Passenger service at Wakeman, Ohio

Greetings,

I am brand new to this forum and have only recently become interested in railroads. Not long ago I purchased a 1955 Official Railway Guide and find it fascinating...........nevertheless my knowledge base is very limited. Though I now live in the mountains of northeast Alabama, I have roots in Wakeman, Ohio and am very curious about the history of rail service at Wakeman (also Collins and Norwalk). Has there ever been scheduled passenger service at Wakeman, and if so, who provided the service and when did it end? I have some leads (Nickle Plate RR, Toledo-Norwalk-Cleveland RR, Lakeshore-Michigan Sothern RR) but can't quite pin it down. Also tried a search of these forums but came up empty. I'd be very interested in hearing any replies as I know there are very many knowledgeable folks on this forum. Thanks in advance for any information.

Strut

The line through Wakeman was part of the original Cleveland & Toledo RR main line, later LS&MS and then (in 1914) NYC, and ran via Elyria-Oberlin-Norwalk-Monroeville-Bellevue-Clyde-Fremont. I'd need to dig out dates, but what is now the ex-NYC, now NS, main line via Sandusky came later, after which the Norwalk route became a secondary branch handling both passenger and freight local services (plus occasional main line emergency reroutes). Local passenger service on what the NYC called its Norwalk Branch ended in the 1949-50 period. As of June 1949 one local passenger trip ran each way, leaving Cleveland WB at 4:25 PM and returning from Toledo at an ungodly 1:45 AM. The service was gone by Sept. 1950.

The Wakeman station was an LS&MS standard-style 1860s-'70s-era single story wood structure basically similar to the one preserved at Olmsted Falls. I remember seeing it being demolished about 1951-52 or so.

Awesome! Appreciate your quick response. That's the info I was looking for. I collect timetables and now I know which ones to be looking for. As a small child in the 60's, I remember seeing the occasional freight train run through there, but I am most fascinated by passenger trains. I also remember my dad talk of walking the tracks in the 50's from Collins to Wakeman to visit my mom. Thanks again for answering my question.

Strut

The RR line thru Wakeman,Ohio when built in late 1852 early 53 was the Toledo,Norwalk & Cleveland RR.In Sept. of 1853 the TN&C and the Junction Railroad/the northern part became the Cleveland & Toledo RR wich lasted until 1868 wich for a time during that year the railroad with other merged RR's such as the MS&NI,CP&A,and C&T became called the Lake Shore RY.I have a bell bottom fixed globe lantern with L S R bevel cut letters on the globe.Later in 1868 the RR became the LS&MS Ry.The original line was built from Millbury to Grafton,Ohio.Then in 1866 the part from Oberlin to Elyria was constructed where the Northern Division and Southern Division connected to probably avoid having to run on the CCC&I from Gafton to Cleveland.I think a portion of the old section from Oberlin out to a stone Quarry by Nickle Plate Diagonal Rd.on the old original section remained in service maybe to early 1900 or abouts before or after not sure? If you go on the bike trail at Oberlin just west of the 1892 stone single arched bridge you will see the roadbed of the remains of a Wye there on the south wich is were the old section split off to go to Grafton.

Anyhow i also have lived in the Wakeman/Norwalk area since 1969 and was fond of the trains that ran on the line wich in that time one ran once a day going west in the early morning and returning back east around 4:00 to 5:00 pm thru town there usually led by a lone Penn Central GP 7 with a handfull of cars and a PC transfer caboose.The thing i regret most was not taking any pictures! I saw the train cross over the beautiful 1872 stone double arched bridge in Wakeman many times and never gave a thought to take any photo's.As a young boy then you expect things to stay around forever.I also watched the last trains on the line and remember when they quit running in the late spring of 1976.By mid 1977 the line was scrapped and i also watched that happen.Since then i've been interested in the lines history,have walked most of it,researched and copied everything i can find in the microfilm on it at the Norwalk library and collected what i can find from the RR's past.TN&C items are very hard to find.I have a few paper items and watched a TN&C Toledo baggage tag go for over $200 on Ebay several years ago.C&T items can be found occasionally,mainly stock certificates and i have other items.I've also collected what photo's i can find from the line and LS&MS loco and equipment photo's.

The Wakeman passenger depot was built in 1872 and the freight house wich still remains was built the following year in 1873.I do have a few old pre 1900 LS&MS books and some later NYC employee timetables from the Norwalk Branch from the 1920's up to the late 1960's if you would like me to look anything in peticular up.There was a small soft cover book that came out in the late 1970's called reflections of Wakeman wich i have a copy of somewhere that had some photo's and brief history of the line in Wakeman but not a abundance of RR info.Back in 2002 a friend and i found a 180 lb. LS&MS marked drawhead in the riverbank under the stone arched bridge.There's not much to find anymore along the line.Most all the big sandstone milemarkers from the 1870's have disappeared wich is amazing as they are 12 ft. long 16inches wide and weigh a ton! There are only 4 left on the Lorain County portion of the bike trail and we have only 2 left on Huron County's portion.I took pictures of many that were still in place in 1992 and now there gone just like the RR!

Some great information. I'm sorry that I missed that era of rail travel. I was privileged to travel all over Europe by train when I was in the Army but it's a different era. Did small towns like Wakeman have stations that stayed open all day or did the stations only open when the train was due in? Did you have to make prior arrangements or did they just make a "flag" stop and you paid the conductor after boarding? Hard to imagine very many people boarding a train in small towns like Wakeman, especially around 1 a.m! Anyway, just some random rambling thoughts...........I have alot to learn about railroads! Thanks again for your replies.

Strut
(one mile off the old Seaboard Air Line Railroad line)

Drawhead wrote: Anyhow i also have lived in the Wakeman/Norwalk area since 1969 and was fond of the trains that ran on the line wich in that time one ran once a day going west in the early morning and returning back east around 4:00 to 5:00 pm thru town there usually led by a lone Penn Central GP 7 with a handfull of cars and a PC transfer caboose.The thing i regret most was not taking any pictures! I saw the train cross over the beautiful 1872 stone double arched bridge in Wakeman many times and never gave a thought to take any photo's.As a young boy then you expect things to stay around forever.I also watched the last trains on the line and remember when they quit running in the late spring of 1976.By mid 1977 the line was scrapped and i also watched that happen.Since then i've been interested in the lines history,have walked most of it,researched and copied everything i can find in the microfilm on it at the Norwalk library and collected what i can find from the RR's past.

I'm not sure if you have checked out this site, but they seem to have several photos of the LS&MS line in use, near the end of its life in the early-mid '70s: http://ohiorr.railfan.net/pc.html

Yes, i've checked that website before.Most of the photo's of the line on that site are at Fremont,Ohio by Howard Ameling when he lived there as the line ran right behind his house.I've also bought some photo's from Howard years back and have one of his NYC DVD's wich have some of the same photo's on it.Bob Lorenz of Fremont also had many photo's of depots on the line and also some evaluation photo copies from 1919 of different areas like at Monroeville ect.I've bought alot of photo's from Bob over the years,basically everything he had available on the Norwalk Branch as well as all LS&MS locomotive and equipment photo's he had.