Trolley/interurban junction ‘shelter’ of the Mahoning & Shenango Railway and Light Company. (photo c1916)

Present Day (2021) Niles bicycle trail shelter.

A Tale of Two Shelters — Bob Smith

Image shown is the trolley/interurban junction ‘shelter’ of the Mahoning & Shenango Railway and Light Company (photo c1916) looking east with the globe lamps along Robbins Avenue.The tracks in the foreground went around to downtown Niles.

Note its ‘uncanny’ resemblance to the Niles Bicycle Trail shelter. The trolley shelter at Robbins Avenue at Church Street (former) was built (c1907) as part of the Warren ‘cut-off’ junction. A 1913 flood photo shows this shelter as 30’ X 15’.

The Niles Bicycle trailhead pavillion-shelter at State Street/Robbins Avenue was constructed during 2012 at a cost of approximately $100,000/ Its size is 42’ X 30’. This shelter is only 825 feet from the location of the former trolley shelter. looking southeast.

The Niles Bicycle Trail is a part of the Western Reserve Greenway Trail. The last area link, from Niles to Warren will hopefully be completed in the near future.

The Mahoning and Shenango River valleys of western Pennsylania and eastern Ohio were served by local streetcars and interurban railways from 1893 to 1941. The separate companies were unified into the Mahoning & Shenango Railway and Light system in 1905.

In 1920 it was renamed the Penn-Ohio Electric System. At its peak, it provided service in and between Youngstown, Girard, Niles and Warren (Ohio), and New Castle and Sharon (Pennsylvania). The main interurban line from New Castle through Youngstown to Warren was converted to buses during 1931-32. The Youngstown - Sharon interurban survived until 1939. The last local streetcar line in Youngstown was converted to electric trolley buses in 1940. The final remnants, the local lines in New Castle, were converted to buses in 1941. A separate line, the Youngstown & Southern Railway, continued electric passenger service until 1948.

The trolley shelter can be seen through the Erie Railroad overpass on Robbins Avenue.

Photograph of the trolley shelter taken from the Erie Railroad bridge during the 1913 Flood. PO1.1012

A second view of the trolley shelter taken from the Erie Railroad bridge during the 1913 Flood.