Lake Shore Electric Railway (Ohio)

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.

The LSE was formed in 1901 and was composed of four predecessor street car and interurban lines. All were owned by the Everett-Moore Syndicate. Operations under the Lake Shore Electric name operated a 60-mile route between Cleveland and Toledo. In 1907, the company constructed a cutoff between Sandusky and Fremont, Ohio, which reduced the distance between Cleveland and Toledo by five miles and 30 minutes. The old and the new route were operated with hourly passenger service where a two car interurban from Cleveland separated at Sandusky and met and recoupled at Fremont to continue to Toledo. This service continued to 1939.

Business for the LSE was good until the mid 1920s, as it was as for most interurbans. Roads were mostly unpaved, very muddy or dusty, and cartage and passenger transportation was horse drawn and slow. Around 1925, the states began paving highways, the counties began paving rural roads, the cities began paving streets, and inexpensive cars began to be produced in growing numbers. Business for interurbans began to drop as a result, and by 1930 many interurbans had stopped operating. The LSE barely remained in business, but making matters worse, the economic collapse of the Great Depression was underway.

The Lake Shore Electric at its height offered multiple-unit trains of interurban cars to and from Cleveland and Toledo. These trains would split in Fremont on the west and at Ceylon Junction (a passenger station on the former S&I line east of Huron at the connection with the former TF&N branch to Norwalk) on the east. After splitting, some cars would travel via the Huron, Sandusky and Castalia northern route and others would go via the Norwalk, Monroeville, Bellevue, and Clyde southern route. The service was scheduled so the cars would re-join at Fremont and Ceylon Junction, respectively, to continue on to their destinations of Toledo or Cleveland as a train.

...
Wikipedia