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Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway
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Canadian National Electric Railways

NIAGARA, ST. CATHARINES & TORONTO
RAILWAY
Brief History

Photo Gallery

Reference Material

NST 83 Preserved Equipment

Modelling The
N.S.&T.

St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

Revised October 11, 2009

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BRIEF HISTORY

Pre Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway 1874-1900
Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway 1899-1929
Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway 1930-1961

Today, rail trails are being developed along sections of the former N.S.&T. right-of-way.
One of these is the Stop 19 Trail The Stop 19 Trail page contains a link to the
Steve Bauer Trails site which in turn has a link to the NS&T Fonthill Spur.

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STATION STOPS====

Falls Subdivision
MileStation Name
0.00St. Catharines
3.02Merritton
3.96Nihans
4.84Thorold
5.11Substation Junction
7.70Lobbs
9.87Wrights
10.49Stamford
11.75Bridge Street Niagara Falls, ON
Port Dalhousie Subdivision
MileStation Name
0.00St. Catharines
0.62St. Paul and James
1.22Lake and Louisa
1.61Woodruffs
2.33Houtbys
3.15Barnsdale
4.14Lake Shore Road
4.56Canning Factory
5.55Lakeside Park
Welland Subdivision
MileStation Name
0.00Substation Junction
2.67Dixons
4.45Seburns
5.43Hillrust
6.72Fonthill
8.59Scanlans
9.79Electric Park
11.02Welland
14.12Dainesville
16.03Uptergroves
17.40Humberstone
18.32Port Colborne

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PHOTO GALLERY====

NS&T 130 NS&T 83 NS&T 622 NS&T 623 NS&T 40 & 41 NS&T Shop NS&T Shop Interior NS&T 17
130 83 622 623 40 & 41 NS&T Shop Shop Interior 17
    OR 22 NS&T 23 NS&T 31
    Sweeper 22 Sweeper 23 Line Car 31
(click on thumbnails for larger view)

For more N.S.&T. images, go to
DAVE'S ELECTRIC RAILROADS - ONTARIO
and scroll down to Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto
=======Also see NS&T Passenger Cars
and NS&T Locomotives & Freight Motors
Courtesy of DON'S RAIL PHOTOS

