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- Cincinnati Companies
- Cincinnati Miscellany
- "...there are now in successful operation in Cincinnati three well-equipped cable railways..." (Perrysburg Journal. (Perrysburg, Ohio)), Friday, April 13, 1888). The three Hallidie-type cable car lines in Cincinnati.
- Cincinnati Inclines
- Cincinnati Connector
- Cleveland Companies
Mount Adams and Eden Park Railway
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The Mount Adams Incline preceded the cable car line and survived long past it. |
line: Gilbert Avenue
opened: 08-July-1885. Gilbert Avenue from Court Street to Nassau Street
extended: 09-October-1886. 5th Street and Walnut Street on 5th to Broadway. Broadway to Court Street. Court Street to Gilbert Avenue. Gilbert Avenue to McMillan Street. McMillan to Madisonville Road. Madisonville to Woodburn Avenue. Woodburn Avenue to Gilbert Avenue. Return loop on 6th from Broadway to Walnut
extended: ??-???-1887. From Woodburn Avenue and Gilbert Avenue on Gilbert Avenue to Blair Avenue
powerhouse: Gilbert Avenue and Nassau Street
grip: Lane single-jaw side grip
gauge: 5'2 1/2"
cars: horse cars with detachable grips, later single-ended dummy & trailer trains.
terminals: loops and turntable
crossings:
| Intersection | Company | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 5th/Sycamore | Mt Auburn | superior |
| 6th/Sycamore | Mt Auburn | superior |
notes: In 1876 the Mount Adams and Eden Park Inclined Railway, a funicular, opened to connect the low-lying business district with the Eden Park residential district. George B Kerper, a Civil War veteran, was president of the company. In the following years, the company opened a horse car line to connect the base of the incline with Fountain Square downtown and another line to from the top of the incline into Eden Park. In 1880, the company connected the lower and upper horse car lines by making the funicular cars into open platforms with tracks to carry the horse cars. Engineer Henry M Lane did the work.
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Looking up the Mount Adams Incline about 1906. By this time, the incline was carrying electric streetcars. (Source: Library of Congress. LC-D4-19280). |
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A view of the Mount Adams Incline between 1900 and 1910. (Source: Library of Congress. LC-D4-70061). September, 2011 Picture of the Month. |
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Looking down from Mount Adams as a streetcar rides the incline to higher ground. (Source: Library of Congress. LC-D4-73362). |
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A Mount Adams and Eden Park Railway horse car with a detachable grip and climbs Gilbert Avenue. The gripman uses a wheel on the left-hand platform to operate the grip (Source: Don Prout's Greetings from Cincinnati. All rights reserved. Used with permission.) |
In 1881 the rival Cincinnati Consolidated Street Railway proposed to convert its Gilbert Avenue horse car line to cable traction. This line would have offered competition to Kerper's horse car line and incline. Kerper fought the Consolidated and purchased the Gilbert Avenue line in return for cash and stock in his company.
Henry Lane experimented with the Johnson ladder cable system on May Street (the Kerper family lived on May Street) but decided to develop his own standard side-grip system. The Lane National Construction Company marketed his his system in competition with the patent trust. Kerper and John Kilgour of the Consolidated were partners. patent_371599_001
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A drawing from Henry Lane's patent 371599 shows how the grip could be attached to a horse car. |
Lane installed cable only on the hilly portion of the line. Horse cars picked up grips at the top and bottom of the hill without having to stop. The cable system started operating on 08-July-1885. In 1886, the rest of the horse car line was converted. The line had a large number of curves, which caused strain on the cable, resulting in an accident on 02-October-1887 when a strand got wrapped around the grip and caused car 64 to run away. It hit other cable cars and a horse car. Read "CABLE CAR ACCIDENTS".
The incline and its horse car line had been converted to electric traction in 1890. Cable traction lasted until 01-February-1898 on Gilbert Avenue. The incline lasted untill 16-April-1948.
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A Mount Adams and Eden Park Railway cable train lays over on the Blair Avenue loop at the outer end of the line. (Source: Don Prout's Greetings from Cincinnati. All rights reserved. Used with permission.) March, 2011 Picture of the Month. |
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An advertisement for the Elsmere real estate development "only 10 minutes walk from the terminus of the Walnut Hills Cable." From The Cooperative News, Volume I, Number 4, February 15, 1890. |
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An advertisement for the Cable House. From Cincinnati Magazine, November, 1984. |
The former Gilbert Avenue powerhouse and carbarn became an office building called the Cable House.
