SWT/L&LE Ry - Company History

A History of The London & Lake Erie Railway

The Beginning

The South Western Traction Company (or the "Traction Line") was initially proposed in 1900 by a group named the London Railway Company. The original proposal was for an extensive electric interurban system centered in London. This proposal was blocked by the City of London, possibly because the city thought the new line would be a threat to the municipally owned London & Port Stanley railway. In 1902, a group of local businessmen resubmitted the proposal under the South Western Traction Company name. This time the more modest proposal to build a line from London to Port Stanley and carrying primarily passengers, was approved. The board of directors consisted of 4 London residents, George Rumball, T.H. Purdom, A.E. Welch and Thomas Luscombe. Three other men composed the board of directors. The first 5 miles of track were built from London to Lambeth in 1903-1904. The capital needed to complete the line was non-existant however. In 1904, funding was secured from the Canadian Electric Traction Company of England. The work was contracted to Bruce Peebles & Company of Edinburgh, Scotland.

The bridge over the Thames in downtown London was completed in 1906 and the London-Lambeth section was brought into service in early 1906 using three British-built interurban combine cars. These cars seated up to 48 people and were double ended. The South Western Traction initially was designed to use the Ganz three-phase alternating current system. Designed by Ganz of Hungary, the system used dual overhead wires and 630 volts. The South Western Traction Company was the only Canadian line to incorporate this type of electrification. Grading had begun towards St. Thomas and Port stanley in 1906 as well. On June 1, 1906, the South Western Traction ran its first train to Talbotville. Construction crews wouldn't reach Port Stanley until late 1907 however, and the line wasn't opened for end-to-end service until October of that year.

The Route

The original line ran along what is now Wharncliffe Road through the village of Glendale (located at the crossroads of Wharncliffe and Southdale roads) to Lambeth. The long curved track at Glendale was completed in late 1903 and the line reached the Lambeth in 1904, but cars weren't running until 1906. The line originally had some troubles gaining access to downtown London, but eventually did so in 1906. In August of 1906, a bylaw allowing the SWT to run tracks along Base Line road and into downtown between Ridout and High Streets was granted. The Traction Line proceeded south from the Horton Street station across the Thames River to the east of Richmond Street, the north abutment of the Richmond street bridge can still be seen. It then continued south along Carfrae Crescent to Grand Ave, where it entered private Right of Way. Belgrave Street from Tecumseh Ave south appears to have been built on or near the old traction grade. The South Western Traction station in London was located on the corner of Richmond and Horton Streets, where the former Salvation Army shelter currently stands. The line's original shops were on Chester Street between Ridout and High Streets.

The tracks reached Lambeth in early 1904 and curved from Highway 2 (Wharncliffe Road) to Highway 4 (Colonel Talbot Road). This curve can still be seen today next to the Royal Bank building in Lambeth, the former site of the SWT station. A picnic park owned by the Traction Company called Alexandra Park opened south of Lambeth. It was opened July 14th, 1906 to much fanfare and was intended for use for local picnics and functions. Alexandra Park was located just south of Lambeth on the west side of Highway 4 (Colonel Talbot Road). The line also had a spur track serving the Hamlyn's mill complex in Lambeth.

Continuing south along Highway 4, the rail line passed through Tempo and Talbotville and passed under the Wabash/Grand Trunk line just east of Wellington Road in the village of Lynhurst. Entering St. Thomas from the west side via Lynhurst and a long trestle, the SWT met up with the St. Thomas Municipal Railway. The interurban's cars shared trackage with the streetcars through downtown St. Thomas along Talbot Street to First street, crossing the competing L&PS in the process. The St. Thomas station was located in the Roe Insurance building across the street from City Hall. From there the cars proceeded south on First Street to Elm Street, ran eastward along Elm for a short stretch before turning south towards Union and Port Stanley. The route from Union can still vaguely be seen in a couple of places along Highway 4. The line entered Port Stanley on the east side of the harbour along Main Street. The Port Stanley Station still stands behind the Clifton Hotel. A spur line served the harbour to the south.

