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The Lake Erie and Northern Railway was an
interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...
electric railway A railway electrification system supplies electric power to Rail transport, railway trains and trams without an on-board Prime mover (locomotive), prime mover or local fuel supply. Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling pa ...
which operated in the Grand River Valley in Ontario, Canada. The railway owned and operated a north–south mainline which ran from
Galt Galt or GALT may refer to: Biology and biochemistry * Galactose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase, an enzyme * Gut-associated lymphoid tissue, a subset of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue People and fictional characters * Galt (surname), a list o ...
in the north (now a part of
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
) to
Port Dover Port Dover is an unincorporated community and former town located in Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of Lake Erie. It is the site of the recurring Friday the 13th motorcycle rally. Prior to the War of 1812, this community ...
on the shore of
Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...
in the south. Along the way, it ran through rural areas of
Waterloo County Waterloo County was a county in the Canadian province of Ontario from 1853 until 1973. It was the direct predecessor of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo. Situated on a subset of land within the Haldimand Tract, the traditional territory of ...
,
Brant County The County of Brant (2021 population 39,474) is a single-tier municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario. Although it retains the word "county" in its name, the municipality is a single-tier municipal government and has no upper tier. The ...
, and Norfolk County, as well as the city of
Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independ ...
, where it had an interchange with the
Brantford and Hamilton Electric Railway The Brantford and Hamilton Electric Railway (B&H, or BHER) was an interurban electric railway which operated Hamilton, Ontario. Construction was begun by the Von Echa syndicate of Harrisburg, but the railway was taken over by Dominion Power prio ...
. Construction on the mainline began in 1913. The railway began operations in 1916 as a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which had purchased the line before construction had finished. In 1931, it was consolidated with the
Grand River Railway The Grand River Railway was an interurban electric railway (known as a radial in Ontario) in what is now the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, in Southwestern Ontario. History Background Preston and Berlin Railway Starting in the 185 ...
under a single CPR subsidiary, the Canadian Pacific Electric Lines (CPEL), which managed both interurban railways, though they continued to exist as legally separate entities. Passenger service was discontinued in 1955 but electric freight operations continued until 1961, when the LE&N's electric locomotives were replaced by diesel CPR locomotives and the line was de-electrified. In the same year, service on the mainline from Simcoe to Port Dover was discontinued, but the remainder continued to operate as a
branchline A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An indust ...
which as early as 1975 was known as the CP Simcoe Subdivision. The remainder of the line was officially abandoned in the early 1990s, ending almost seventy-five years of operation.


History


Background

Railway construction and operation in the area preceded the Lake Erie and Northern by over fifty years. The railway boom in
Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...
(the administrative predecessor to the province of
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
) from the 1850s onward resulted in a number of east–west lines owned by competing companies: the
Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rai ...
(GTR) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) lines through Galt (which became a major regional rail hub), the
Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway The Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway was a railway based in Hamilton that ran in Southern Ontario from 1892 to 1987. It never reached the other two cities in its name, although it did have branch lines extending to Dunnville and Port Maitl ...
through
Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independ ...
, and the
New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...
and Michigan Central Railroad lines through
Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...
. While these railways stimulated the local economy and created export opportunities both for farmers (mostly situated along the Grand River and its tributaries and floodplain) and small but rapidly industrializing cities like Galt and Brantford, the primary intent behind the construction of many of these rail lines was to connect large urban centres in Ontario like
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
and
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...
with the American border, or to create a shorter route for American fast freight and passenger express trains to travel around
Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...
, as opposed to the longer route through
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. This was the intent behind the Canada Air Line, an air-line railway which took the shortest practical route through the area. Merchants and exporters, primarily in Brantford, felt that they were poorly-served by these east–west lines, which allowed certain railways to monopolize access to different towns and cities and charge high freight fees. The east–west lines also did not connect the communities along the Grand River valley, which were naturally linked together by shared history and geography. In 1900, the first attempt at a north–south line was underway, with the construction of the Port Dover, Brantford,
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and Goderich Railway, an ambitious attempt to link these centres together. These ambitions were tempered by a lack of capital, however, and the company was sold off and renamed the Grand Valley Railway (GVR) in 1902, with a plan to initially connect Brantford and Galt. Galt's merchants and town boosters, meanwhile, focused mainly on constructing a link to Berlin (now known as Kitchener), an initiative that would eventually result in the
Grand River Railway The Grand River Railway was an interurban electric railway (known as a radial in Ontario) in what is now the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, in Southwestern Ontario. History Background Preston and Berlin Railway Starting in the 185 ...
, which began operation in 1914. With a clear short-term goal, the Grand Valley Railway Company purchased the Brantford Street Railway in 1903, then extended it, ultimately creating a electric interurban line linking Brantford, Paris, and Galt, which opened for traffic in November 1904. After opening, however, the GVR began to suffer from a number of chronic problems: the difficult terrain and poor quality of construction created operational problems, and the company was unable to secure enough lucrative freight contracts to maintain profitability. Service was suspended by 1912 due to poor track quality, and ultimately the line was sold to the City of Brantford in March 1914. The northern section from Paris to Galt was promptly sold in 1915 to the Lake Erie and Northern Railway, which promptly closed the line to eliminate competition; the southern section from Brantford to Paris was operated as a part of Brantford's municipal public transit system until it was shut down in 1929 and replaced by buses. This marked the end of the first attempt at a north–south link.


