Railroad Archeology in Monroeville

The most visible reminder of the railroads past in Monroeville, Ohio, is this passenger station, which served the New York Central and its predecessor railroads. It has since been restored, but the tracks are long gone.

In the past few years I’ve found myself in Monroeville, Ohio, while chasing trains on the Wheeling & Lake Erie.

At one time, Monroeville was served by three railroads plus an interurban railway.

The railroads of Monroville included the Toledo-Brewster line of the original Wheeling & Lake Erie. This line still exists with the modern W&LE owning it between Brewster and Bellevue.

Monroeville was also served by a Willard-Sandusky branch of the Baltimore & Ohio, the Norwalk Branch of the New York Central and the Cleveland-Toledo Lake Shore Electric.

The Norwalk Branch began life as the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad, which built between its namesake cities in the 1860s. It was later absorbed by the Lake Shore & Michigan  Southern, which in turn became part of the NYC.

The Norwalk branch was the main route of the LS&MS until it built a cutoff via Sandusky along Lake Erie, which today is the Chicago Line of NS. The Norwalk branch diverged at Elyria and rejoined at Milbury.

Penn Central continued to offer freight service on the Norwalk branch through 1976. The line was not conveyed to Conrail and was subsequently abandoned. Passenger service on the line ended in 1949.

I don’t know when the B&O branch was abandoned, but it likely continued in operation through the 1970s and possibly into the 1980s.  A portion of it still exists in Monroeville for the W&LE to serve a grain elevator.

The Lake Shore Electric last operated on May 15, 1938. Not long before then, the Eastern Ohio Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society — a forerunner of the Akron Railroad Club — ran a trip over the line.

During the 1960s, the ARRC chartered a B&O Rail Diesel Car and ran excursions between Akron and Sandusky to visit the Cedar Point amusement park.

I’ve long been fascinated by what railroads leave behind after they leave town. If you know where to look and what to look for,  you can find reminders of what used to be.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

The North Coast Inland Tail uses the former NYC Norwalk Branch. The view is from the bridge over the West Branch Huron River looking westward toward the NYC passenger station, which was built in 1863.

A train order board at the Monroeville station.

I don’t know if this train bulletin at the former NYC station is accurate.

The former freight NYC freight station still stands a short distance west of the passenger depot.

Looking westward on the Lake Shore Electric right of way with the passenger station on the left.

Looking northward toward the Lake Shore Electric (foreground) and NYC stations. The B&O tracks would have been to the right of both stations.

Looking southward on the former B&O right of way.

A relic from the days when these tracks operated as the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern.

A restored property boundary marker.

A bridge pier that once held the Lake Shore Electric bridge over the West Branch Huron River.

The concrete base of what was once the northbound home signal for the B&O crossing of the NYC.

This signal cover is along the W&LE and may be still used.

These railroad ties are on the former Lake Shore Electric right of way. The LSE was abandoned in the 1930s, they probably were used as a connecting track between the B&O and the NYC.

The B&O and W&LE used to cross here. At one time there was a passenger station here that was used by both railroads. Next to the depot was a hotel and freight station. On the other side of that pile of ballast is the only remnant of track once used by the B&O.

A short stretch of the former B&O remains in place for the W&LE to serve a grain elevator. But this segment of the B&O is used only as a tail track that ends at a pile of ballast north of where the B&O and W&LE used to cross on a diamond.

 

Midwest Chapter of NRHS Disbands

We have received word that the Midwest Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society has elected to disband.

The chapter, which has approximately 20 members, held a last dinner this month and will donate the remainder of its treasury to a charitable cause.

The Midwest Chapter shared a common heritage with the Akron Railroad Club in that both were spinoffs of the Eastern Ohio Chapter of the NRHS, which was founded on June 20, 1937, as the ninth and westernmost NRHS chapter.

Differences of opinion led to the Easter Ohio Chapter disbanding in late 1945.

