The Cleveland Railway Company was the
public transit
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typic ...
operator in
Cleveland, Ohio, from 1910 to 1942. The company began operations with assets of the former Forest City Railway, which operated from 1906 to 1909. The company owned a fleet of
PCC streetcar
The PCC (Presidents' Conference Committee) is a streetcar (tram) design that was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful in its native country, and after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the ...
s.
Though
National City Lines never owned the system in Cleveland,
General Motors did negotiate the sale of buses to the city, resulting in the shutdown of the
streetcar system. In Cleveland, complaints were made to the
FBI after the mayor and city councilors were seen driving around in new General Motors cars. Mayor
Ray T. Miller did receive a new car within a month of General Motors' winning the contract for new buses. The FBI refused to investigate based on high-profile nature of the people targeted.
The city of Cleveland bought out Cleveland Railway in 1942 and used it as the nucleus for the Cleveland Transit System, the precursor to the current
Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (officially the GCRTA, but historically and locally referred to as the RTA) is the public transit agency for Cleveland, Ohio, United States and the surrounding suburbs of Cuyahoga County. RTA is ...
.
The Cleveland streetcars were sold to the
Toronto Transit Commission
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...
, where they remained in service for thirty years until 1982. Others were sold to the
Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway Company.
Fleet
*
Peter Witt streetcar - 130 ordered in 1915 and 1916
* Peter Witt streetcar - ordered 1918 and 5 cars sold to
London Street Railway
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a maj ...
in 1923
[http://www.bera.org/cgi-bin/pnaerc.pl?sel_owner_once=London+Street+Railway] and re-sold to various operators in 1941
*
Presidents' Conference Committee cars - 75 all-electric cars sold in 1952 to
Toronto Transportation Commission
Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) was the public transit operator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, beginning in 1921. It operated buses, streetcars and the island ferries. The system was renamed the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in 1954.
H ...
: 50
Pullman Standard
The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century ...
A11 and 25
St. Louis Car Company A12 (originally ordered by Louisville Railway)
See also
*
National City Lines - A company owned by gas and car companies (including
General Motors that targeted streetcar systems for shutdown.
*
Great American streetcar conspiracy
*
Northern Ohio Railway Museum
References
External links
History Detectives- PBS Television show, has an episode about the Cleveland streetcar system.
Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleveland Railway Ohio
Defunct Ohio railroads
Defunct public transport operators in the United States
History of Cleveland
Light rail in Ohio
Tram, urban railway and trolley companies
Transportation in Cleveland
Railway companies established in 1910
American companies established in 1910
Railway companies disestablished in 1942