Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway (1926–30)
| Locale | Ohio |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1926–1930 |
| Predecessor | Cincinnati and Dayton Traction Company |
| Successor | Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway (CH&DRy) was an electric interurban railway that existed between 1926 and 1930 in the U.S. state of Ohio. It was absorbed in 1930 into the new Cincinnati and Lake Erie interurban railway. In typical interurban fashion, in open country it had its own right of way, although this was often adjacent and parallel to a road. In cities and towns it operated on city streets. This included two and three car freight/express trains as well as passenger cars.
In 1926, the former Cincinnati and Dayton Traction Company was reorganised under the new name Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton. The C&DTC right-of-way was part of the former Ohio Electric Railway's line between Dayton and Cincinnati. This new interurban company (which had no relationship with the steam railroad of the same name which eventually was absorbed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad) was headed by a former Univ of Penn Wharton School professor of finance, Dr. Thomas Conway, Jr., who had already been successful in reviving the intrurban Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin Railroad. He ordered badly needed all steel interurban coaches and box-motor express cars, freight cars, and spent heavily to improve track and right-of-way, although the rails laid within the brick streets of the cities and towns such as Dayton remained a maintenance problem and were a source of constant arguments with township administrations. Not only were the towns unhappy about who was to pay for repairs and snow removal, they complained about the 30 short tons (26.8 long tons; 27.2 t) 50 ft (15.24 m) long interurban cars mixing in with automobile traffic. Conway did well at building up the CH&D freight business utilizing his new interurban freight equipment which often was operated at night, and by virtue of his wide contacts in the railroad industry was more than ordinarily successful in establishing through rates for LCL (less-than-boxcar load freight) with some steam railroads, not an easy thing to accomplish. Conway believed that there was still a place for the interurban in the medium distance range of passenger traffic and long distance LBCL freight, and thus conceived the idea of the CH&D.
Three problems worried CH&D management: that the CH&D's neighboring interurban lines might stop running due to financial problems and break their vital freight interchange with the CH&D; that more and more towns were restricting the operation of freight trains over their streets to nighttime only; that interest payments on the very large bonded debt ($1.3 million) borrowed in 1926 could not be met. 1926 was a time when many people earned between $1000 and $2000 a year, and a good dinner could be purchased for fifty cents.
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