Cleveland Ohio Auditorium Annex spur

In doing some research, I came upon several references of railroad equipment being on display in the Cleveland Public Hall Annex. Can any of you say where that was & how rolling stock got into the building? It seems it must have been off the LS&MS.

NKP1155,

AFAIK, there never has been any direct access into the Annex / Convention Center. The outside dock had access and was used quite often for such things as the Metropolitan Opera tours and other large exhibitions.

The Great Lakes Exhibition did feature railroad equipment which was parked at the surface level on the Mall. Access was achieved from the NKP Broadway / E. 9th St. Upper Yard via the streetcar trackage with a temporary spur on Lakeside Ave. from Ontario St.

The story I saw that caught my eye was one about a special flatcar that carried an embalmed blue whale. It was described in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in June of 1930 as being inside the basement of the building.

Interesting about access from NKP Broadway Freight House to the Mall. The NKP had a Hudson on display there in the Cleveland Exposition. They fired it up and moved under power back to NKP rails. What great photo that would have been of it moving through Public Square passing the Terminal Tower.

Another interesting building with a hall was the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Building which was only a short walk from Terminal Tower. The ground floor had an auditorium which was used for the five year BLE Convention and for other activities such as musical productions. I was a delagate to the 1981 convention so I had a good look at that building but I did not know until much more recently that there was at one time a pipe organ in that auditorium but the organ had been removed by 1981. Later on the BLE sold the property and the building came down, the BLE also owns the Standard Building which was nearby and today they have their Cleveland Headquarters in the Standard Building. The delagates were pretty much free to roam the BLE Building during the convention and indeed it was a very interesting structure and I am sorry that the leadship of the union saw fit to dispose of that property.
Noel Weaver