The Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad (C&LE) was a short-lived electric interurban railroad that operated between Cincinnati, Ohio, Columbus, Ohio, and Toledo, Ohio.

Route

Most of the route between Cincinnati and Toledo followed the old towpath of the Miami and Erie Canal with the line to Columbus branching off from Dayton, Ohio. The line served the aforementioned locations as well as Springfield, Ohio, Hamilton, Ohio, Middletown, Ohio, Lima, Ohio and numerous smaller towns in western Ohio.

Early History

The C&LE was formed in 1930 from the merger of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway , the Indiana, Columbus and Eastern , and the Lima-Toledo Railroad . There also once existed a steam railroad called the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad that became a part of the Baltimore and Ohio, but they were a different company operating a separate line. Each of these was a regional interurban teetering on bankruptcy due to the onset of the Great Depression. These lines were modernized, and under the direction of C&LE president Thomas Conway, Jr. they were transformed into an efficient regional carrier of freight and passengers. Shortly after formation, the C&LE ordered a fleet of 20 high speed, aluminum bodied trolley cars, known as "Red Devils", from the Cincinnati Car Company . These cars embodied the latest in Art-deco styling and were equipped with numerous amenities. Half of the cars were built as lounges to provide first class comfort. In order to promote the cars, the C&LE staged a race between one of the Red Devil cars and an airplane. The car achieved a speed of 97 miles per hour and won the highly publicized race. Unfortunately, as much of the track was embedded into city streets, the cars had to contend with automobile traffic and would rarely achieve these speeds in day-to-day operation.

Decline and Dissolution

Competition with the automobile led to a steady decline in ridership over the course of the CL&E's existence. In 1937, the connecting interurbans the Lake Shore Electric Railway and the Indiana Railroad closed, cutting off traffic to and from Cleveland, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana, respectively. This led to a severe decline in freight and passenger traffic which contributed to the line's bankruptcy and closure by 1940.