 | |
 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Hamilton, Ontario |
| Reporting mark | THB |
| Locale | Niagara Peninsula, Ontario |
| Dates of operation | 1892–1987 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway( reporting mark THB) was a railway based in Hamilton that ran in Southern Ontario from 1892 to 1987. [1] It never reached the other two cities in its name although it had branch lines extending to Dunnville and Port Maitland.
 |
The railway was originally chartered in 1884 by the Ontario Legislative Assembly to run from Toronto to the International Railway Bridge, connecting with local lines to Buffalo. The original charter forbade the company any attempt to merge with, lease from, sell to, or pool with any other railway. Given the business conditions at the time, that turned out to be an impossible condition. The original corporation was unable to complete the line before the original charter expired and so the government revived the act by requiring the line to be completed by 1894 with a new group of promoters.
The line began operations in 1892, when it took over the incomplete line of the Brantford, Waterloo & Lake Erie Railway between Brantford and Waterford. The line reached Hamilton in October, 1894 and Welland on December 30, 1895.
In 1895, the Canadian Pacific Railway and the New York Central Railroad bought the TH&B.
In 1911, the T H and B was the first railway in North America to install the Absolute Permissive Block Signalling for single operation track allowing safe and efficient travel avoiding head-on and rear end collisions by holding one train back on the siding.
The TH&B was jointly owned by the CPR and the NYC for several decades. The NYC and its subsidiaries (Michigan Central Railroad and Canada Southern Railway) owned 73%, and the CPR owned the other 27%. It never built into Toronto or Buffalo but used its parent companies' trackage to reach both cities. Passenger service on the TH&B was discontinued on April 26, 1981 when Amtrak's Maple Leaf began service. In 1977, CP Rail acquired the NYC's portion (then part of Conrail), giving the CPR 90% ownership. The CPR merged the TH&B into its system in 1987. The TH&B line between Hamilton and Welland is still in use, but its former line west of Hamilton to Waterford via Brantford has been abandoned apast Aberdeen Avenue in Hamilton. The portion between Hamilton and Brantford was abandoned in the 1980s after trackage next to the Grand River had been washed out. Some former TH&B industrial trackage still remains in the city of Brantford, but it is now operated by Canadian National Railway.
Increased operating costs and tighter profit margins in that decade meant the future of the railroad was much in doubt. The TH&B Railway was merged into the Canadian Pacific Railway on January 1, 1987.
A portion of the former TH&B Dunnville Subdivision (now CP's Dunnville Spur), running south from Smithville, was abandoned on May 7, 2001 because of the deteriorating condition of several wooden trestles along the line. Trains now use the former NYC CASO Subdivision from Welland west to the former junction with the TH&B at E & O (Erie & Ontario) Tower, where a new connecting track was constructed to access the remainder of the line to Port Maitland via Dunnville.
The railroad's yellow and black paint scheme started being applied to boxcars in early 1952, and was later applied to cabooses in 1954. These colours were chosen in honour of the local Hamilton Tiger-Cats football team. [2]
The TH&B's first Hamilton station was constructed between June and December of 1885 on the corner of James and Hunter Streets on the north side of the TH&B's main line running at grade along Hunter Street, just east of the Hunter Street Tunnel. With up to 26 daily trains blocking growing automobile traffic along Hunter Street, the TH&B eventually elevated the tracks above the surrounding land and thus needed to replace the original Hamilton station. [3]
The TH&B's second train station in Hamilton, built in 1932-1933, was in fact the first building in Canada to adhere to the International Style. [4] The station was refurbished in 1996 and is now used by GO Transit for both bus and train service as the Hamilton GO Centre.
