Happy centennial, Lake Erie & Pittsburgh RR

[NKP guy]

The Kent-Ravenna (Ohio) Record Courier carried an item a few days ago that it was 100 years this week that the Lake Erie & Pittsburgh RR opened.  That's not a typo.

This short and little-known railroad connected Cleveland's Belt Line RR on the far south side at Marcy, Ohio (a yard) with the Pennsy at Brady Lake, Ohio, between Kent and Ravenna.  In its day this single-track industrial railroad moved heavy trains of iron ore to Pittsburgh, and coal, back to the Lake Erie ports.  It was an artifact from the great days of Ohio's industrial period.

It was built by the NYC and PRR, although it was operated by the NYC.  Trains reaching Brady Lake tower from Cleveland (Marcy) then used trackage rights over the PRR eastward.  The LE&P seems never to have seen a passenger train.  It really was just a paper corporation, a cooperative effort between two rival railroads.  The coming of Conrail and its parallel lines doomed the LE&P and it was abandoned by 1980, with the exception of the last mile or so in order that it could serve a sand and gravel company near Kent.

Today the LE&P is a bike trail for nearly its entire length.  There's not much left besides the right of way.  I'd simply like to salute another fallen-flag railroad on its centennial, as well as reflect that, Sic transit gloria mundi.  

Can anyone here (wanswheel?) find and post photos of the Lake Erie & Pittsburgh RR?

[Modelcar]

.....I took a look on the internet and did find some.  But I can't post them here.  I'm sure someone will.

[samfp1943]

Believe it or not. The LE&P RR is a tough one to track down.

Story of the genealogy  of the Lake Erie & Pittsburg RR Co

Start here :http://www.s363.com/dkny/lsms.html

FTL:"...The LE&P was chartered April 30, 1903 to build a railroad from Youngstown, Ohio to Lorain, Ohio, 91 miles and a branch to Cleveland of 29 miles..."

Thence to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern RR company:

linked:  http://www.s363.com/dkny/lsms.html

Scroll down to the Cleveland Shortline RR Company:

FTL:"...The portion from Rockport, Ohio, to connection with the Lake Erie and Pittsburg Railway at Marcy, Ohio, 9.73 miles, was opened for operation on February 24, 1910, and the balance of the line, Marcy to Collinwood, 9.91 miles, on July 1, 1912. Capital stock all owned by The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company.

Referencing the Lake Erie & Pittsburgh RR Company:

FTL:"...A contract was entered into on January 10, 1908, with The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company and Pennsylvania Company, equal owners of the capital stock of The Lake Erie and Pittsburg Railway Company, giving those companies trackage rights over the Lake Erie and Pittsburg Railway..."

Clearly it mentions the Pennsylvania RR, but not the New York Central (?) until later.

The search engines return very little on the LE&P RR.

 

[spvroprules]

The LE&P was originally a 50/50 plan of the Big 4 and the PRR to access the port of Lorain. The LS&MS acquired the Big 4 interest after the construction totally mired down in the swamps near Berea.

The line from Marcy east was constructed to give the LS&MS a better route to Youngstown and points east (via the P&LE) instead of the route via Ashtabula. The line eventually served the NYC to run through traffic via the P&LE & Western Maryland to Baltimore & Philadelphia.

As constructed, the line was totally grade-separated Marcy to Brady Lake. The only open office was at Brandywine, about midway. From Brady Lake east the NYC used the PRR to Ravenna, then got on the joint B&O / PRR to Center St. Youngstown (or via the PRR from Niles Jct. to Center St.) and into the NYC Yard or direct to Gateway Yard on the P&LE.

The line was upgraded with a rail, tie, and surface job c. 1966-67. However, a landslide took out 2 spans of the Marcy (Mill Creek) double-track trestle in 1967. The trestle was rebuilt with new steel and concrete, and the line was promptly abandoned.   

SHL

 

 

[samfp1943]

spvroprules

The LE&P was originally a 50/50 plan of the Big 4 and the PRR to access the port of Lorain. The LS&MS acquired the Big 4 interest after the construction totally mired down in the swamps near Berea.

The line from Marcy east was constructed to give the LS&MS a better route to Youngstown and points east (via the P&LE) instead of the route via Ashtabula. The line eventually served the NYC to run through traffic via the P&LE & Western Maryland to Baltimore & Philadelphia.

As constructed, the line was totally grade-separated Marcy to Brady Lake. The only open office was at Brandywine, about midway. From Brady Lake east the NYC used the PRR to Ravenna, then got on the joint B&O / PRR to Center St. Youngstown (or via the PRR from Niles Jct. to Center St.) and into the NYC Yard or direct to Gateway Yard on the P&LE.

The line was upgraded with a rail, tie, and surface job c. 1966-67. However, a landslide took out 2 spans of the Marcy (Mill Creek) double-track trestle in 1967. The trestle was rebuilt with new steel and concrete, and the line was promptly abandoned.   

SHL

Thanks!  Really appreciate the information.

