Random Photos of Trolley Cars

The story of the Beach Grove Traction Company above is a segway to this story of the Winona Railroad of Indiana because some of the Winona's trolley cars saw service on the Beach Grove.

The Winona Railroad of Indiana came into operation in 1902 when the Pennsylvania Railroad announced that the sidetrack on which a local train brought visitors to Winona from Warsaw would no longer operate. However by the summer of 1903, the directors of the Winona Christian Assembly had completed a trolley line between the two towns. The 18 open cars ran on an hourly schedule, sometimes carrying 15,000 passengers in one day for special events at Winona.

Goshen, Warsaw, Peru and towns along the way voted subsidies totaling $170,000 on condition that the Winona Interurban Railway build a high speed electric railway north and south connecting with other interurban systems that had spread all over Indiana. The north line to Goshen was started in 1905 with the first cars running by June of 1906. The south section was completed in 1907. A large powerhouse, costing $200,000 was constructed where the Gatke Corporation now stands. It supplied the additional power needed for the 70-mile system and also provided steam heat and electricity to all the public buildings at Winona and about 50 private homes in the town. Electricity as well as water were supplied by the railroad to the city of Warsaw.

Winona Railroad officials planned to expand with new lines east to Fort Wayne and west to Valparaiso, but these sections were never built. In July 1916 the mortgage on the Goshen-Warsaw line was foreclosed and the road went into receivership. However, a freight handling business inaugurated in 1924 aided the Winona considerably as it serviced nine steam railroads connecting with its 66-mile routes. When Goshen residents petitioned to have the tracks in their city removed, passenger service to the Winona railroad's northernmost point ceased in 1934. Then the only passenger service operated by the railroad was on the 3-mile run between Warsaw and Winona. The latest street car ran July 4, 1938.