Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad - History

History

The Cincinnati and Lake Erie was legally formed as a corporate entity in January, 1930, from the merger of three electric interurban lines: the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton (CH&D); the Indiana, Columbus and Eastern; and the Lima-Toledo Railroad. A visionary professor of business at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Dr. Thomas Conway, Jr., believed that there was profitable business for an interurban in the industrial heart of Ohio. He started by creating the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railroad in 1926.

Prior to the evolution of the CH&D, an entity called the Ohio Electric Railway in the early 1910s had attempted to combine small and local interurbans into a large central Ohio interurban network. But the OE went bankrupt in 1921, and the former regional lines, such as Lima-Toledo Traction, returned to their original corporate entities or abandoned operation. (Hilton, p 231). In 1926, one of those former OE lines, the Cincinnati and Dayton Traction Company, was reorganised by Dr. Conway under the new name Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton. Conway had already been successful in reviving the interurban Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin Railroad. He ordered badly needed all steel interurban coaches and express cars for the CH&D and improved trackage. He did well at building up CH&D's freight business utilizing the new interurban freight equipment and a strong sales force. The freight movements usually operated between midnight and dawn to not interfere with the new fast hourly passenger service during the day. By virtue of his wide contacts in the railroad industry, Conway was successful in establishing through rates for LCL (less-than-carload freight)with the steam railroads. Conway believed that there was still a place for the interurban for medium distance passenger traffic and LCL freight, and thus he had conceived of regrouping the main lines of the former Ohio Electric. This corporate endeavor occurred in the middle 1920s in which the economy of the United States was vibrant.

In 1929, just as the Great Depression was starting, Conway was able to combine the CH&D with the Indiana, Columbus and Eastern, and the Lima-Toledo Traction interurbans, and in 1930, the new Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad came into business. Ambitiously, Conway ordered more new equipment, including the ultimately famous bright red lightweight and innovative high speed passenger cars called the "Red Devils." His new interurban now connected Cincinnati through Springfield to Toledo, and by connecting at Toledo with two other interurban companies provided through interurban passenger and freight service to Detroit and freight business to Cleveland. The passenger Red Devils were scheduled directly to Detroit to and from Cincinnati, and the Cleveland run at 315 miles was the longest same equipment freight service ever provided in the United States. Cincinnati and Lake Erie equipment appeared in Cleveland, and Lakeshore Electric equipment occasionally appeared on C&LE tracks.

Although the three separate interurbans were struggling at the time of the 1930 Conway merger, their physical plant was in good condition, particularly the Conway reworked CH&D, but also the line from Lima to Toledo. Their combined routes had the potential for profitable passenger and freight between the three major Ohio industrial cities. This was the Conway plan, and considerable borrowed (bonded) money was expended to implement it. Initially the heavy funds invested caused both passeneger and freight business to increase, but the drastic business decline of the Depression through the 1930s ultimately caused his plan to fail. In only one year it produced a small profit. An excellent freight operation had developed by providing evening to next morning freight delivery between the industrial cities. This included a major shipping contract with general Motor's Frigidaire factory in Moraine, Ohio, near Dayton. However, the accelerating collapse of the American economy led to increasing financial losses and a steady decline in quality of operations. When the two essential connecting interurban lines at Toledo closed due to their bankruptcies, first the Detroit connection and a few years later the Cleveland connection, the C&LE was doomed. The company was unable to meet operating expenses and debt service and finally was forced to abandon operations in 1938 after eight years of operation.