The Fire and Receivership

One of the major turning points in the line's history occurred on the morning of August 10, 1907. Fire was a bane of early electric railways, and the South Western was no exception. A short circut in the London car shop destroyed five of the six cars in the barns and gutted the Machine shop as well as the barn. The Traction line also had four cars stabled in St. Thomas on the site of the St. Thomas Metal Signs plant at the time of the fire. This notwithstanding, the effect of losing half their rolling stock overnight had a severe effect on the line. The losses were penned at nearly $160,000. The barns were located on Chestnut Street south of Horton St. Due to the fire and the damage to the through tracks, cars were only able to operate from Lambeth to Baseline Road, and not able to reach the downtown terminus until the line's tracks were repaired. This took approximately 3 months.

These costs, combined with the acquisition of new equipment in 1907, as well as the line's conversion from the AC system to straight DC current were factors in the South Western Traction Company entering receivership in 1908. That said, the London Advertiser of November 5, 1907 has an article stating that the South Western Traction was proposing lines to Delaware and Aylmer. Had these lines been built, the future may have been very different. These proposals appear to have been mere proposals, the capital for these expansions used for equipment replacement and the conversion to DC current.

In 1908 the South Western Traction Company entered receivership. 1907 had been a recession year, and even though the line had a somewhat prosperous year, the costs incurred by the fire and rebuilding were too much for the struggling line. In 1909, there was a change of management and name. The line was sold to a Toronto group on October 20, 1909 headed up by Mr. George B Woods. The line was also renamed from the South Western Traction Company to the London and Lake Erie Railway and Transportation Company. Under new management, the London & Lake Erie was ready to face the future.

The 'Good' Times

The London and Lake Erie Railway prospered to a point in the period from 1909 on to about 1913. Freight business was up slightly, and passengers were flocking to Port Stanley. The Traction line differed from the adjacent London & Port Stanley, in that freight service was never a major source of revenue, encompassing only about 10% of the passenger revenues in any given year. The L&LE crossed over or was near several major rail lines (New York Central, Grand Trunk), but didn't interchange with any of them. Negotiations began in 1911 and were ongoing for several years on getting an interchange with the Canada Southern at St. Thomas, but nothing ever materialized. The L&PS had many more on-line customers and a way of getting goods to and from market. The London and Lake Erie was landlocked, with no interchanges, and therfore at a distinct disadvantage.

Passengers formed the bulk of the line's revenue, and in 1906-1907, the line carried over 170,000 passengers. Bearing in mind the line was only running between London and St. Thomas, this is a substantial amount. The next year, when service was opened to Port Stanley, the line carried over 441,000 passengers. Between June 1916-July 1917, the second to final year, the line carried a record 726,799 passengers. The development of the beach in Port Stanley started around the turn of the century, but was more substantial around the early 1910's with the addition of a Casino, amusement rides and a roller coaster. The London & Lake Erie station was far removed from this excitement, being on the other side of Kettle Creek. The line did serve small charter steamers and fishing boats from its spur on the harbour however. As the boardwalk and beach area grew, the L&LE found itself, once again, on the short end of the stick.

In 1911, the line began letting bids for new equipment. Several bids were put forth with the Preston Car Company and the Niles Car Company being the 2 major ones. The Niles Car Company in Ohio guaranteed 90 day delivery of 2 passenger motors and 2 trailers for $14,842. Preston car and Coach had a lower price (no duty charges), but couldn't deliver as fast. The decision was made to go with Niles, and the cars arrived in early 1912. There was also an option to purchase an express motor, but this was never done.

In November of 1912, Mr. W.M. Warburton assumed the presedency of the line. He went over the line and removed over 40 of the over 100 stops on the 28 mile route between London and Port Stanley. As a comparison, the L&PS had a mere 27. This streamlined operations and allowed a quicker route to Port Stanley. It still took over an hour to cover the distance, but this was a considerable improvement over the steam powered London & Port Stanley. This however was about to change.