Planning and charter (1911–1915)

The second attempt at a north–south link was the one which would ultimately result in the Lake Erie and Northern Railway. Another Brantford-led initiative, it was more measured in its ambitions. The goal of the Lake Erie and Northern's backers was to create a reliable freight and passenger link which connected Galt, Brantford, and Port Dover, with the hope that this would give them access to freight traffic on Lake Erie and allow a possible connection to Ohio. A Dominion charter application was noted in the
trade journal A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular trade or industry. The collective term for this ...
'' Railway and Marine World'' in February 1911, and over the course of 1911 and 1912, the details of the plan were developed further. In March 1911, newspapers reported two more key details: first, that the charter application which was being debated in the Dominion parliament had been revised to allow for a
branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...
to
Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...
starting from a junction at Paris or Glen Morris; and second, that the charter would also allow for the company to operate a steam
shipping line A shipping line or shipping company is a company whose line of business is ownership and operation of ships. Shipping companies provide a method of distinguishing ships by different kinds of cargo: # Bulk cargo is a type of special cargo that i ...
across Lake Erie, which would allow it to deliver
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...
to Brantford and northern locations at a cheaper rate than the existing coal supply route through Buffalo. By April 1911, the bill authorizing the company charter had been passed, and Great Lakes shipping was being emphasized even further; far from a simple line extension across the lake, a water route from Port Dover to Fort William in Northwestern Ontario was being discussed, with the idea that lake steamers would carry loads of
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
lumber on return trips. Planning on the mainline began, but the route from Brantford to Port Dover was not approved until almost a year later, in March 1912. Developments in early 1912 encouraged the railway's promoters. Near the end of March, it was announced that the Dominion government would subsidize the construction of the mainline, as well as that the company had secured a contract with the
Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
(HEPCO) to supply electric power for the line's proposed electric traction system, with HEPCO to construct a new electrical substation between Paris and Brantford.


Construction begins

Construction began in May 1913, and grading camps were established by June. Built roughly in parallel with the existing GVR line, the Lake Erie and Northern was constructed according to higher and more modern quality standards, and avoided many of the problems with tight turns and steep grades that the GVR suffered from. The result was a high track quality and significant number of grade separations along the route, made necessary by the amount of traffic on the main lines the LE&N crossed. In Paris, it passed under the Grand Trunk Railway high-level bridge, which is still used by CN and
Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...
trains today. At Waterford, which was a junction point for the Canada Southern Railway (later Michigan Central) and Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway, the LE&N followed a high
trestle bridge A trestle bridge is a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by closely spaced frames. A trestle (sometimes tressel) is a rigid frame used as a support, historically a tripod used to support a stool or a pair of isosceles triangl ...
over the tracks, creating a full grade separation. This allowed for the LE&N to run the kind of high-frequency service which began to be expected of electric interurban railways in the early 20th century, without potential interruption by cross-traffic on the mainlines. In 1914, with the line still under construction, the LE&N was purchased by the CPR, which finalized the line's status as an interurban. This followed contemporary trends, where medium-distance passenger traffic was being shifted onto electric lines and served by high-frequency short trains. In May 1915, the line was electrified with 1500
Volts The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). Defini ...
DC.


