions have been made for both open track and street running. This configuration provides for indoor storage of forty-two full sized interurban cars. That density increases as smaller city equipment is included in the mix. Three of the seven planned buildings are now complete.

Rolling stock and equipment

As of 2020, the museum had ten street cars and one interurban coach plus a number of rail right of way maintenance cars. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota Transportation Museum</span> Transportation museum in Saint Paul, Minnesota

The Minnesota Transportation Museum is a transportation museum in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Como-Harriet Streetcar Line</span> United States historic place

The Como-Harriet Streetcar Line (CHSL) is a heritage streetcar line in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which follows original streetcar right-of-way between Lake Harriet and Bde Maka Ska and is operated by the Minnesota Streetcar Museum. The heritage line was originally developed in the 1970s by the Minnesota Transportation Museum which spun off streetcar operations in the winter of 2004–2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Key System</span>

The Key System was a privately owned company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany, and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area from 1903 until 1960, when it was sold to a newly formed public agency, AC Transit. The Key System consisted of local streetcar and bus lines in the East Bay, and commuter rail and bus lines connecting the East Bay to San Francisco by a ferry pier on San Francisco Bay, later via the lower deck of the Bay Bridge. At its height during the 1940s, the Key System had over 66 miles (106 km) of track. The local streetcars were discontinued in 1948 and the commuter trains to San Francisco were discontinued in 1958. The Key System's territory is today served by BART and AC Transit bus service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philadelphia and Western Railroad</span> Former high-speed commuter interurban electric railroad

The Philadelphia and Western Railroad was a high-speed, third rail-equipped, commuter-hauling interurban electric railroad operating in the western suburbs of the U.S. city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is now SEPTA's Norristown High Speed Line, though the Strafford spur has been abandoned. Part of the abandoned line within Radnor Township is now the Radnor Trail, a multi-use path or rail trail.

The Toronto Suburban Railway was a Canadian electric railway operator with local routes in west Toronto, and a radial (interurban) route to Guelph.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Street Railway (Toronto)</span> Toronto railway electric radial line

The Metropolitan Street Railway was the operator of the Metropolitan line in the Toronto area that started out as a local horsecar line and transformed itself into an electric radial line extending to Lake Simcoe, following an old stage coach route. In 1904, the railway was acquired by the Toronto and York Radial Railway (T&YRR) and became the T&YRR Metropolitan Division. In 1922, the City of Toronto acquired the T&YRR and contracted Ontario Hydro to manage the four T&YRR lines including the Metropolitan. In 1927, the TTC took over the operation of the Metropolitan Line to Sutton, and renamed it the Lake Simcoe line. In 1930, the TTC closed the Metropolitan Line but shortly reopened the portion between Glen Echo and Richmond Hill operating it as the North Yonge Railways until 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Davisville Yard</span> Rail yard of the Toronto Transit Commission

The Davisville Subway Yard is a rail yard on the Toronto Transit Commission's Yonge subway line. The train maintenance and storage building is referred to as the Davisville Carhouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connecticut Trolley Museum</span> Railroad museum in East Windsor, Connecticut

The Connecticut Trolley Museum, founded in October 1940, is the oldest incorporated museum dedicated to electric railroading in the United States. The museum is located in East Windsor, Connecticut and is open to the public April through December. The museum features static and moving displays, and self-guided tours of the state's trolley history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illinois Railway Museum</span> American Museum

The Illinois Railway Museum is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, 55 miles (89 km) northwest of downtown Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Collins Municipal Railway</span>

The Fort Collins Municipal Railway operated streetcars in Fort Collins, Colorado, from 1919 until 1951. Since 1984, a section of one of the former routes has been in operation as a seasonal heritage streetcar service, under the same name, running primarily on Spring and Summer weekends. The heritage service is operated by volunteers from the Fort Collins Municipal Railway Society (FCMRS). The streetcar in use on the heritage line, Birney "Safety" Streetcar No. 21, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Shore Electric Railway</span>

The Lake Shore Electric Railway (LSE) was an interurban electric railway that ran primarily between Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio by way of Sandusky and Fremont. Through arrangements with connecting interurban lines, it also offered service from Fremont to Fostoria and Lima, Ohio, and at Toledo to Detroit and Cincinnati.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittsburgh Railways</span>

