Plaque #1 – Content

full plaque

The following images and text are displayed on our CRHA Niagara NS&T plaque in Thorold.

Click on each image for a closer look!

“This was the site of the Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway (NS&T) Thorold Station. The NS&T was an electric freight and passenger railway serving communities primarily along the Welland Canal corridor plus Niagara Falls. It was an integrated transportation company that provided both local transit services within Niagara’s two largest urban centres and service between communities. It also had a navigation company that provided day boat service to Toronto.

The NS&T was formed in 1899. The station shown in the photographs on the plaque opened in 1913. From the station there were passenger connections to the St. Catharines and Niagara Falls (ceased operation in 1947); a street railway linking St. Catharines to Thorold which was one of the first overhead trolley system in Canada (ceased operation in 1931); and a line to Fonthill, Weiland and Port Colborne. The last scheduled passenger service on the NS&T and the last interurban passenger service in Canada were on March 28,1959 from Thorold to Port Colborne and return.

Improvements to the road system and increasing car ownership lead to the decline in ridership on the NS&T. This plaque commemorates the years of service by the NS&T to the people of Thorold and the historic last run from the Thorold Station.

Erected by the Niagara Division of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association with assistance from A. W. Panko and Thorold Community Credit Union.

Car 52

Car 52 is a semi-open interurban car, ready to depart for St. Catharines. The car came to the NS&T in 1923 from the London and Lake Erie and was built circa 1903. It and other similar cars only lasted in service until the early 1930s when they were scrapped. Note the station name sign on the north end of the station indicating the ownership by Canadian Northern. Canadian Northern had bought the NS&T in 1908. The Canadian Northern failed financially in 1917 and the NS&T became part of the new Canadian National Railway (CNR).

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Cars 131 and 134

Cars 131 and 134 which were built in 1914 are southbound at the Thorold Station. These cars lasted in service until 1950. The boxcars in the background are on the NS&T. The freight business was financially more important to the NS&T than the passenger service but the interurban passenger service became famous because it lasted until 1959.

 

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Car 623

This view from south of the station shows Car 623, an ex Montreal and Southern Counties car, that came to the NS&T in 1956. It lasted in regular service until 1959 when the Thorold-Port Colborne interurban run was abandoned. There is a Canadian National Transportation bus to the west of the station which provided service to Niagara Falls and St. Catharines. Note that when looking down Front Street, one of the NS&T high line bridges can be seen in the background.

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