January 16, 1932
After approximately three decades of operation, a leading interurban transit line in the northwestern part of Ohio launched its final passenger car runs. This service had been incorporated as the Western Ohio Railway on October 11, 1900, under the laws of the Buckeye State. By 1903, the Western Railway covered 36 miles (57.9 kilometers) between the cities of Lima and Wapakoneta.
This line — reorganized as the Western Ohio Railway and Power Corporation in 1928 — ultimately spanned about 115 miles (185.1 kilometers) altogether in that region of Ohio, encompassing a total of six counties and — in addition to Lima and Wapakoneta — the cities of Findlay, Sidney, Piqua, St. Marys, Celina, New Bremen, and Minster and what the Lima News summarized as “scores of intermediate villages and communities.”
Interurban cars used both on the Western Ohio Railway and Power Corporation line and elsewhere shared the following characteristics: electric power provided by overhead wires; a focus on the transport of passengers rather than freight; equipment that was heavier and faster than that used for standard city streetcars; and service in both urban centers and rural areas. Ohio had in place what the Lima News called “a veritable network of electric urban roads, there being scarcely any city of size which could not be conveniently reached on an interurban railway.”
The Western Ohio Railway and Power Corporation became a major link in this network, which facilitated travel both within the state and well beyond it. By the early 1930s, however, many of these interurban enterprises in Ohio were being phased out due to both the ever-increasing use of automotive vehicles on the state’s highways and the severe financial impact of the Great Depression.
The Western Ohio Railway and Power Corporation was one of the interurban services in northwestern Ohio scheduled to be shut down altogether effective January 17, 1932, and replaced by buses operated by the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Motor Coach System.
On the previous day, Dayton resident Ervin Elliott was among the people who took part in the final interurban runs of the Western Ohio Railway and Power Corporation. He had worked as a motorman on this line during its early years.
While traveling on a car on the line’s last day of service, Elliott carried out his one-time duties as motorman even though (as confirmed by the Dayton Daily News) “he had been out of the transportation field for more than a quarter century.” Those on board with him included his son Ervin, Jr., and five-year-old grandson Jackie. “The whistle and gong of the car was sounded throughout the last trip,” reported the Sidney Daily News about this particular ride.
(The accompanying photo of one of the cars of the Western Ohio Railway and Power Corporation was taken shortly before this line ceased operations.)
Photo Credit: No known copyright
Additional information on the Western Ohio Railway and Power Corporation is available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-RR-28803956211db7e9a20ba375dbffba69/pdf/
The route for this urban transit line can be viewed at https://www.chicagorailfan.com/interohm.html
For more information on the interurban network in Ohio, please check out https://ohiomemory.ohiohistory.org/archives/2397
Transportation History 
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