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Peter Ehrlich visited Cincinnati in 2016 for the opening of the Cincinnati Bell Connector. He took photos of the Gilbert Avenue line's powerhouse and carbarn. Peter Ehrlich photo. All rights reserved. |
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Note the "Cable House" sign. Peter Ehrlich photo. All rights reserved. |
from Poor's Directory of Railway Officials, 1890P. 1228-1229 (1890 edition) Mt. Adams and Eden Park Inclined RR Co. Main line (cable, 8; horse, 8), 16 miles; gauge, 5 ft. 2 1/4 in.; rail, 42 Ibs.; owns 140 horses and 130 cars. Chartered in 1873. Operations for year ending September 30, 1888. -- Earnings, $221,068.58'; expenses, $130,475.76 -- net earnings, $90,593.82. Financial Statement, September 30, 1888. -- Common stock. $1,000,000; preferred stock, $7,150; 1st mtge. bonds. $250,000; 2d mtge. bonds, $124,000; consolidated mtge. 5 per cent. 20-year bonds, due March, 1906, $372,000 ; loan account, $170,000; bills payable, $3B,000; accounts payable, $4,269.71; profit and loss, $36,634.43 -- total, $2,000,054.14. Contra; Construction, etc., $860,427.15; real estate, $320,065.57; equipment, $96,628.94; other investments, $624,513.48; sinking fund, $23,450; City of Cincinnati, $10,403.67; cash and other assets, $36,565.33 -- total, $2,000,054.14. Directors: Jas. E. Mooney, S.M. Lemont, Jno. E. Bell, Jno. Kilgour, Joseph Rogers, Jas. R. Murdock, Geo. B. Kerper, Cincinnati, O. Officers: Jno. Kilgour, Pres.; Jas. A. Collins, Sec. & Treas.; Jno. C. Weaver, Supt. GENERAL OFFICE, Cincinnati, O. |
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From Cincinnati: A Guide to the Queen City and its Neighbors By the Federal Writers' Project, 1943, page 257. MOUNT ADAMS INCLINE, extending from Lock St. to Rookwood Pl. and Celestial St., is the more important of two local inclines -- the survivors of five traffic elevators that once carried Cincinnatians to and from their homes in the suburbs. The incline comprises two stilted, cable-drawn platforms that raise the Zoo-Eden Streetcars 268 feet from Lock Street to the hilltop on an inclined track 945 feet long. Automobiles also are carried on the incline. The understructure all along the hillside, over house tops and streets, is of stout lumber. |
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Vine Street Cable Railway
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Vine Street Cable Railway car 258 is shown at Vine and Molitor Streets, with a grip on display. (Source: Don Prout's Greetings from Cincinnati. All rights reserved. Used with permission.) May, 2011 Picture of the Month. |
line: Vine Street
opened: 25-September-1887. Loop in Fountain Square to Vine Street. Vine to powerhouse at Vine and Jefferson Avenue.
extended: 09-February-1888. Jefferson Avenue powerhouse to Ludlow Avenue to loop on Telford Street, Bryant Avenue, Middleton Avenue to Ludlow Avenue
extended: ??-???-1887. From Woodburn Avenue and Gilbert Avenue on Gilbert Avenue to Blair Avenue
powerhouse: Vine and Jefferson Avenue
grip: Lane single-jaw side grip
gauge: 5'2 1/2"
cars: Single-ended dummy & trailer trains.
terminals: loops
crossings:
notes: The success of the Mount Adams and Eden Park Railway's cable car line led the Cincinnati Street Railway to lay cable on Vine Street, from Fountain Square to the Clifton area. James Kilgour, owner of the company, engaged engineer Henry M Lane to design and build the Vine Street line, as he had the Mount Adams and Eden Park's Walnut Hills line.
In 1889, a runaway killed one woman and injured several other people. "KILLED ON A CABLE CAR/A Peculiar Accident Results From Carelessness." (St. Paul Daily Globe), Monday, July 15, 1889)
The Vine Street line was converted to electric operation on 16-September-1898.