Sir Adam and the City

After 1913, things started to go downhill for the London & Lake Erie. While the line was looking at extending to Aylmer and Delaware, they erred on the side of caution and kept the London-Port Stanley mainline only. Negotiations continued with the Michigan Central for interchange service, but this was all for naught. Issues with interchange switching were the main factor in the L&LE not getting an outside connection.

In 1912, the London and Port Stanley Railway passed into Municipal ownership after the lease to the Pere Marquette Railway expired. The City of London immediately began to look into electrifying the L&PS. The L&PS, for the large part, was better located than the London and Lake Erie. Their stations were much better located, and the line was more direct, feeding a much larger industrial base. The L&LE's London station was located to the south of downtown. Both the Grand Trunk and London & Port Stanley stations lay between the traction station and the bustling downtown. The Traction's St. Thomas station was virtually nonexistant and the one in Port Stanley was very inconveniently located to the increasingly built-up beach area. Increasing automobile traffic along the roads the L&LE paralleled also competed with the line's passenger traffic.

Sir Adam Beck, Hydro visionary and former mayor of London, wasn't initially an opponent of the London & Lake Erie, but after te L&PS passed into City ownership, he found himself against Mssr's Warburton, Purdom and Woods. Purdom and Woods were especially against the City assuming ownership of the L&PS. Attacks from both sides in the media (the London Advertiser supporting the L&LE and the London Free Press supporting Beck and the City brought the Traction into the limelight. After this, things started to really go downhill for the London and Lake Erie.

1916-1918 - Decline and Sale

The outbreak of the First World War put increased demands on the already weakened London and Lake Erie. Increases in supply costs rose but wages did not. In 1917 the line was paying its senior employees only thirty cents an hour. Hydro service was increasingly cut by management to cut costs, often leaving cars stranded out on the line. Nonexistant coal supplies forced the L&LE to cut service drastically in the winter of 1917 due to not having heat for its cars. Electric heaters were not an option either, and the line suffered. The line couldn't afford to maintain the equipment, and this resulted in increased mechanical failures. In the 1916-1917 Fiscal Year, the L&LE was running at a deficit and management began looking at options for selling the line.

The City of London and the City of St. Thomas both expressed interest, but weren't willing to pay the $600,000 asked by managemenet. Sir Adam Beck urged the City of London to offer just under $300,000, but this was declined. The City wanted to continue service on the London-Talbotville section for use as a commuter line. This was declined by L&LE Management as they wanted to sell all of the line or none at all. This sounded the death knell for the London and Lake Erie, and the decision was made to sell the line for scrap.

In July of 1918, Mr. Warburton made an estimate of the L&LE's assets and came up with the figure of $360,000. Rails were valued at $162,000, catenary at $75,000, rolling stock at about $50,000 and real estate at about $100,000. The original Ganz overhead was never removed when the line upgraded to DC operation, adding more to the sale price. Due to war demands, copper and steel were in demand in 1918, this translated into higher scrap prices. Service was cut back to St. Thomas from Port Stanley initially, and then the remainder of London to St. Thomas service discontinued

On October 28, 1918, W. Warburton wrote that the London & Lake Erie had ceased operations and work of dismantling had begun at both terminii. Over the next couple of years all of the assets were liquidated. Most of the rolling stock was sold to the Niagara, St. Catherines and Toronto Railway, including the newer Niles-built cars, with four cars going to the Oshawa Railway. Other dispositions are unknown at this time. The Thames bridge and the right-of-way inside the City limits were sold to the municipality. The London station was sold to the Salvation Army and lasted until the new headquarters was built in the 1950's. The north abutment of the Traction bridge is still present to the east of Richmond Street, the Traction bridge actually being moved and used to carry Richmond street until the early 1990's. The only other physical remnant of the Traction line is the station in Port Stanley, still standing after all these years, and being used for commercial purposes.

The Traction Line had ceased to exist, and time has erased most signs of its passage. It still lives on in history and photographs, and in the hearts of those whose communities it served.

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