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Caption: With the one and only 108 on the point, celebrating 50 years of Amtrak, VIA 97 rounds the curve and signals at Clifton to take the rest of the Grimsby Sub to the Niagara Falls Station. Prior to the 70's the connection here to the "Stamford" did not exist and trains took the Thorold and Canal subs to get to Fort Erie (I'm not exactly sure the routing, but they would have generally got on at Merriton, while some trains took the Dunnville!). If anyone remembers the routing they used to take i'm all ears. I get confused at what it looked like before the Welland Canal relocation project.
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I remember the connection being right across from the old Merriton Station. I never got the chance to run on the Thorold Sub but the tracks were still there for some time after i hired on in 81.
Very nice picture Stephen, nice angle and like the way you included the CTC track interlocking signals, and love the red and blue Amtrak nose ! Referring to CNR Central Region Employees Timetable No.12 effective Oct 27, 1957, CNR freight traffic for Fort Erie left the Grimsby Sub at Merritton and proceeded south on the 7.9 mile long Thorold Sub which climbed the Niagara escarpment parallel to and along the west side of the Welland Canal to Thorold, then crossed the Canal at Mile 4.0 over lift bridge No.10, (now removed) to Port Robinson where it joined the Welland Sub from the Falls, then south through Welland to Welland Jct where trains took the left hand curve on to the Cayuga Sub (from St Thomas) to Fort Erie. The Cayuga Sub continued across the International Railway Bridge to Black Rock, NY. Hope this helps answer your enquiry about pre-1970’s freight train routing from the CNR Grimsby Sub to Fort Erie, Being on the UCRS Trip Committee in the 1960’s, we ran at least one steam trip along the Thorold Sub with a run pass over Bridge 10, and in the late 1950’s, the Toronto Train Trip Association ran a steam excursion to Port Colborne along the Dunville Sub, crossing the Welland Canal there, then north on the Humberstone Sub to Welland Jct onto the Welland Sub through Port Robinson to Clifton and into the Falls – very interesting and enjoyable trips, John