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FIG. 4 -- CORNER OF WALNUT AND FIFTH STREETS, SHOWING DIFFERENT TYPES OF STREET CARS. |
One ot the most interesting sections ot the city to a street railway manager is the corner at Fifth and Walnut Streets, near Fountain Square, shown in Fig.4. Here 300 cars per hour pass, including the cars of the Walnut Hills and Vine Street cable lines ; East End, Avondale, Colerain Avenue, and Norwood and Eden Park electric lines, double trolley T.-H. system ; Main Street electric, single trolley, Edison system ; Cincinnati and South Covington electric double trolley, Short system, and the horse cars of the John Street, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Streets, Clark Street, Farmount and Newport divisions.
That portion of single track on Walnut Street in front of the Apollo Building, where the offices of the Cincinnati Street RaiIway Co. are located, as shown in the engraving, probably does service to as diversified a traffic as can be found anywhere. It is constructed for a cable line, but, in addition to the cable cars, over it pass the cars of three horse lines and two electrical lines, one operated by the single trolley and the other by a double trolley. For these two lines the wires are arranged so that the single conductor is placed between the other two.
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A SEEMING LABYRINTH -- CORNER FIFTH AND WALNUT STREETS, CINCINNATI. |
The intersection of Fifth and Walnut Streets at Fountain Square, in Cincinnati, during the busy portion of the day, presents a most interesting scene. Twenty-one street car lines pass this corner, and, to an observer who is not acquainted with the care with which the different cars, horse, cable and electric, are directed to their proper tracks, it often seems as if a block would certainly result. In spite of the complication, it is an interesting fact that blocks are comparatively infrequent, and that accidents are extremely rare. In fact, it is said that a serious accident has never occurred at this point, a fact which is greatly to the credit of the street railway authorities, and a testimonial to the skill of the drivers, motormen and gripmen who handle the cars. The accompanying diagram gives a view of the different tracks and the lines of cars which cross at this corner.
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"Some Funny Bets" (The Hocking Sentinel, (Logan, Ohio)), Thursday, November 15, 1888). Two Vine Street conductors make an unusual bet on the presidential election.
"Her Pretty Teeth" (Wichita Eagle, Tuesday, October 29, 1889). Reprinted in many newspapers, this joke was set on a Vine Street cable car.
"Yakey in Cincinnati." (The National Tribune), Thursday, August 10, 1893). A Vine Street employee keeps in touch with a conversation club in Washington, DC.
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Mount Auburn Cable Railway
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Mount Auburn Cable Railway open grip car 13 and a closed trailer, with crew and two passengers. (Source: Don Prout's Greetings from Cincinnati. All rights reserved. Used with permission.) May, 2011 Picture of the Month. |
line: Sycamore Street
opened: 13-March-1888. Fourth Street and Sycamore Street on Sycamore to Auburn Street. Auburn to Saunder Street (now Dorchester). Saunder to Highland Avenue.
extended: 27-June-1888. From powerhouse at Saunder Street (now Dorchester) and Highland Avenue on Highland to Shillito Street (now Martin Luther King Drive?). Shillito to Burnet Ave. Burnet to Rookdale Avenue. Rookdale to Main Avenue (now Reading Road)
powerhouse: Saunder Street (now Dorchester) and Highland Avenue.
grip: Haddock bottom grip
gauge: 5'2"
cars: Double-ended dummy & trailer trains.
terminals: cross-overs
crossings:
| Intersection | Company | Status |
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| 5th/Sycamore | Mt Adams | inferior |
| 6th/Sycamore | Mt Adams | inferior |
notes:
Henry Martin promoted the Mount Auburn Cable Railway to connect downtown with Avondale, where he was involved in real estate developments. Engineer Worcester Haddock designed the line without using trust patents. The line was built cheaply, which led to operational problems, such as the slot closing in cold weather.
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"The board of public works of Cincinnati refused to grant privileges to the Mount Auburn Cable Railroad company to construct a cable road on Sycamore street to the Zoological garden." (Daily Evening Bulletin (Maysville, Kentucky), Wednesday, June 10, 1885). Despite this, in 1889 Martin built a line along Erkenbrecker Avenus to the Cincinnati Zoo, using a rail coach with a steam engine which drove a winch which let out and pulled in a cable, letting the car descend the hill from the zoo to a connection with the cable line at Burnet Avenue and drawing the car up the hill towards the zoo. The city destroyed the line when it repaved the street in 1892 and refused to allow it to be rebuilt.
