Connecting History to Cleveland's Future

    Trolleys -- electric-powered streetcars and interurbans -- were major players in transportation in Cleveland and Northern Ohio at the end of the 19th and first half of the 20th Centuries, but both of these ceased to exist in Cleveland by 1954.

   Today these important players in our area's growth are unknown except for the former Shaker Heights Rapid Transit, now Greater Cleveland RTA's. lines - and at the Lake Shore Electric Railway museum on Cleveland's Lakefront.

    Many of you may know us by our former name, Trolleyville USA, in Olmsted Township. Trolleyville closed in 2005 and the entire Gerald E. Brookins Museum of Electric Railways collection of 31 historic trolley cars had to find a new home or they would be lost to Cleveland forever.

    A group of volunteer trolley enthusiasts and area businessmen were not about to let that happen, and neither was the City of Cleveland. All felt that the trolleys had to remain here, and to be displayed and run as part of Cleveland's heritage.

    This dedicated group created the Lake Shore Electric Railway to move, preserve, restore, and operate the collection to preserve this important part of Northern Ohio's culture for years to come.

   (We take our name from the original Lake Shore Electric Railway which ran from Cleveland's Public Square to Rocky River, Avon Lake, Sheffield, Lorain, Vermillion, Huron, Bellevue, Sandusky, Norwalk, and Toledo from 1894 to 1938).

    We are the successor to Trolleyville, and we have brought its extensive historic collection of cars -- some of which are a century old and still operational! -- to Cleveland's Lakefront.

    Lake Shore Electric Railway invites you visit us at the former Port of Cleveland Dock 32, just north of the Cleveland Browns Stadium and the Great Lakes Science Center..

    Your visit gives you the opportunity to see and touch 23 vintage trolleys, and explore several interpretive displays about their history and future. (RTA is storing our 9 heavy Chicago, Aurora & Elgin interurban cars until our permanent museum is ready.).

    In 2007 we will begin constructing our Carbarn and Restoration Shop just east of, and connected to, RTA's Waterfront Line at the South Harbor Station.

    This will give us the ability to expand into the future phases of operating a heritage electric railway line in the downtown area. and of having a state-of-the-art interpretive center near all of the other attractions along the North Coast.

    We are helping to connect history to Cleveland's future!

Copyright 2006 by the Lake Shore Electric Railway, Cleveland, OH, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation.

Please send an e-mail to trolleys@lsery.org with your questions or comments about this web site, or the Lake Shore Electric Railway.

The most-current modification was on 08/29/2006

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