The TH&B's Brantford station at 60 Market Street South, was converted to use as a restaurant in 1970 but is currently vacant and boarded up. In 2019, despite objections by the building's owner, a property developer, City Council approved a historical designation for the oldest portions of the former railway station. [5]
The TH&B's Smithville station was originally built in 1895. However, the station was struck by lightning and burned down. A new station was constructed around 1903. The structure was restored in 1996 and is now the headquarters of the West Lincoln Historical Society. It is open seasonally as a tourist information centre. [6]
The TH&B's Jerseyville station is now at the Westfield Heritage Village, near Rockton, Ontario, alongside preserved TH&B steam locomotive #103, which was moved to this site in 1977 after being on display in Gage Park since 1956. [7]
Perce Hankinson, who began his railway career in 1917 with the Michigan Central Railroad (MCR), realized a lifelong dream when made Vice-President and General Manager of the TH&B on June 7, 1965. He retired five years later after 53 years of working for the railroad, only to return to the TH&B the next year and then spend another 16 years on the Board of Directors. Hankinson retired from the board June 2, 1987, at the age of 85, after 68 years of railway service. In 2001, Perce Hankinson was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame in the category of "Local: Railway Workers & Builders." [8]
The TH&B was one of the first railways in Canada that fully dieselized. Starting in January 1948, the railway purchased four NW2 diesel switchers from General Motors Electro-Motive Division. The locomotives were numbered 51-54. In the fall of 1950, the TH&B received an order of four GP7 road switchers built by GMD in London. The GP7s were the first Canadian-built "Geeps" and were numbered 71-74. In December 1950, the TH&B took a second group from GMD for four SW9 switchers. With its switcher fleet complete, the TH&B looked to add to its freight Geeps. In the summer of 1953, the final three GP7s were purchased from GMD and numbered 75-77. Still needing to commit motive power to the locomotive pool for through Toronto-Buffalo passenger service, the TH&B purchased three GP9s locomotives, which were delivered in early 1954 and numbered 401-403. That completed the railway's diesel fleet, and the TH&B did not purchase any new motive power for the remainder of its operating years.
However, some existing steam trains remained in service until the late 1950s. Engine 102 was frequently used in Work Train Service until its retirement in September 1959 and #42 was held for standby yard service until it was retired in December 1958. [9] Engine 42, restored in 1998, is now on display in Lindsay Memorial Park, in Lindsay, Ontario. Unfortunately, its wooden caboose was destroyed by arson in 2008. [10]
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2021) |
The TH&B Navigation Company operated a car float from Port Maitland, Ontario, to Ashtabula, Ohio.
In his song "Under a Stormy Sky" (from the 1989 album Acadie ), the Quebec-born singer, songwriter, and producer Daniel Lanois pays homage to the presence of TH&B locomotives during his youth:
"I hear the T.H.& B. the diesel turning, calling you and me to the city of steel, smokestack - spinning wheel come with me Bebette, oui under the stormy sky"
The Canadian Pacific Railway, also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited, known until 2023 as Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001.
Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750.
The Maple Leaf is an international passenger train service operated by Amtrak and Via Rail between New York Penn Station in New York City and Union Station in Toronto via Amtrak's Empire Corridor, and the south western part of Via Rail's Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. Daily service is offered in both directions; the 544-mile (875 km) trip takes approximately 12 hours, including two hours for U.S. or Canadian customs and immigration inspection at either Niagara Falls, New York, or Niagara Falls, Ontario. Although the train uses Amtrak rolling stock exclusively, the train is operated by Via Rail crews while in Canada and by Amtrak crews in the United States. Service began in 1981.
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midwest, along with the intermediate cities of Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Rochester and Syracuse. New York Central was headquartered in New York City's New York Central Building, adjacent to its largest station, Grand Central Terminal.
The Pere Marquette Railway was a railroad that operated in the Great Lakes region of the United States and southern parts of Ontario in Canada. It had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and the Canadian province of Ontario. Its primary connections included Buffalo; Toledo; and Chicago. The company was named after Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste Marie.
Smithville is a community in the township of West Lincoln, Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada. The former police village is located on Highway 20 between Hamilton and Niagara Falls. Smithville is the largest population centre and governing centre of the township of West Lincoln.
General Motors Diesel was a railway diesel locomotive manufacturer located in London, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1949 as the Canadian subsidiary of the Electro-Motive Diesel division of General Motors (EMD). In 1969 it was re-organized as the "Diesel Division of General Motors of Canada, Ltd." The plant was re-purposed to include manufacture of other diesel-powered General Motors vehicles such as buses. Following the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement in 1989, all of EMD's locomotives were built at the London facility. In 2005 new owners of EMD renamed the Canadian subsidiary "Electro-Motive Canada". The plant was closed by EMD's new owner Progress Rail in 2012, with EMD's production remaining in LaGrange, Illinois and Muncie, Indiana.