The power house burned in 1892, destroying the line's machinery and rolling stock. Martin rebuilt the powerhouse and ordered new cars. "the great driving station house of the Mount Auburn and Avondale Cable company burned..." (Daily Evening Bulletin (Maysville, Kentucky), Monday, March 21, 1892)
The line was out of commission for over 100 days, and never recovered financially, eventually forcing Martin to sell out to Kilgour's Cincinnati Consolidated. The Consolidated operated the cable line until 09-June-1902, and then converted it to electric traction.
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Grip car of the Mt. Auburn Cable Railway, Cincinnati, Ohio. (Source: The Street Railway Journal, February, 1888. Volume IV, Number 2). June, 2011 Picture of the Month. |
We show herewith cuts of grip and closed cars recently built for the Mount Auburn Cable Railway, of Cincinnati. These cars are fitted with two new devidex, recently patented by the J. G. Brill Co. The exceedingly steep grades in Cincinnati have been the cause of several serious accicents, caused by the cable cars getting beyond the control of the driver; with this in view, the grades on the road being over 13 per cent, these cars were equipped with an improved and powerful track brake, which is quickly applied and very powerful, and will hold the loaded car in a few seconds on the steepest grade. The Mount Auburn road is considered one of the best appointed cable railways in the United States, and the managers determined to spare no expense in any outlay that would conduce to the safety and comfort of passengers as well as to the permanent character of the structure. These brakes can be worked from either platform, and are in addition to the ordinary brakes which are used on the levels.
The other improvement is for carrying the grips; this carrier is suspended upon saddles and stirrups from the boxes, and is claimed to possess advantages over any other systems in use. It differs from the Chicago system in not being subject to the action of the car springs, and from the Lane system in not being subject to the lateral motion of the boxes, and different from the Philadelphia system in not having any wearing parts. It is put on the only part of the car where perfect parallelism with the rails is assured, and is simple and inexpensive. The Mount Auburn company has ordered an additional lot of 11 cars, fitted with these improvements, from the J. G. Brill Company.
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Closed car of the Mt. Auburn Cable Railway, Cincinnati, Ohio. (Source: The Street Railway Journal, February, 1888. Volume IV, Number 2). |
"TEN PERSONS HURT IN A CABLE CAR" (The New-York Tribune, Sunday, March 10, 1889)
The Mount Auburn Cable Railway's powerhouse and carbarn at Dorchester Street and Highland Avenue survived until the 21st Century. The building was demolished in February, 2021 after a partial collapse.
Thanks to Michel Azema, proprietor of FuniMag for the tip about this.
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Peter Ehrlich visited Cincinnati in 2016 for the opening of the Cincinnati Bell Connector. He took photos of the Mount Auburn Cable Railway's powerhouse and carbarn. The mixed stone and brick construction was a result of a fire in 1892. Peter Ehrlich photo. All rights reserved. |
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A plaque on the Mount Auburn Cable Railway's powerhouse and carbarn commemorated the 1892 fire. Peter Ehrlich photo. All rights reserved. |
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The Mount Auburn Cable Railway's powerhouse and carbarn seen in 2019, two years before it collapsed. Google Maps Streetview Image updated June April. Copyright 2019 Google. |
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The Mount Auburn Cable Railway's powerhouse and carbarn seen in 2020, mere months before the roof collapsed. Google Maps Streetview Image updated June April. Copyright 2020 Google. June, 2021 Picture of the Month. |
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An overhead view of the Mount Auburn Cable Railway's powerhouse and carbarn. Google Maps Streetview Image updated June April. Copyright 2020 Google. |
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Cincinnati Inclines
Cincinnati had five inclines (funiculars):
- Mount Auburn/Main Street/Lookout - 1871-1898
- Price Hill (separate passenger and freight inclines) - 1874-1943
- Mount Adams/Eden Park/Highland - 1876-1948
- Bellevue/Clifton/Elm Street/Ohio - 1876-1926
- Fairview/Crosstown - 1892-1923
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The Highland House. |
The Mount Adams and Eden Park Inclined Railway starts from Lock street, near Fifth, a short half mile east from Fountain Square. Its length is 1,000 feet, and the elevation 350 feet above the level of the Ohio. The Plane, with its connections, cost nearly $500,000. The principal attraction at the head of the Incline is the Highland House, an immense and costly structure in many terraces and compartments, the daily resort of thousands in summer, especially on the evening of the numerous concerts. There is also a pony track and a riding school. The connection from the head of the Incline to the Walnut Hills is by the Eden Park, Walnut Hills and Avondale St. R. R. This road runs through Eden Park and overlooks the City on the west and the river and Kentucky hills on the east. In order to correctly understand the situation of the City, the visitor should cross on the steam ferry that leaves the foot of Lawrence street every few minutes for Newport. While crossing, a splendid view of Mount Adams, crowned with the small Catholic church of the Immaculate Conception, which stands out clear against the sky, and is visible from almost every part of the City, is obtained. Mount Adams is very interesting, from the fact that it is the view upon the greatest elevation to be obtained from the eastern outskirts of the city. The ground originally formed a portion of the Longworth estate, and was given to the City by the executors upon the sole condition of maintaining an Observatory, with a competent professor, upon the spot. For some time this was done, and observations were duly taken and recorded; but since the Signal Service has been thoroughly organized in Washington, and the Cincinnati Astronomer placed at its head, the observations have been discontinued, and the instruments, one by one, have been removed, and a new Observatory has lately been built in the northeast, on Mount Lookout.