Pre-amalgamation era (1916–1931)

Passenger service began earlier than planned, on 7 February 1916. This was only along the northern section of the line, which was between Galt and Brantford. Four days earlier, on February 3, spring floods had damaged the Grand Valley Railway track north of Paris, leading to the end of passenger services on that line. The first test run had only occurred on February 2, and installation of the overhead line allowing electric traction operations to occur had only happened a week before the start of service. At the start of service, the southern terminus was near Scarfe Avenue in Brantford. There, an old
boxcar A boxcar is the North American ( AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...
was used as a temporary station until 1917. This was due to delays in both engineering works around downtown Brantford caused by the cramped geometry of the city and the river, as well as due to disputes between the Lake Erie and Northern Railway Company and the city of Brantford over where the station would be located. The Lake Erie and Northern's preferred station location was at Scarfe Avenue, while the city's preferred location was near the Lorne Bridge. Ultimately, the city's preferred location was chosen. Service between Brantford and Simcoe began on 2 June 1916. In a false start, service to Port Dover began on July 1, but this ended after only a few hours due to power supply issues. A steam service was substituted to serve beach excursionists until electric service properly resumed on July 22. At Port Dover, services initially terminated at Main Street in the north end of the town. Almost a year later and after signing a joint operations agreement, the Lake Erie and Northern shifted its terminus to the existing Grand Trunk Railway station near the waterfront. This would only last until 1923, when the LE&N built its own station in downtown Port Dover, permanently abandoning its hopes of easy connections via Lake Erie. With the location of the Brantford station decided, construction began. The unique bi-level station with the
Brantford and Hamilton Electric Railway The Brantford and Hamilton Electric Railway (B&H, or BHER) was an interurban electric railway which operated Hamilton, Ontario. Construction was begun by the Von Echa syndicate of Harrisburg, but the railway was taken over by Dominion Power prio ...
opened in 1917, allowing for smooth passenger transfer which permitted both north–south and east–west travel along frequent electric interurban lines. The railway's early rolling stock consisted of four passenger coaches, constructed of wood and steel, which were numbered 225, 235, 245, and 255; two control trailers numbered 265 and 275; two electric freight locomotives numbered 50 and 60; and two combination express/passenger cars numbered 209 and 219. Despite this limited stock, trains were running every two hours.


Canadian Pacific Electric Lines (1931)

The system reached the peak of its success in 1921, with an annual passenger ridership of 600,000. By this time it had become popular with summer excursion tourists from the industrial cities of Kitchener, Preston, Galt, and Brantford, who wanted to visit Port Dover to access Lake Erie's recreation opportunities. In an early sign of integration with the Grand River Railway, LE&N's rolling stock was renumbered to complement the GRNR's, with the wood-and-steel passenger cars being renumbered as 933, 935, 937 and 939, the trailer cars as 953 and 955, the freight locomotives to 335 and 333, and the combination cars to 797 and 795. Around this time, two new all-steel passenger cars, manufactured by the
Preston Car Company The Preston Car Company was a Canadian manufacturer of streetcars and other railway equipment, founded in 1908. The company was located in the town of Preston, Ontario (now part of the city of Cambridge). Preston sold streetcars to local transp ...
, were sold to the LE&N and numbered as 973 and 975. A third freight locomotive, also manufactured by the Preston Car Company, was purchased and numbered as 337. With the growing system integration between the GRNR and LE&N, freight options were slowly merged, with the two systems operating as a single freight line serving around 450 different industries along the corridor, and GRNR and LE&N locomotives often seen operating as a multi-unit train. The slow integration process concluded with an amalgamation in 1931 of the two lines under the name Canadian Pacific Electric Lines (CPEL), though the railways remained legally separate entities, and trains maintained their original liveries.


