Springfield, Troy, & Piqua Electric Railway

Asa Bushnell, former Governor of Ohio, encouraged by the light grade of the land, decided to establish the Springfield, Troy, and Piqua Railway (ST&P) in July 1904. The interurban traction line utilized sixty-pound rail and traveled over only one bridge. With direct current electricity generated in Springfield, the ST&P used four double-ended fifty-foot cars, each with a railroad roof, arch windows, GE-57 engines, and fifty-horsepower motors. The ST&P traveled from Springfield’s Fountain Square to Maitland, Hill Top, Lawrenceville, Bushnell, North Hampton, Dialton, Thackery, Proctors, Christiansburg, Brights, and Casstown and ended at Troy’s North Market Street Bridge. Later rights were granted to travel over the Great Miami River into Troy in conjunction with the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railway. The northwest right-of-way from Casstown to Piqua was secured but never built.

[Side B]: Many people preferred the interurban traction lines over steam engines. They were quieter and smokeless, did not produce harmful sparks, and reached speeds of over sixty miles per hour. Passengers could flag down the train and board at Detrick’s Hardware Store in central North Hampton, where the route went from Lawrenceville to Bushnell, before turning northwest and crossing Donnel’s Creek at 11:58 AM on its way to Dialton and Christiansburg. The ST&P returned eastward and left North Hampton at 6:51 PM. Because of the ST&P, many villages along the route built grain elevators and warehouses and transported coal, lime, lumber, and beer. Northwest of this covered bridge on Dialton Road, a siding for loading grain at the North Hampton Elevator existed. In 1917, the ST&P was reorganized as the Springfield Terminal Railway and Power Company, but by 1920 the company had filed for receivership and service was suspended.