Lakewood Lore

Railroad no dummy at cheering up passengers

A picturesque chapter of Lakewood history, warmly remembered long after it ended 107 years ago, was the 6-mile-long Rocky River Railroad, popularly known as the “Dummy Railroad.” (In early railroading, a dummy train was one on which the locomotive’s steam exhaust was muffled to reduce noise.)

The Rocky River Railroad was operated between 1869 and 1881 on a single track over a roadbed following the same right of way through Lakewood as today’s Norfolk and Western.

It started at Bridge Avenue and West 58th Street in Cleveland and chugged along to the Cliff House, a once-famous tavern that stood near Riverside and Edanola in western Lakewood. There was a turntable behind the Cliff House where the train swung round for the trip back to Cleveland.

During the summer, the Dummy Railroad swayed with laughter and singing of passengers headed for picnic grounds at the mouth of Rocky River and for amusement rides at Scenic Park in the valley.

The fare was 20 cents at first. Later, it was cut to 12½ cents, with a special rate of 5 cents for fruit and berry pickers who helped area farmers.

It was a friendly railroad with a conductor to match. George Mulhearn was his name. He sometimes changed his schedule to make it more convenient for his riders. If some passengers became thirsty, he would stop at a spring along the route. If a cow wouldn’t budge, he would stop and get somebody to nudge her off the track.

The Dummy Railroad was formed by Mark Hanna, Daniel P. Rhodes, Elias Sims and Ezra Nicholson. Ezra, son of James Nicholson, our community’s first permanent settler, was the railroad’s first president. It cost $160,000 to establish.

While always symbolic of happy excursions in the good old summertime, the railroad fared poorly during the winter months, and its stockholders never earned any dividends. Finally in 1881, it expired after its sale to the Nickel Plate, which in 1964 became the Norfolk & Western.

This Lakewood Lore article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post December 22, 1988.

Reprinted with permission.

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