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REFERENCE MATERIAL

BOOKS

  • Adam Beck - James Sturgis - Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Don Mills ON, 1982, ISBN 0-88902-246-1
  • Canadian Car Builders Series
    - John M. Mills - Upper Canada Railway Society / Ontario Electric Railway Historical Assoc., Toronto ON
    ==This series consists of three seperate volumes:
    ====- No. 1: Ottawa Car Company
    ====- No. 2: Preston Car & Coach Co.
    ====- No. 3: Miscellaneous Builders
  • Canadian Electric Street Railways and Interurban Lines
    - compiled by John M. Mills - Ontario Electric Railway Historical Assoc. / Upper Canada Railway Society,
    ==Scarborough ON, c.1970
  • Electric Locomotive Rosters - edited by Robert J. Wayner - Wayner Publications, New York NY, 1965
  • Ghost Railways of Ontario Volume 2
    - Ron Brown - Polar Bear Press, Toronto ON, 2000, ISBN 1-896757-14-6
  • Interurban Electric Locomotives From Baldwin-Westinghouse
    - Joseph A. Strapac - Shade Tree Books, Bellflower CA, 2001, ISBN 0-930742-22-2
  • Lines of Country: An Atlas of Railway and Waterway History in Canada
    - Christopher Andreae - The Boston Mills Press, Erin ON, 1997, ISBN 1-55046-133-8
  • Niagara Falls Canada a history - Kiwanis Club of Stamford, Ontario, Inc., Niagara Falls ON, 1967
    (includes material on the Queenston-Chippawa Railway & the Great Gorge Route - page 68)
  • Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto
    - John M. Mills - Upper Canada Railway Society/Ontario Electric Railway Historical Assoc.,
    ===Toronto ON, 1967
  • Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Electric Railway in Pictures
    - Andrew Panko and Peter Bowen - NiagaRail Publications Ltd., Niagara-on-the-Lake ON, 1984,
    ===ISBN 0-920184-02-6
  • NS&T: Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway (Canadian National Electric Lines)
    - Andrew Panko and Peter Bowen - NiagaRail Publications Ltd., St. Catharines ON, 1983
  • On a Streak of Lightning: Electric Railways in Canada
    - J. Edward Martin - Studio E, Delta BC, 1994, ISBN 0-920716-03-2
  • Railway Steamships of Ontario
    - Dana Ashdown - The Boston Mills Press, Erin ON, 1988, ISBN 0-9919783-80-5
    - (History & photos of The Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Navigation Company - pages 68 to 73)
  • Railways in the Niagara Peninsula - John N. Jackson & John Burtniak - Mika Publishing, Belleville ON, 1978
  • Streetcar Builders of Canada - Volume One
    - William Bailey and Douglas Parker, CRHA, Montreal QC, 2002, ISBN: 0-9730219-0-X
            - The Ontario Car and Foundry Company
            - The Preston Car & Coach Company
            - The Tillsonburg Electric Car Company
  • The Canadian National Railways Story
    - Patrick C. Dorin - Hancock House Publishers - Saanichton BC
    === / Superior Publishing Company - Seattle WA, 1975, ISBN 0-87564-522-4 - (pages 110-115)
  • The Intercity Electric Railway Industry in Canada
    - John F. Due - University of Toronto Press, Toronto ON, 1966
  • The Interurban Era - William D. Middleton - Kalmbach Publishing Co., Milwaukee WI, 1961, LCCC 61-10728
  • Traction Classics: Volume Two - The Interurbans - Extra Fast and Extra Fare
    - William D. Middleton - Golden West Books, San Marino CA, 1985, ISBN 0-87095-085-1
    ===- (Windsor, Essex and Lake Shore Lightweights - pages 292 to 297)
  • Wooden Cars on Steel Rails: A History of the Crossen Car Companies, Cobourg, Ontario
    - Ted Rafuse - Steampower Publishing, Port Hope ON, 2004, ISBN 0-9685474-1-9
VARIOUS PUBLICATIONS ====

  • A History of the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway
    - Andrew Merrilees - Upper Canada Railway Society Bulletin 19.
            Roster info updated in Upper Canada Railway Society 'Newsletter' December 1950 page 2
            Reprinted in Upper Canada Railway Society 'Newsletter' June 1983 page 5
  • A Trip On The Niagara - Railroad Magazine February 1952 page 74
  • Canadian National Interurban - Railroad Magazine June 1950 page 84
  • Canadian National Traction - Traction & Models October 1971 page 9
  • Canadian National Trolley - last days of operation - Traction & Models March 1976 page 13
  • Colorful Days of the Radials - Ontario Hydro News February 1966 page 1
  • Farewell to the Interurban - Buffalo Courier-Express Pictorial section April 26, 1959
  • Last of the Big Ones - National Railway Historical Society Bulletin First Quarter 1949
  • Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto 620 Series (Plan) - Traction Planbook & Photo Album page 38
    - Railroad Model Craftsman Publishing
  • Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Electric Railway - Canadian Transportation March 1948 page 143
  • Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Photos - Traction & Models January 1977 page 14
  • NS&T 130-135 - Eastern Canada Transit Club newsletter 'The Drawbar' Issue 33 page 4
  • NS&T Farewell - Upper Canada Railway Society 'Newsletter' April 1959
  • NS&T: Last Run Revisited Reprinted in Upper Canada Railway Society 'Newsletter' March 1984 page 15
  • North of Lake Erie - Trains October 1957 page 31 (6 pages of photos and captions)
  • Sir Adam Beck and the Hydro Radial Proposals
    - John F. Due - Upper Canada Railway Society - Bulletin 50, 1958
  • The 130 Class Cars of the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway
    - *Canadian Rail No. 231 April 1971
  • The Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway: Some Notes On Operations
    - John D. Knowles - Upper Canada Railway Society Bulletin 19.
            Roster info updated in Upper Canada Railway Society 'Newsletter' December 1950 page 2
            Reprinted in Upper Canada Railway Society 'Newsletter' June 1983 page 7
  • Windsor, Essex & Lake Shore Rapid Railway -The 500 Series Cars - (later became NS&T 620 series)
    - Bulletin 9 January 1940 Central Electric Railfan's Association
    - *Canadian Rail No. 185 February 1967

  • Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Roster:
    - Railroad Magazine April 1958 page 37
    - X2200S January-February 1975 page 17
    - Upper Canada Railway Society 'Newsletter'- June 1983 page 8

In addition to issuing periodic 'Bulletins', the Upper Canada Railway Society, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, also produced their monthly 'Newsletter'. This first appeared in 1945 and contained news of railway and public transit, primarily in and around the Toronto and Southern Ontario area. Numerous issues included items pertaining to the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway. Early in 1973, it became a bi-monthly. Beginning with the January-February 1976 issue, the name was changed to 'Rail and Transit'. Copies of the 'Newsletter', and 'Rail and Transit', are on file at the Metro Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON, M4W 2G8.

* Canadian Rail is published by the Canadian Railroad Historical Association (C.R.H.A.), Montreal, Quebec.

An index of articles can be found at C.R.H.A. Archives and collections.

VIDEOS ====

  • Inter-Urbans Of Eastern Canada - Sunday River Productions (34 minutes) VHS / also on DVD
    includes footage of electric freight operations on the Cornwall Street Railway, Grand River Railway,
    Lake Erie & Northern Railway and Oshawa Railway, as well as freight and passenger operations on the
    London & Port Stanley Railway and Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway.
  • The Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway "The Little System That Could"
    - GPS Video #ER-001 VHS format

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PRESERVED EQUIPMENT

Given the history of the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway, its influence on the area it served, and the fact that it was the last true interurban line to operate in Canada, it is most unfortunate that no NS&T equipment was preserved, although one passenger car almost was.

Following its retirement, Preston built car 130 was transferred to the Rail City Museum, at Sandy Pond, NY, operated by the Syracuse Chapter, National Railway Historical Society. When that museum ceased operations, the car was moved to the Warehouse Point Trolley Museum (later the Connecticut Trolley Museum), at East Windsor, CT. #130 was operated briefly after it's arrival, but was not in very good condition. It was soon removed from public operation and parked on a storage track where it was used for parts storage. The August 1970 issue of the Upper Canada Railway Society 'Newsletter' states that 130 was scrapped at the Magee Transportation Museum, at Bloomsburg, PA (likely in 1970). The seats, trucks, motors and electrical equipment were to be installed on former Lehigh Valley Transit 801, a Jewitt built car. LVT freight motor C15 was also to receive some parts removed from 130.

N.S.&T. freight motor 18 was transferred to Oshawa Railway 18 in 1960. It exists today at the Connecticut Trolley Museum, East Windsor, Connecticut, USA, however, since it ended its working career as an Oshawa Railway locomotive, it cannot be considered as being N.S.&T.

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MODELLING THE N.S.&T.

  • Car plans - NS&T passenger motors 82 & 83 - Traction & Models September 1972 page 15.
  • Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto 620 Series Plans - Railroad Model Craftsman October 1959 page 54.
  • Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto 620 Series (plan) - Traction Planbook and Photo Album page 38.
  • Scratchbuilding a Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto line car (car 30) - Railroad Model Craftsman
    February 2002 page 90.

  • In the late 1950's - early '60's, "H O" Trolley Supply Co. of Lakewood, Ohio produced photo engraved
    car sides and ends for the NS&T 620 series cars in both HO and O scale.
  • Brass models of Cincinnati curved-side cars were available at one time in HO scale that could be decorated for the NS&T.
  • At one time Henry Elsner produced 'O' gauge Cincinnati curvesider kits.
  • Art Ford produced a cast plastic O scale model of one of the NS&T 80 series cars, possibly of 81 or 82.
  • Any number of steeplecabs in various gauges could be used to make a model of an NS&T freight motor.

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PRESENT DAY TRANSIT PROPERTIES HAVING N.S.&T. HERITAGE

Niagara Transit
St. Catharines Transit

Both Niagara and St. Catharines Transit can trace their heritage back to the N.S.&T.
Check out these sites for a few N.S.&T. images.


To learn more about the area once served by the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway,
visit the Niagara Region Tourism web site

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