railway icon Niagara Rails - Other Lines

This Page: Minor Roads Industrials Temporary Lines Tourist Lines
Other Pages: Introduction Cdn National Cdn Pacific Electrics Other Lines References

This page highlights railways other than those directly associated with the Canadian National or Canadian Pacific.

Minor Roads

Minor roads are public railways that were not a part of either the CNR or CPR systems.

In 1898 the Wabash Railway acquired operating rights over some of the Grand Trunk Railway lines to provide a bridge route between New York and Michigan. The route included the ex-GWR route from Niagara Falls to Allenburg, the ex-Welland Railway route from Allenburg to Welland Junction (Dain City) and the former Canada Air Line route from Ft. Erie to Glencoe. From Glencoe to Windsor the ex-GWR route was used. After a convoluted corporate history the Wabash was finally absorbed by the Norfolk Southern in 1991. The Norfolk Southern continues to use its operating rights on this CN bridge route.

In 1904 the Pere Marquette (a Michigan-based railway) obtained operating rights from the Michigan Central using the leased Canada Southern lines for freight traffic only. This gave it access through Ft. Erie to New York.

In 1997 the Port Colborne Harbour Railway [aka Trillium Railway] began operations. It operates as a feeder route using disused CN/CP lines.

Industrial Lines

Industrial lines are built to expedite product transfers within the confines of a company complex or plant. There have been several such lines in Niagara.

The Erie Peat Railway was a short (3 mile) two foot narrow gauge line in Wainfleet (near Pt. Colborne) that brought product back from the bog to the packaging plant. Narrow gauge construction and equipment was much less expensive than standard gauge. A commercial model of the gas-powered Winky engine can be found at Schomberg Scale Models.
Ontario Paper Company Ltd. Thorold Division [now part of AbitibiBowater] used a 50 ton Whitcombe, an Alco S2 and a EMD SW900 at various times. The SW900 in action.
Plymouth Cordage, Welland Works used compressed air locomotives in order to avoid fire hazards. The natural fibres such as hemp that were used to construct ropes and cables were extremely combustible.
Atlas Steels Ltd. Welland used many different engines such as this 25 ton GE [right] in over seventy years of operations. Photos of other Atlas Steels engines

Temporary Lines

Temporary lines are railway lines that are built to transport materials to large construction projects.

The Welland Ship Canal Railway was a seven mile long steam-powered railway which was built in 1917 to assist in the construction of an artificial harbour at Port Weller (north-east of St. Catharines). The harbour was part of the realignment of the Fourth Welland Canal from Thorold to Lake Ontario. Construction included building a protective rock breakwall. The railway transported rock excavated from the newly aligned canal to the breakwall site.

The Queenston-Chippawa Power Canal Railway was built in 1919 to aid in constructing the Adam Beck Generating Station (located at the foot of the escarpment below Queenston) and the water diversion channel (from the Welland River at Chippawa to the power station). It was fourteen miles long, and supplied material to the construction site as well as moving earth and rock out of the deep cut of the diversion channel. The railway used two small steam engines from the American Locomotive Company [Alco] and electric steeple-cab motors built by National Steel Car Company and Canadian Car & Foundry. Many of the electric units ended up at INCO (Sudbury) although at least one was sent to NS&T.

Tourist Lines

In the past, some railway lines were constructed for the sole purpose of moving passengers to and from tourist or amusement areas.

The Ft. Erie, Snake Hill and Pacific [1885-1930] (aka Sandfly Express) [foto] was a narrow gauge steam line that ran from the Ft. Erie docks to its beach area amusement park, [map] a distance of about two miles. sandfly
The Ontario Southern Railway [1896-1898] (aka the Peg-Leg) ran from the Grand Trunk Railway station at Ridgeway to Crystal Beach Park (1.5 mile) on a 'T' monorail supported by posts three to nine metres high. It was powered electrically, by battery at first and then by trolley from a steam generator. Its motor-car pulled a 20 passenger coach at 25 mph. Reference, Photo #1. osr rr

Reference Material

Caution: Be very careful when using internet links as material for your research. Errors, conflicting information, misleading statements, vagueness and missing information are frequent and not easy to spot. Popular printed literature fairs better as at least an editing process has occurred. Primary and secondary sources (such as Jackson and Burtniak) are better but can fail the vagueness and missing info tests. And if any of my notes are vague, wrong, missing info etc. please use the contact info at the bottom of the page to help me correct them. Thanks!

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