The Cleveland Railway Company center entrance streetcars in our collection were built in 1914 by the Kuhlman Car Company in Cleveland, Ohio. In all, 201 cars of this type were purchased and they served on nearly every route in the city. The cars featured a pair of doors located at the center of the body in a drop center well that provided a low step height from the street for easier boarding. The Conductor's station was located in the well between the doors, fares were collected at street level and the passengers then climbed steps to the front or rear seating platforms. Like many other Cleveland cars of the time they had longitudinal seating on the left side of the car and traditional double forward facing seats on the right.

In the 1920s the Van Sweringen owned Cleveland Interurban Railroad would lease several of these cars for use on its Shaker Heights line, built to serve the Vans' new community under development to the east of the city. The cars were upgraded for the rapid transit line by equipping them for multiple unit service and replacing their original trucks with those from some of the Cleveland Railway's newer, faster cars. Trucks from cars 484-499 and 150-169 were used for this purpose as they were geared for high speed and equipped with powerful Westinghouse 4-W340A1 traction motors.

As built the cars had two rear lights, one red to indicate that the car's brakes were on and another green to indicate that they were off. The CIRR added an additional amber light to the rear of the cars as a safety measure for off-street running. The cars were also repainted in a green color scheme to promote the image of country living just a short ride away. Although the cars would continue to be the backbone of the fleet for many years, shortly after the first Shaker trains entered the new Union Terminal complex in 1930 several (including 1203 and 1225) had been placed out of service and into storage at Cleveland Railway's Miles Avenue station.

By the mid-30s the financial crash had depleted the coffers of the once vast Van Sweringen Empire and in 1935 the Cleveland Interurban Railroad was taken over by its creditors. Under bank control the line purchased several used interurban cars to upgrade its fleet, but the line continued to lose money and abandonment and liquidation was proposed as a way to settle the CIRR's mounting debts. To avert the possible loss of a valuable transportation asset, the city of Shaker Heights purchased the CIRR from the banks in 1944.

In 1940 the Cleveland Interurban Railroad purchased the entire fleet of leased cars outright. Even the cars from the dead storage line were refurbished and returned to service. At that time the "12" was dropped from the car numbers to facilitate repainting. Cars 1203 (3) 1212 (12) and 1225 (25) in our collection were among a group of the cars to have their third rear light removed and the remaining two changed to red markers. As all car movements on the line's private right-of-way were controlled by line-side signals, the braking lights were no longer needed.

In 1949, a long list of improvements intended to modernize the line and bring back riders was proposed and replacing the aging fleet of second hand cars was high on that list. This signaled the beginning of the end for the 1200s. Over the following decade the older cars were replaced by the modern PCC cars that the line would become known for. The remaining cars were relegated to rush hour only service in their final years and the last of them were retired from the Shaker in 1960, long after their sisters on the Cleveland Railway's roster had fallen prey to the scrapper's torches. Car 17 (1217) was also spared this fate and went to the Cleveland Transit System where it was rebuilt as their line car 024 (Also in our collection).

We are fortunate to have these fine cars in our collection, most of the more than 200 produced in 1913 and 1914 are preserved now only in photos and memories. The Shaker Heights routes still operate today as the Greater Cleveland RTA's Blue & Green Lines, although the PCC cars have been replaced by modern LRVs. The lines are all that remain of Cleveland's once vast network of electric railroads.

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• 1203
• 1212
• 1225