FAIRPORT, PAINESVILLE & EASTERN
RAILROAD/RAILWAY
The Gist of It …
The Fairport,
Painesville & Eastern Railroad was a short line railroad located in
northeastern Ohio. It was established in
1910, and was intended to extend from Fairport Harbor (in Lake County) to
Austinburg (in Ashtabula County). Though
the FP&E briefly made it as far east as Harpersfield Township (just east of
the Lake County-Ashtabula County border), it never made it to Austinburg, and
for most of the railroad's existence Perry, Ohio was the eastern end of the
line. The FP&E was an independent
railroad until 1968, when the Norfolk & Western Railway and the Penn
Central Company jointly took control of it.
Despite being owned by a couple of 'big railroads' and having a slightly
different name (Fairport, Painesville & Eastern Railway instead of
Fairport, Painesville & Eastern Railroad ), the FP&E continued to operate until it was merged into
the N&W in 1984. The former FP&E
main line between Perry and Fairport Harbor still exists today, but now it is
just a branch line of the Norfolk Southern Railway, and is known as the
Fairport Industrial Track (part of the Pittsburgh Division).
Some Background …
I have been interested in trains
since my childhood, so having been born and raised in the city of Painesville
it was natural for me to have an interest in my hometown railroad (actually the
FP&E went through Painesville Township rather than the city of Painesville
proper, but that's close enough for me).
In addition to the hometown connection, it turns out I have some family
connections to the FP&E as well: My
great-grandpa John S. Merrill was on the FP&E's Board of Directors from
1913 through 1917, and my great-uncle Bill Lockhart worked on the railroad from
November 1938 to November 1952 (his last position was Fireman). Since I grew up in the 1970s—long after my
relatives' experiences with the railroad had passed—I had no awareness of the
family connection to the railroad; instead, my interest in the FP&E was
sparked by my experiences of the railroad as a youngster: seeing yellow diesels
with loud clanging bells switching cars in the West Yard whenever my parents
took my sister and I to a function in Fairport Harbor (usually the Mardi Gras).
Up until
the end of 2008, I had a very small collection of materials about the FP&E,
and thought that there wasn't much more information to be had. Then a discussion on the Yahoo Group
"clevelandrails" led me to do some web searching, and suddenly I
found leads to a whole slew of information I didn't know about before:
Interstate Commerce Commission reports.
Fortunately, I found a library close to home that had all the ICC
reports ever published, and was able to make copies of every ICC report I could
find on the FP&E. These documents,
along with other materials I found/collected afterward, enabled me to figure
out a good portion of the history of the rail line—and now I'm ready to
assemble this information to share with others.
By
following the links below you will find information such as a detailed
chronology/history of the FP&E, some system maps, a detailed roster of the
FP&E's diesel locomotives and rolling stock, some photos of the diesels,
and details about the FP&E's operations.
In addition, for those that want to collect their own materials on the
FP&E I have some information on resources you can find/use. And since you can't really talk about the
Fairport, Painesville & Eastern without talking about its most important
and largest customer—the Diamond Alkali Corporation (later Diamond Shamrock)—I
have a webpage dedicated to information about the Diamond's Painesville Works.
The Good Stuff …
Click here to read
my chronology/history of the FP&E.
An earlier version can be found on George Elwood's website
"Fallen Flags and Other Railroad Photos" (click here and
scroll down.)
Click here for maps
of the FP&E.
Click here for the
FP&E's steam locomotive roster.
Click here for the
FP&E's diesel locomotive roster/history.
Click here for some
pictures of FP&E diesel locomotives and links to other FP&E photos that
can be found on the world wide web.
Click here for the
FP&E's freight car roster.
Click here
to read a transcription of the FP&E's Employee Time Table #1, issued in
1932.
Click here
for information about the FP&E's operations during the diesel era.
Click here
for traffic data from the FP&E's diesel era.
Click here for a
guide to some FP&E resources.
Click here
for information about the unique relationship between Diamond Alkali and the
FP&E.
Click here for
information about the Diamond Alkali/Shamrock Painesville Works.
Click here
for information about the other industries served by the FP&E.
Click here to see
FP&E photos from my & other people's collections.
BOOK NEWS At
the end of August 2021 a book about Baltimore & Ohio's Lake Branch was
released, and it features over 30 pages of material about the FP&E and the
Diamond! The book is titled Ghost
Rails XIX: B&O Lakers, and was written by noted 'ghost rail' historian
Wayne A. Cole.
Click here to view more
information and find out how to order a copy.
Questions?
Comments?
Contact
me at:
About the picture: The herald
featured on the top of this webpage was cast into the original US Route 20
highway bridge that crossed over the FP&E's main line in Painesville
Township, and could only be seen by FP&E train crews (the overpass has
since been reconstructed). Glenn
Anderson risked life and limb climbing up a steep embankment to take this
picture in 1968.
Created by Scott Nixon
July 2009
Updated:
September 2009, October 2010, April 2011, November 2012, June 2021, September
2021