I found very little on the Internet and it seemed to jump to P&LERR and even to 'Search' T&P.  Was hoping a local would pick up the Thread and fill it out.

And also, Welcome!  spvroprules 

 

[wanswheel]

The New York Times - Aug. 14, 1904

Pittsburg, Penn. Aug. 13. - Another railroad, to be called the Lake Erie and Pittsburg, 140 miles long, connecting Pittsburg with Lorain, Ohio, and the lakes, and costing $16,000,000, will be operating both passenger and freight trains into Pittsburg in about sixteen months, according to the statement of John B. Carter, Vice President of the new road. Work has already been started, and before Winter shuts down, it is said, forty miles of the new roadbed from Lorain to Hudson, Ohio, will be completed. At Hudson it is proposed to connect with the Cleveland and Pittsburg Division of the Pennsylvania Lines.

Railway World - Feb. 3, 1905

President J. B. Carter, of the Lake Erie and Pittsburg, has announced that the road will be built from Lorain to Olmsted Falls, thence to Cleveland, where it will connect with the Newburg and South Shore, a road owned by the American Steel and Wire Company. From Cleveland the route is to Berea, Streetsboro, Shalersville, Freedom, Newton Falls. Mineral Ridge, Niles, Girard, Youngstown, Lowellville.  A branch will be built from Youngstown to Warren.

Engineering World - May 15, 1906

Lake Erie & Pittsburg - The delay in constructing this line, which was originally projected to run from Cleveland to Youngstown, O., by William Kenefick and John B. Carter, has been caused by radical changes in location, to secure a 0.3 per cent grade for the entire line. Work Is to be started at once, and the entire line will be built by the Carter Construction Co., of which Mr. J. B. Carter and Mr. William Kenefick are the officers, with headquarters In the Traction Terminal Building, Indianapolis, Ind. Mr. Kenefick advises us that the line to be built immediately extends from Newburg to Kent, Ohio. There will be about 2,000,000 cu. yds. of steam shovel excavation and about 25,000 cu. yds. concrete work, together with a large amount of team work, between Newburgh and Kent.

The Railway and Engineering Review - July 11, 1908

Announcement is reported made at Pittsburg, Pa., of the closing of a deal whereby the Vanderbilt system, operating the Pittsburg & Lake Erie, and the Pennsylvania Railroad secure control of the Lake Erie & Pittsburg, a projected line, surveyed almost on a direct line from Pittsburg, Pa., to Cleveland, Ohio. The Lake Erie & Pittsburg was started several years ago by William Kennefick and John B. Carter, who control the Carter Construction Co. The price paid for the proposed line, little work on which has been done, is $2,500,000, and at the same time the Pennsylvania puts into the deal its short road running from Kent to Lorain, O., at $2,500,000, making a $5,000,000 deal. The transfer is considered of much importance to the railroads, as it means that the Vanderbilts will break away from the Erie between Pittsburg and Cleveland, as they will then have a direct line of their own between the two cities, and, over the new line of the Pennsylvania, into the steel mills at Lorain, Ohio.

The Summary - July 16, 1908

Pittsburg, July 9. - The Vanderbilts and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company have arranged to crowd the Erie Railroad out of any freight connections in the Piitsburg district. The combined roads have purchased the Lake Erie & Pittsburg Railroad, which has been charted, surveyed, and work commenced by Wiliam Kenefick and John B. Carter of the Carter Construction Company, among the largest railroad contractors in the country. The Vanderbilts put up $2,500,000, and ihe Pensylvania, its short line from Kent, Ohio, to Lorain, Ohio, which will be included in the connection, for $2,500,000.

The Vanderbilts now use the Pittsburg & Lake Erie, their own road from the Connellsville field, through Pittsburg to Youngstown. There it connects with the Erie Railroad, and uses the latter's lines for its lake traffic. By the new deal the Erie will be abandoned by the Vanderbilts, and the new route will be used. The Pennsylvania and New York Central will thus be enabled to divide most of the tonnage emanating from every mine, mill, furnace, and quarry in the North owned by the United States Steel Corporation. The latter concern spends $100,000,000 a year for freight in normal times.

http://rnetzlof.pennsyrr.com/corphist/le_p.html

http://ohiorr.railfan.net/lep.html

[JOHN A THOMPSON JR]

I have researched this railroad through parts of lorain County, and also parts of Cuyahoga County. The original route of the LE&P was to build to the port City of Lorain, Ohio on Lake Erie, and interchange with the Nickle Plate. A good portion of the grade still exsists in the county, some of it very visible. Also, in the Rocky River, as it flows through the town of Berea, are two stone bridge piers that were to carry the railroad over the river ( west branch). Marcy trestle, do not know if it is the original, is still in use by present day carrier C S X. This trestle towers over a Cuyahoga County MetroPark, and a portion of the long ago Erie Canal. The L E & P was to begin at Lorain, then head to and through the east side of North Ridgeville. My name is John Thompson, I live in Elyria, a city of Lorain County. My phone is 440-219-8777. Call me, lets talk railroads