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Mount Auburn Inclined Plane. |
The Mount Auburn Inclined Plane was the first built in the City. Its projectors were looked upon as rash experimenters, and its failure predicted both upon financial and mechanical grounds. Its success, however, has been very great, and the public spirit of its constructors undoubtedly led to the erection of all the others.
The Cincinnati and Clifton Inclined Plane R.R., frequently called the Elm street line, starts from the foot of the hill at the head of Elm street. The Bellevue House stands at the summit, and is another of the great afternoon and evening summer and autumn resorts. Concerts are frequently given, the admission to which is generally free. The following statistics relative to this line will be found of very general interest:
| Length of Inclined Plane track, | 962 1/2 feet |
| Perpendicular height from floor of lower to floor of upper depot, | 293 1.6 feet |
| Grade, | 33.83 feet |
| Diameter of drums around which 2 steel wire ropes to each car, wind, | 14 feet |
| Weight of drums, driving wheel and their shaft, | 24 tons |
| Weight of the 2 cars, each | 7 tons |
| Weight of wire ropes, | 6 1/4 tons |
| Weight of safety wheel, around which the third, or safety, rope runs, | 3 tons |
| Weight of cars, ropes and machinery in motion each trip, and stopped by the engineer with a single brake, | 47 tons |
The power is supplied by a double engine, with cylinders 16 by 36 inches. The usual running time is 90 seconds, but trips have been run in 47 seconds. The third, or safety, rope has no connection with the engine or other draft machinery, and the brakes are so arranged that the engineer can apply all three at once, either of which is so powerful that he can stop the cars at any time within thirty feet. The capacity has never been properly tested; 25,000 have been transported up and down in one day. This Plane connects at the bottom with both Vine and Elm street cars, and at the top with a line running to Corryville, Zoological Garden, Burnet Woods Park, and Clifton, 1 1/2 miles in length, the latter, in conjunction with the Plane, being owned by a stock company, with a capital of $300,000.
Price's Hill Inclined Plane -- Runs due west, from the foot of Eighth street to the summit of the hill, close to which is a public garden, a house for refreshments, concert rooms, etc. There are two planes on this line, one for passengers, the other for teams and freight, running side by side, but completely independent of one another. They are each 788 feet long, the angle of elevation 24°, and the grade 44.66 feet in 100. The ropes on the passenger plane are tested to a capacity of 40 tons, and on the freight to 70 tons. The power on the first is of 70 and on the second of 100 horses. The cost of building both was about $150,000. The fare on all these Inclined Planes is the same, viz., five cents for each trip.
