Caption: Making its way down the former mainline to Niagara Falls, car 623 of the Niagara St. Catharine's & Toronto Railway is seen eastbound crossing bridge 8 over the Welland Canal on an excursion. By 1948, this section of track became freight only to serve Walker's Quarry, about 1.5 miles north of this spot on the east side of the canal, though NS&T excursions were known to explore all the industrial spurs with the visiting railfans. Built in 1930 by the Ottawa Car Company, 623 was the last of four cars built for the Windsor, Essex & Lake Shore Rapid Railway. These were sold to the Montreal & Southern Counties Railway during the mid-1930s. Of the four cars, 620, 622, and 623 would be transferred to the NS&T during the summer of 1955. All three cars would be scrapped in 1959.

NS&T's mainline from St. Catharines - Niagara Falls began service in July 1900 via Merritton and Thorold, seeing passenger and freight movements. Interchange was available with the CNR at both these intermediate locations, and with both the CNR and Wabash at Stamford on the CNR Welland Sub (today's Stamford Sub.) Passenger service was first cancelled in June 1941, but revived during April the following year due to wartime measures. The permanent end came during September 1947, with freight service wrapping up by the end of the year. Rails would be lifted from Shriner's siding, just west of the canal, to Niagara Falls during the spring of 1948.

Canal bridge 8, built in 1915, but without ships passing through until 1930, would see its last electric movements in July 1960, and last rail movement in 1964. At this time, two sidings were built for Walker's quarry off the south side of the Grimsby Sub, just west of the Taylor Road overpass. Both sidings followed along the 1870s Grand Trunk Railway alignment, which curved south, passing beneath the third Welland Canal via a tunnel. In the distance at left, boxcars can be seen on the NS&T-CNR interchange tracks, later becoming part of CN's Fonthill Spur, (1) used in recent years by GIO (2) and Trillium for car storage and access to Thorold customers. CN's connection to this interchange was via the Thorold Sub, running from Merritton to Port Robinson.

Off to the right and below the NS&T tracks sits CN's Thorold station, built circa 1930 with the construction of the fourth Welland Canal. Built as the Welland Railway from Port Colborne - Thorold circa 1859, and coming under Grand Trunk ownership during the early 1880s, the line ran parallel to the canal for most of its route, climbing the Niagara Escarpment initially as competition for the canal's traffic. In the CNR era, this was the mainline for Fort Erie-bound trains, with Merritton - Thorold being helper territory. Consolidations and Mikados, double and triple heading with Northerns, lifting freights upgrade, cutting off near the Thorold station. Fort Erie racetrack trains from Toronto were also frequent visitors to this territory. CN's Thorold station, shot by Arnold in 1976, would burn down during the late 1970s.

After the removal of canal bridge 10 in the late 1990s, what remained of the Thorold Sub was turned over to the Trillium Railway along with much of the Niagara industrial lines, which are presently in the hands of GIO Rail. As of this writing, GIO stopped service over the Thorold Sub as of March 1, 2024, but the rails remain in place.

Aerial maps of the Niagara region can be viewed for each decade from the 1920s through the 1970s by clicking here. Note various stages of canal construction (4th canal during the 1920s, and the Welland bypass project in the 1970s,) as well as railway relocations through the years. The book, Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway by John M. Mills is also an excellent resource.

More Bridge 10:
Mooney; 1997
Mooney; 1997

More Lock 7:
Brown; 1997
Brown; 1998
Elliott; 2001
Host; 2021

Original Photographer Unknown, Al Chione Duplicate, Jacob Patterson Collection Slide.