Some members who favored retaining the NRHS affiliation founded the Midwest Chapter on May 8, 1946, with a home base in Cleveland.

Other members founded the Northeast Ohio Railfans that same year. That group reorganized as the Akron Railroad Club on March 27, 1947.

The NRHS considers the Midwest Chapter to have superseded the Eastern Ohio chapter.

In his heyday, the Midwest Chapter had well over 100 members and enjoyed a high profile nationally due to its sponsorship of steam excursions in the 1950s, including some on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad that originated in Akron.

The chapter was also know for its “mystery trains” in the 1960s. Passengers would board a train, often in Cleveland, and not know their destination until they were on board.

The Midwest Chapter was allied for many years with the Midwest Railway Preservation Society, which was founded in 1955 to acquire the Baltimore & Ohio roundhouse in Cleveland.

The MRPS is still active and its website says that it owns more than 20 pieces of vintage rolling stock including former Grand Trunk Western 2-8-2 light Mikado No. 4070, which operated on the Cuyahoga Valley Line – now named the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad – between 1975 and 1990.

Another Piece of ARRC Early History Surfaces

When the Akron Railroad Club marked its 70^th anniversary back in 2006, I did the best that I could to compile a comprehensive history of the club.

It was a challenging task because at the time just one of the founding members was still alive and there was few paper records from which to glean information.

So I get excited any time that I find new information that helps fill in some of the gaps in the record of how the ARRC evolved.

Veteran ARRC members probably are aware that the club traces its roots to the long defunct Eastern Ohio chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.

Recently, I ran across information on the NRHS website that provided a few new pieces of information about the history of the Eastern Ohio chapter.

Earlier this year, the NRHS compiled a chronological listing of chapters organized by the date that they joined the NRHS. The list includes information about when the chapter was organized or granted a charter and its current status.

The Eastern Ohio chapter was formally organized on June 20, 1937, about a year after the five men who are considered the “founders” of the ARRC had met to form a committee that would sponsor rail excursions.

Robert Richardson, one of the five founders, would write that the group sought NRHS affiliation because it was having a difficult time getting rail companies to agree to operate excursions over their tracks. The committee thought having the NRHS name behind it might prompt rail officials to take them more seriously.

The Eastern Ohio chapter was the ninth chapter of the NRHS and at the time its westernmost outpost.

Differences of opinion in late 1945 over the direction of the group also led to the Eastern Ohio chapter to become the first NRHS chapter to dissolve. That process played out over the final three months of the year with nearly all chapter members voting to drop the affiliation with the NRHS.

The NRHS considers the Eastern Ohio chapter to have been superseded by the Midwest Chapter, which was formed on May 8, 1946, and made Cleveland its home base.

Many members of the Eastern Ohio chapter subsequently formed the Northeastern Ohio Railfans. That group decided to rename itself the Akron Railroad Club, with the first officers being elected on March 27, 1947.

Both the ARRC and the Midwest Chapter sponsored excursions in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The Midwest Chapter became well known for its steam excursions.

Today, the ARRC has more than 100 members whereas in May the Midwest Chapter was shown by NRHS records to have 21 members.

The decline of the Midwest Chapter can be attributed, in part, to the formation of the Midwest Railway Preservation Society, which owns a former Baltimore & Ohio roundhouse in Cleveland along with several pieces of rolling stock.

Since the first NRHS chapters were formed on October 13, 1937, there have been 245 NRHS chapters formed.

The Lancaster (Pa.) chapter holds the honor of being chapter No. 1. The same day that the Lancaster chapter formed, a chapter was organized in New York City. It changed its name to the Brooklyn chapter and was dissolved in 1950. It was subsequently replaced on Feb. 14, 1947, by the current day New York chapter.

NRHS records shows five chapters still active in Ohio. The Conneaut chapter (No. 69) was formed Sept. 5, 1964, and today has 69 members.