Early decline and renaissance (1931–1950)

While freight traffic remained fairly steady, passenger ridership would never equal the peak in 1921. The advent of the Great Depression decreased the economic benefits and ridership created by tourism, and automobile travel allowed recreational travellers to access summer cottages and resorts along both Lake Huron and Lake Erie more easily, decreasing Port Dover's importance as a tourist hub. As well, the LE&N system lost a major interconnection point when the Brantford and Hamilton Electric Railway was acquired in 1930 by the
Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
(the predecessor of
Ontario Hydro Ontario Hydro, established in 1906 as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, was a publicly owned electricity utility in the Province of Ontario. It was formed to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity g ...
and Hydro One), and closed halfway through 1931. This cut off the easy passenger connection to Hamilton, further decreasing the viability of the southern half of the line. Still, in 1938 the CPR funded a new "union" station at Galt's Main Street in contemporary
art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
-style, a sign of the gradual shift of the centre of the combined lines toward Preston and Galt, rather than Brantford. In 1944, with the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
nearing its close, the unified CPEL system had a brief renaissance, with a total annual system ridership of 1,680,000, almost double that of any other best year. This was typical of the wartime period, when many interurban systems were heavily utilized, as war production stimulated employment and therefore commuter traffic, and electric systems were seen as a way to conserve fuel. This would prove to be fatal to many systems, as the same wartime materials rationing which stimulated traffic on electric systems also robbed them of vital service manpower and materials (especially steel), as these were diverted to war production and to the armed forces. By the end of the war, the age of interurbans were largely seen to have passed, and many Canadian and American interurban lines had already been shut down and scrapped. Large railway companies increasingly saw passenger service, which had rarely turned a significant profit, as a liability, and were unwilling to maintain and upgrade their existing fleets of decades-old rolling stock. The geopolitical realities of the postwar period resulted in decreased petroleum prices, eliminating one of the main financial advantages of interurbans over buses. The benefits of interurbans often translated into economic benefits for the towns and cities they served, as many cities during the interurban period had begun to construct suburbs whose populations commuted into downtown cores to work and shop. This often failed to translate to into profits for railway companies. As a result, many interurban lines were bought by municipalities and combined with their electric streetcar lines. Others, however, were simply shut down. After the war, the CPR undertook several investments in the LE&N and the entire CPEL system, which would prove to be the last. In 1946, all of the cars which had been purchased in 1921 were sent to the
CPR Angus Shops The CPR Angus Shops in Montreal were a railcar manufacturing, repairing and selling facility of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Production mainly consisted of passenger cars, freight cars and locomotives. Built in 1904 and named for founder, Richard ...
in Montreal for extensive upgrading, including mechanical improvements and refurbished interiors. In the same year and with many interurbans shutting down during this period, used rolling stock was highly available, so the CPR purchased three electric freight locomotives from the defunct
Salt Lake and Utah Railroad The Salt Lake and Utah Railroad, also known as the Orem Line or Orem Interurban, was an electric railroad which operated between downtown Salt Lake City and Payson, Utah, United States. Construction of the main line was started in 1913 with fin ...
, as well as extensively refurbishing the existing three locomotives at the GRNR shops in Preston. In a move which would prove to be historic, the CPR purchased for the line the final interurban rail car built in Canada: a steel combine ordered from
National Steel Car National Steel Car is the largest manufacturer of railway rolling stock in Canada, based in Hamilton, Ontario. The company was founded in 1912, and has been a top 3 rolling stock manufacturer in Canada for its lifetime. National Steel Car is a subs ...
in 1947.


