Scott Trostel 85 pages softcover
The Springfield, Troy & Piqua Railway is a fascinating story of a rural interurban railway built in the first half of the 20th century and operated between Springfield and Troy, Ohio. The 30 mile line was built between 1903 and 1904 by ex-Ohio Governor, General Asa Bushnell. It quickly became a highly successful enterprise, privately financed, and moving from being just a passenger carrying conveyance to a major passenger, freight and express hauler. It connected Springfield to Troy plus 5 rural communities and nine other stops. It interchanged passenger and freight via other connecting lines such as the Dayton & Troy Electric Railway, and five steam railroads. making it a player in the expanding transportation markets. Bushnell built an Alternating Current power house that fed current to three sub-stations along the line, the current was converted to Direct Current and fed into the trolley system, which handled 21 round trips daily plus excursions and special events. The A. C. current was sold to residential and commercial customers along the line, thrusting an rural region into an era of technological expansion. With the sale of bonds in 1917, the S T & P was reorganized as the Springfield Terminal Railway & Power Company. The line did not withstand the horrible years of the WW I and was placed into Receivership. Passenger service was abandoned. It was cut-back to just five miles in 1920, and emerged as a small urban freight railroad in Springfield, Ohio, continuing operations with steeple cab locomotives. The wires came down in 1946, and the railroad surrendered its remaining traffic to the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad in 1959.