The Cincinnati chapter (No. 110) was formed May 16, 1979, and had 110 members in May 2014.

The Sciota Valley chapter of Portsmouth (No. 172), received its charter on Aug. 31, 1984, and has 172 members.

Ohio’s largest NRHS chapter is Bradford Ohio (No. 234). It was chartered on July 2, 2004, dissolved on Aug. 14, 2009, and reinstated in January 2013. It has 234 members.

A number of chapters in Ohio have come and gone. The Southern Ohio chapter (No. 28) was formed on March 6, 1952, but dissolved in 1954.

The Mahoning Valley chapter (No. 126) received a charter on Sept. 5, 1972, but dissolved in 1983. The Dayton-Miami Valley chapter (No. 139) was chartered on April 26, 1975, and dissolved in 1979.

There apparently has never been an NRHS chapter in Columbus or Toledo.

The NRHS presence has also vanished from Pittsburgh. The Steel City chapter (No. 6) was formed in March 1937. Dissolved in 1947, it was superseded by the Pittsburgh chapter on May 28, 1959. That chapter dissolved on Oct. 21, 2012.

The West Penn chapter (No. 38) was formed October 16, 1956. It was later renamed the South Penn chapter and dissolved in 1971.

Not far from Pittsburgh, the Lake Shore chapter (No. 37) was formed on Feb. 15, 1956, and is still active. Based in North East, Pa., the chapter had 37 members in May 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Memory of John P. “Jack” Wunderle

John Wunderle poses in front of an Akron Transportation Company car in November 1941 during a trip chartered by the Eastern Ohio Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, a predecessor group of the Akron Railroad Club.

John Wunderle during a presentation at the Kent Historical Society on June 7, 2010.

On the eve of its 75^th anniversary banquet, the Akron Railroad Club lost a major link to its past. John P. “Jack” Wunderle of Cuyahoga Falls, died on April 22, 2011, at age 90.

Mr. Wunderle is the last known surviving member of the ARRC who had been a member of the club when it was the Eastern Ohio chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. Although not a co-founder of the group, Mr. Wunderle joined it not long after its 1936 founding.

He had actively attended ARRC meetings until shortly before his death. We always knew when it was winter because Jack would be in Florida. But as soon as spring returned, do did Jack.

Mr. Wunderle had a passion for the history of traction operations. He kept scrapbooks at his home filled with newspaper clippings about trolley and interurban operations. Another set of scrapbooks contained the many photographs that Mr. Wunderle recorded of traction operations.

Born March 15, 1921 in Cleveland, he was the son of Carl V. and Helen Wunderle. The family moved to Kent in 1929 and John Wunderle graduated from Kent Roosevelt High School in 1938.

He worked briefly at the Standard Drug store before joining Ohio Bell Telephone Company in 1939.

He served in the U.S. Army Air Corp during World War II where he was an instructor pilot who flew heavy bombers. He became a commander on a B-29 that had been assigned to the South Pacific when the war ended.

After the war, Mr. Wunderle returned to Ohio Bell Telephone Company where he worked for 42 years before retiring in 1981. Aside from the ARRC, Mr. Wunderle was a member of the Kent Historical Society, the Canal Society of Ohio, the Kent Rotary Club, the Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen, and the Telephone Pioneers.

Wunderle often gave presentations on canals and railroads.  He also built a scale model of Kent with its canal and railroads for the Kent Historical Society Museum.

Mr. Wunderle is survived by his wife of 65 years, Mary Lou Wunderle; two sons, John, Jr. and  Tim Wunderle; two daughters, Susanne Blok and Laurie Knuth; two brothers, Carl Wunderle and Frank Wunderle;13 grandchildren; and 10 great grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 5-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 26th at Bissler & Sons Funeral Home in Kent. Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 27th at St. Patrick Church in Kent. Burial will be held at Standing Rock Cemetery in Kent.