Mount Auburn Incline
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Price Hill
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Looking up the Price Hill Inclines. The passenger incline is on the left and the freight incline is on the right. That is a "Herancourt's Fine Bottled Beer" wagon on the nearer car on the freight incline. (Source: Library of Congress. LC-D4-19282). |
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A ticket for Cincinnati's Price Hill Incline. |
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From Cincinnati: A Guide to the Queen City and its Neighbors By the Federal Writers' Project, 1943, page 452. PRICE HILL INCLINE, (fare 5 cents; with streetcar transfer, 10 cents) serves as the continuation of W. Eighth Street up Price Hill. Its eastern terminus is at W. Eighth St. and Glenway Ave.; its western terminus, 350 feet above the base, is on the south side of Matson Ave. at W. Eighth St. It has a double track, 800 feet long, containing moving cables that draw a passenger car on each track back and forth at intervals of a few minutes. Passengers may transfer from inclined plane to streetcar and vice versa, but unlike the Mount Adams Incline this one does not carry streetcars. |
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Read about American inclined railroads in an interesting article from Cassier's Magazine. (Source: "American Inclined Plane Railways," by Samuel Diescher, Cassier's Magazine, June, 1897.) |
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Cincinnati Connector
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Streetcar service returned to Cincinnati on 09-September-2016 with the Cincinnati Bell Connector (Cincinnati Bell paid for the naming rights). In 2022, the system changed its name to the Connector.
The line uses five CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles) Urbos 3 cars, which were assembled in Elmira, New York.
The carbarn is at Henry Street and Race Street.
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| A safety poster issued during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
Cincinnati Bell Connector official website.
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Brooklyn Street Railroad/South Side Railway
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Tom L Johnson, Mayor of Cleveland and traction magnate. |
notes: Tom L Johnson, a political disciple of economist Henry George, owned traction lines in various cities including Indianapolis and Cleveland. He adopted and promoted a ladder cable system developed by Milton Wheaton. In about 1885 or 1886, he created a short demonstration section on either his Brooklyn Street Railroad or his South Side Railway.
The demonstration section worked well enough to allow Johnson to set up the Brooklyn Cable Company, which leased the Park Avenue line of the Atlantic Avenue Railroad in Brooklyn, New York. The system was not a success.
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Milton Wheaton's patent 192314. The "griper." May, 2012 Picture of the Month. |
Cleveland's Brooklyn Street Railroad converted to electric traction in June, 1888.
If anyone knows which company, the Brooklyn Street Railroad or the South Side Railway, had the experimental installation, I'd be grateful to learn.
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From Whipple's Electric, Gas and Street Railway Financial Reference Directory, 1890, by Fred H Whipple. Page 189. Brooklyn Street Railroad Co. Tom L. Johnson, President. A. L. Johnson, Vice-President. H. J. Davies, Secretary. J. J. Coleman, Superintendent. Annual meeting held in February. 23 miles, 4-8 1/2 gauge, 52 and 78 lb. girder rail, 120 cars, 50 horses, Thomson-Houston system. Y Y G. South Side Street Railroad Co. A. L. Johnson, President. Tom L. Johnson, VicePresident. H. J. Davies, Secretary and Treasurer. J. J. Coleman, Superintendent. Annual meeting held in February. 9 miles, 4-8 1/2 gauge, 78 lb. girder rail, 20 cars, 10 horses, Thomson-Houston system. Ju. |
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from the Portland (Maine) Daily Press, 31-October-1889. No thumbnail. |
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Cleveland City Cable Railway
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A Lefton model of a Cleveland City Cable Railway Payne Avenue grip car. January, 2011 Picture of Month. |
line: Superior Avenue
opened: 17-December-1890. From Union Station on Water Street (now West 9th Street) to Superior Avenue. Superior Avenue to Doan Street (now East 105th Street).
powerhouse: Kirkland Street (now 49th Street) between Saint Clair Avenue and Superior Avenue
grip: Gillham double-jaw side grip
gauge: 4'8 1/2"
cars: double-ended dummy & trailer trains.
terminals: crossovers
crossings:
line: Payne Avenue
opened: ??-December-1890. From Union Station on Water Street (now West 9th Street) to Superior Avenue. Superior Avenue to Payne Avenue. Payne Avenue to Wilson Avenue (now East 55th Street). Wilson Avenue to Lexington Avenue. Lexington Avenue to Madison Avenue (now East 79th Street). Madison Avenue to Hough Avenue. Hough Avenue to Doan Street (now East 105th Street).
powerhouse: Kirkland Street (now 49th Street) between Saint Clair Avenue and Superior Avenue
grip: Gillham double-jaw side grip
gauge: 4'8 1/2"
cars: double-ended dummy & trailer trains.
terminals: crossovers
crossings:
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from the Portland (Maine) Daily Press, 31-October-1889. No thumbnail. |
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from the New York Sun, 19-January-1890. No thumbnail. |
notes: Frank DeHaas Robison, owner of the National League's Cleveland Spiders, also owned the horse car lines on the East side of Cleveland. He paid the cable railway trust for the rights to its patents and merged his horse car operating companies to create the Cleveland City Cable Railway.
