This book is a publication of
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
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 SciencesPermanence 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 railroadsOhioHistory. I. Korach, Robert S. II. Title. III. Series.
TF1025.L35 H37 2000
385'.09771dc21
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
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 Johns 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 projects 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 Rehors 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 ArchivesGreat 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.
