By Eric Berger

A trolley car that has been hauling passengers in the Cleveland area for more than a century will be running two Saturdays each month through September 23, at the Northern Ohio Railway Museum in Seville, Ohio.

Shaker Heights 12 is a center-door car built by G.C. Kuhlman Car Company in 1914, one of 201 built for the Cleveland Railway Company, a predecessor of today’s Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. The cars were designed by the Cleveland Transit Commissioner whose name became permanently associated with the design, Peter Witt.

Thirty of these cars were leased and later sold to Cleveland Interurban Railroad for use on its Shaker Heights Rapid Transit line, where several would remain in service until 1960. After retirement, the car was transferred to the Cleveland Transit System and became a local celebrity of sorts as a star of the heritage fleet on CTS and later RTA. The car was mothballed for a time, then donated to NORM in 2013. It operated under NORM wires for the first time in 2016.

Shaker Heights 12, a center-door car built in 1914 and seen here running in 1963, will be running twice a month until September at the Northern Ohio Railway Museum. Photo Courtesy of NORM.

Car 12 is scheduled to operate on the second and fourth Saturday of each month, every hour on the hour from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., as weather allows. All day trolley tickets are $5 for adults and teens, $2 for children 6-12 and free for kids five and under.

The collection at NORM has grown to include more than 40 streetcars, interurbans and rapid transit cars since its founding in 1976 and acquisition of two-miles of former Cleveland, Southwestern & Columbus right-of-way the following year. Cars built as far back as 1895 and as recently as 1970 are on display. Tours of the equipment are scheduled every hour on the half hour and take about thirty minutes. Admission is free but donations are gratefully accepted.

For more information, visit the website at northernohiorailwaymuseum.org or the museum Facebook page.