The company's lines were designed and built by Colonel William Henry Paine, who had been involved in several other cable railways including the one on the Brooklyn Bridge. Colonel Paine died on 31-December-1890, immediately after the lines opened. He may have overworked. Robert Gilham was consulting engineer.
The Cleveland City Cable Railway built lines on Superior Avenue and Payne Avenue and planned to build one on Saint Clair Avenue, but it remained a horse car line until it was electrified in 1893. Each line was operated with two cables, driven from a powerhouse at Kirkland Street (now 49th Street) between Saint Clair Avenue and Superior Avenue. The Payne Avenue cables reached the line through a blind conduit.
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Winding Drums and Gearing of the City Cable Railway at Cleveland, Ohio (Source: Cleveland City Cable Railway, Manufacturer and Builder Magazine, November, 1891). |
The Superior Avenue cable that reached Public Square drove gear which powered an auxilliary cable at half speed, which carried the lines on to Cleveland Union Station. The auxilliary did not work very well, so the company extended the Payne Avenue cable through Public Square and on to Union Station. This was a questionable decision because it required great changes under the street and resulted in a long cable with a lot of curvature.
The Payne Avenue line never had as much traffic as the Superior Avenue line. In an effort to generate more traffic, Robison built an amusement park, Cable Park, at the end of the Payne Avenue line, and, in 1891, League Park at Lexington and Dunham for the Spiders. The Spiders, led by pitcher Cy Young, were a strong team, finishing second in 1892 and 1895-1896. In 1895-1896, the played the first-place Baltimore Orioles for the Temple Cup. Cleveland won in 1895 and lost in 1896. After that, the Spiders declined rapidly. In 1899 Robison bought the Saint Louis Browns (now Cardinals) and sent most of Cleveland's better players down to Missouri. The surviving Spiders went on to set the worst record in major league history: 20-134. This hurt traffic to League Park, especially when other league teams refused to travel to Cleveland and forced the Spiders to play most of their remaining games on the road. The American League Cleveland Indians later played in League Park.
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For some reason, a Cleveland City Cable Railway grip car was the subject presented on a silver ingot. |
In 1893, the company merged with lines owned by Senator Mark Hanna, William McKinley's political mentor, into the Cleveland City Railway. This company converted Superior Avenue to electic traction on 01-July-1900 and Payne Avenue on 20-January-1901.
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From The Street Railway Journal, April, 1889. Volume V, Number 4.
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From The Street Railway Journal, July, 1889. Volume V, Number 7.
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From The Street Railway Journal, September, 1889. Volume V, Number 9.
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From The Street Railway Journal, December, 1889. Volume V, Number 12.
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From The Street Railway Journal, January, 1895. Volume XI, Number 1.
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From Whipple's Electric, Gas and Street Railway Financial Reference Directory, 1890, by Fred H Whipple. Page 189. Cleveland City Cable Railway Co. Frank De H. Robison, President. Geo. H. Holt, Vice-President. John J. Shipherd, Secretary. M. G. Robison, Treasurer. 32 miles. 4-8 1/2 gauge, 78 lb. steel T rail, 80 to 100 cars, 500 horses. Ju. |
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From Manual of Statistics, Stock Exchange Hand-book, 1893, by Financial News Association. Page 430. CLEVELAND CITY CABLE RAILWAY CO.--Mileage 83. Cable and Horses. Cars 78. Capital $4,000,000. Shares $100. Bonded debt $1,884,000 5 per cent. 1st Mortgage bonds, interest payable January and July. Trustee Central Trust Co., New York. Gross earnings, fiscal year ending July 1,1892, $368,900. Net earnings $118,000. Officers--President, F. DeH. Robison; Vice-President and Treasurer, John J. Shipherd; Secretary, W. Parsons. Directors--Geo. H. Holt, F. DeH. Robison, M. G. Robison, Jr., C. Hathaway, John J. Shipherd. Office, 1094 Superior Street, Cleveland. |
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from the New York Sun, 16-March-1897. No thumbnail. |
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