The Penn-Ohio System Freight Traffic Guide [Title on Cover]

1927 freight guide and network map of the Penn-Ohio Railway service.

This freight traffic guide was published by the Penn-Ohio Electric System in 1927 “for the convenience of our patrons and to enable them to know of the extensive territory over which the freight service of the Penn-Ohio System and its connections extend” [foreword]. Its eight printed pages include a list of the board of directors and an alphabetical index of every station in operation along the railway lines.

A folding map of Indiana, Ohio, eastern Pennsylvania, and southern Michigan is tipped into the back of the booklet. It was prepared in 1926 by the Central Electric Traffic Association and printed in Norwalk, Ohio by the Rotary Printing Company. Bright red lines highlight both the freight and interurban railway routes in operation across the image. “Penn-Ohio Service extends to nearly Five Hundred Station on Five Thousand Miles of Electric Railway.” [Lower right]

According to rail enthusiast John Bell;

“From 1893 until 1941, the Mahoning and Shenango River valleys of western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio were served by local streetcars and interurban railways. Originally built by separate companies, in 1905 they were unified into the Mahoning & Shenango Railway and Light system. In 1920 it was renamed the Penn-Ohio Electric System.”

Source.