The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company was an American subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway, later of the Canadian National Railway operating in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Since a corporate restructuring in 1971, the railroad has been under CN's subsidiary holding company, the Grand Trunk Corporation. Grand Trunk Western's routes are part of CN's Michigan Division. Its primary mainline between Chicago and Port Huron, Michigan serves as a connection between railroad interchanges in Chicago and rail lines in eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States. The railroad's extensive trackage in Detroit and across southern Michigan has made it an essential link for the automotive industry as a hauler of parts and automobiles from manufacturing plants.
The Michigan Central Railroad was originally chartered in 1832 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in the United States and the province of Ontario in Canada. After about 1867 the railroad was controlled by the New York Central Railroad, which later became part of Penn Central and then Conrail. After the 1998 Conrail breakup, Norfolk Southern Railway now owns much of the former Michigan Central trackage.
The EMD GP7 is a four-axle (B-B) diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel between October 1949 and May 1954.
The Orangeville-Brampton Railway was a 55-kilometre (34-mile) long short line railway between Orangeville and Streetsville Junction in Mississauga, Ontario. It passed through the City of Brampton and the Town of Caledon.
The South Simcoe Railway is a steam heritage railway in Tottenham, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1992, the railway operates scenic rail excursions in the Beeton Creek valley of southern Ontario. It is the oldest operating steam heritage railway in Ontario and has the second-oldest operating steam locomotive in Canada.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Manitoba is a Canadian subsidiary railroad of the BNSF Railway, which operates in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The Hamilton and Dundas Street Railway was an interurban railway operator which ran between Hamilton and Dundas in Southern Ontario, Canada.
Roundhouse Park is a 17-acre (6.9 ha) park in the downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is in the former Railway Lands. It features the John Street Roundhouse, a preserved locomotive roundhouse that houses the Toronto Railway Museum, Steam Whistle Brewing, and the Rec Room restaurant and entertainment complex. The park is also home to a collection of trains, the former Canadian Pacific Railway Don Station, and the Roundhouse Park Miniature Railway. The park is bounded by Bremner Boulevard, Lower Simcoe Street, Lake Shore Boulevard West/Gardiner Expressway, and Rees Street.
The Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad is a tourist railroad that runs from Titusville to Rynd Farm north of Oil City in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Oil Creek and Titusville Lines is the designated operator of the railroad, as well as the freight carrier on the line.
The Lake Erie and Northern Railway was an interurban electric railway which operated in the Grand River Valley in Ontario, Canada. The railway owned and operated a north–south mainline which ran from Galt in the north to Port Dover on the shore of Lake Erie in the south. Along the way, it ran through rural areas of Waterloo County, Brant County, and Norfolk County, as well as the city of Brantford, where it had an interchange with the Brantford and Hamilton Electric Railway. Construction on the mainline began in 1913. The railway began operations in 1916 as a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which had purchased the line before construction had finished. In 1931, it was consolidated with the Grand River Railway under a single CPR subsidiary, the Canadian Pacific Electric Lines (CPEL), which managed both interurban railways, though they continued to exist as legally separate entities. Passenger service was discontinued in 1955 but electric freight operations continued until 1961, when the LE&N's electric locomotives were replaced by diesel CPR locomotives and the line was de-electrified. In the same year, service on the mainline from Simcoe to Port Dover was discontinued, but the remainder continued to operate as a branchline which as early as 1975 was known as the CP Simcoe Subdivision. The remainder of the line was officially abandoned in the early 1990s, ending almost seventy-five years of operation.
Fort Erie was a pair of adjacent Grand Trunk and Michigan Central railroad stations in Fort Erie, Ontario. In earlier years, the Wabash Railroad served the Grand Trunk station as well via traffic rights.
Canadian National 1009 is a preserved Canadian 4-6-0 "ten-wheeler" steam locomotive built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1912. It was originally built with 1880's specifications as part of a standard locomotive design to help construct a Canadian National Transcontinental Railway. The locomotive would subsequently serve the Canadian Government Railways, which was later absorbed into the Canadian National Railway. No. 1009's last revenue run took place in the spring of 1958, and it was subsequently donated to the Canadian Railway Museum for static display. Later on, it was purchased by the Salem and Hillsborough Railway with the intention to use it to pull their tourist trains. As of 2023, No. 1009 remains on indoor static display.