Pittsburgh Railways was one of the predecessors of Pittsburgh Regional Transit. It had 666 PCC cars, the third largest fleet in North America. It had 68 streetcar routes, of which only three are used by the Port Authority as light rail routes. With the Port Authority's Transit Development Plan, many route names will be changed to its original, such as the 41D Brookline becoming the 39 Brookline. Many of the streetcar routes have been remembered in the route names of many Port Authority buses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania Trolley Museum</span> Railway museum in Washington, Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum is a museum in Washington, Pennsylvania, dedicated to operation and preservation of streetcars and trolleys. The museum primarily contains historic trolleys from Pennsylvania, but their collection includes examples from nearby Toledo, Ohio; New Orleans, and even an open sided car from Brazil. Many have been painstakingly restored to operating condition. Other unique cars either waiting for restoration or incompatible with the Pennsylvania trolley gauge track are on display in a massive trolley display building. Notable examples on static display include a J.G. Brill “brilliner” car which was introduced as a competitor to the PCC, locomotives, and a horse car from the early days of Pittsburgh’s public transit systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Capital Trolley Museum</span> 501(c)(3) nonprofit museum in Colesville, Maryland

The National Capital Trolley Museum (NCTM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that operates historic street cars, trolleys and trams for the public on a regular schedule. Located in Montgomery County, Maryland, the museum's primary mission is to preserve and interpret the history of the electric street and interurban railways of the National Capital region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Issaquah Valley Trolley</span>

The Issaquah Valley Trolley (IVT) was a heritage streetcar line in Issaquah, Washington, United States. It was a project of the Issaquah History Museums. The IVT operated from the Issaquah Depot Museum building located at 78 First Ave, NE. The service operated on a trial basis in 2001–02 and then on a regular basis, seasonally, from 2012 to 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Electric Railway Museum</span> Electric Railway Museum in Brooks, Oregon

The Oregon Electric Railway Museum is the largest streetcar/trolley museum in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It is owned and operated by the Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society and is located in Brooks, Oregon, on the grounds of Powerland Heritage Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehigh Valley Transit Company</span>

The Lehigh Valley Transit Company (LVT) was a regional transport company, headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, that began operations in 1901 as an urban trolley and interurban rail transport company. It operated successfully into the 1930s, struggled financially during the Great Depression, and was saved from abandonment by a dramatic ridership increase due to the Second World War. In 1951, the LVT, once again financially struggling, ended its 36-mile (58 km) interurban rail service from Allentown to Philadelphia. In 1952, it ended its Allentown area local trolley service. It operated local bus service in the Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton, Pennsylvania, areas until going out of business in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Shore Electric Railway (museum)</span> Railway museum in Cleveland, Ohio

The Lake Shore Electric Railway was an attempt to start an electric railway museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hillcrest Complex</span> Maintenance facility of the Toronto Transit Commission

Hillcrest Complex is the Toronto Transit Commission's largest facility and is responsible for most of the maintenance work on the system's surface vehicles, including heavy overhauls, repairs and repainting. It is located adjacent to the intersection of Bathurst Street and Davenport Road. The site is also home to the TTC's Transit Control Centre, but the operational headquarters of the organization remain at the McBrien Building at 1900 Yonge Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern California Railway Museum</span> Railroad museum in Perris, California

The Southern California Railway Museum, formerly known as the Orange Empire Railway Museum, is a railroad museum in Perris, California, United States. It was founded in 1956 at Griffith Park in Los Angeles before moving to the former Pinacate Station as the "Orange Empire Trolley Museum" in 1958. It was renamed "Orange Empire Railway Museum" in 1975 after merging with a museum then known as the California Southern Railroad Museum, and adopted its current name in 2019. The museum also operates a heritage railroad on the museum grounds.

References

  1. "The Medina, Ohio Community Advocate - Northern Ohio Railway Museum". December 2009. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
  2. trainweb.org/norm/equip.htm, Northern Ohio Railway Museum web site

Coordinates: 41°2′50″N81°53′17″W / 41.04722°N 81.88806°W / 41.04722; -81.88806