Winona Railroad #51

Description:	Script on side of car reads, Indiana First, Northern Indiana Retailers. Number on front is 51. This was either a charter train going to a convention, or a banner urging consumers to buy Indiana. The two cars coupled together seems to favor the convention transportation.The Winona Railway (aka Warsaw and Winona Railroad, The Winona Interurban Railroad and The Winona Service Company) began to help the Winona Assembly survive, to support its educational endeavors and in 1915 caused its bankruptcy. The Pennsylvania Railroad ran a passenger “dummy” train between Winona Lake and Warsaw. Visitors to Winona Lake who arrived via the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Big Four Railroad (remember if you traveled medium or long distances you depended on the railroad in 1900). The Pennsylvania announced it was going to double track the line between Pittsburgh and Chicago and the siding were the “dummy” train ran was not going to be available. The economic survival of the Winona Assembly depended on visitors going through the gates. So the Winona Assembly developed a trolley line to take the place of the “dummy” train. The interurban railroad building rage was sweeping many places in the U.S. and the Midwest was not an exception. The Board of Directors of the Winona Assembly envisioned that expanding their local trolley to Goshen to the north and Peru to the south would bring more visitors to their gates and would create large profits. The profits, they determined, would be used to pay for the educational endeavors of the Winona Assembly. Enter the automobile and the Winona Railway’s profits became losses and the anticipated support of educational efforts ceased to exist. The Winona Railway and the Winona Assembly went bankrupt in 1915. The Winona Railway, under various forms of ownership continued with one contraction after another until it ceased operations in 1952.
Source:	http://palni.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15705coll8/id/905
Collection:	Grace College - Winona Lake Postcards
Copyright:	Contact Morgan Library, Winona Lake, IN for copy and usage permissions
Geography:	Winona Lake (Ind.)
Subjects:	Winona Railroad #51

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