Erie To Cleveland by Trolley

Interconnecting interurban trolley car lines in a predominately rural area connected Erie's scenic Perry Square with Cleveland's busy Public Square. The Conneaut & Erie Traction Company linked Erie, Pennsylvania with Conneaut, Ohio where connection was made with the Pennsylvania & Ohio Railway to Ashtabula, with the final transfer on the Cleveland Painesville & Eastern Railroad bringing the traveler to Cleveland's downtown Public Square. Ken Springirth (graduate of Drexel Institute of Technology [today Drexel University] with a B.S. Degree in Mechanical Engineering) is the author of 49 books on railroads and trolley car systems. His father, a streetcar motorman, went to work with his uniform immaculate and shoes perfectly shined. On that trolley Ken's dad was the CEO, policeman, repairman, when necessary, trainer for new operators, answer person, and did whatever was necessary to keep that car on the track. It was hard for Ken to witness the scrapping of hundreds of trolley cars. On his own time after working his regular job, Ken began researching, photographing, riding, and walking trolley systems in the United States, Canada, Mexico, England, Australia, Netherlands, Switzerland, Portugal, plus Hong Kong and began writing about rail systems. Working with volunteer onsite editor Beth Anne Keates in 2021, they completed a book titled "West Chester Railroad" which had input from 70 volunteers who along with Keates by hand rebuilt six miles of a former commuter railroad in southeastern Pennsylvania. In essence that book has 70 authors, ordinary people on an extraordinary mission working together to make rail history come alive in their part of the world.