End of passenger service

In 1950, the CPR made an application with the Canadian Transportation Commission, Canada's federal transportation regulator, to abandon passenger service along the line. Municipalities along the line objected strongly to the application, and indefinite continuation of service was ruled to be in the public good. However, the CTC left the CPEL with a loophole: that unprofitable passenger runs could be cut as long as overall service was not jeopardized. The CPEL had already cut a number of passenger runs before the ruling, and afterward cut more, ending the period of "streetcar type" service along the line. Grand River Railway trains began to terminate at the CPR's mainline station in Galt, breaking the CPEL system in half, as passengers transferring to the LE&N would have to walk three-quarters of a mile south to the Main Street station to transfer. Confusingly, LE&N trains also ran north past Main Street to the CPR station to deliver express packages, but no attempt was made to unify passenger services at the station. As well as changes in schedules and destinations, the CPR undertook a number of other changes to the system in an attempt to force the total switch from passenger to freight. The combine cars had their passenger capacities reduced and freight increased, with tonnage figures increasing gradually. As well, with rising automobile traffic in the urban areas the railway passed through, trains began to suffer from collisions, such as one in June 1951 with a police truck in Port Dover. In response, the CPR had the cars totally repainted to its signature maroon colour (further erasing the LE&N image and replacing it with the CPEL brand) with black and yellow warning markings for motorists and pedestrians. By 1954, the CPR's deliberate campaign to sabotage passenger service by decreasing the frequency of trains, scheduling trains at unusual hours, and providing misleading and confusing information to passengers, along with prevailing social factors, had taken their toll, and passenger ridership was down to 160,000 for the entire CPEL system. The CPR transferred its lucrative express shipping operations to truck operations, further undercutting the profitability of passenger operations, and justifying further cuts to service. The company submitted a second application to abandon passenger services, which was accepted in March 1955. The LE&N line, with its ample scenery and connection to Port Dover, had been popular with railway excursion groups well before the announcement of closure, and ridership increased significantly near the end of revenue service. Veteran employees, local officials, and members of the communities served by the line rode it in large groups, and even larger crowds turned out to watch. Even after the official end of revenue service on 23 April 1955, groups such as the
National Railway Historical Society The National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) is a non-profit organization established in 1935 in the United States to promote interest in, and appreciation for the historical development of railroads. It is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsyl ...
scheduled a number of popular excursion runs which featured multiple rail cars coupled together into single large convoys. The final passenger trip using the original passenger cars was taken on 1 May 1955 by the Buffalo chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, and further attempts to organize excursions were rebuffed by the CPR, "supposedly based in the fear that their appearance might provoke a clamour for reinstatement of service." The CPR quickly began to scrap the railway's older rolling stock. Attempts by the CPR to sell off the newer steel cars to other railways were unsuccessful, and a number were purchased by railway enthusiasts and preserved in museums. The remainder of the passenger cars were scrapped in 1957, with only freight and maintenance vehicles remaining as the CPR converted the system fully to freight operations.


Closure and abandonment

After the end of passenger service, the CPR continued to use electric freight locomotives to serve its freight customers along the line. Passenger bus service was provided by Canada Coach Lines out of Galt, with four trips a day. This service would continue until 1962, when the Galt operations ended. In the same year, the CPR abandoned the section of track from Simcoe to Port Dover, and converted the remainder of the line from electric to diesel, scrapping its power lines. Freight customers along the line were thereafter served by CPR diesel locomotives. In 1989, CP Rail applied with the
Canadian Transportation Agency The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA; french: Office des transports du Canada, OTC) is the independent, quasi-judicial tribunal of the Government of Canada that makes decisions relating to federally-regulated modes of transportation ( air, ra ...
(CTA) for permission to abandon the remainder of the line. Objections to the application were filed by some remaining freight customers on the line, such as Mitten Vinyl and Paris Technical Ceramics, as well as the
Ontario Ministry of Transportation The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is the provincial ministry of the Government of Ontario that is responsible for transport infrastructure and related law in Ontario. The ministry traces its roots back over a century to the 1890s, when the ...
, the mayor of Paris, and the Ontario Locomotive and Car Company (OLC), the latter of which presented a plan to operate tourist trains along the portion of the LE&N line immediately north of Paris. Ultimately the CTA ruled in favour of abandonment, and the line was abandoned with the OLC plan unrealized.


Passenger operations and ridership

Passenger service on the Lake Erie and Northern Railway was at frequencies of every two hours, and according to rail historian John Mills, passenger traffic "was never particularly heavy." Frequencies were significantly lower than on its northern counterpart, the Grand River Railway. The Lake Erie and Northern line proved popular with seasonal tourists, as it connected densely-populated industrial cities with the beach at Port Dover while also following what Mills calls "possibly the most continuously beautiful interurban section in Eastern Canada" alongside the Grand River. This scenic section, however, generated little passenger traffic and created a natural break-point in passenger service. The area between Brantford and Port Dover was more well-populated, and also provided more stable year-round passenger traffic. After the amalgamation of the Lake Erie and Northern Railway and the Grand River Railway under the Canadian Pacific Electric Lines, individual ridership statistics for each railway were no longer calculated, and would have been complicated regardless by the growing prevalence of through-running along both lines. As the Lake Erie and Northern was always the less busy of the two CPEL lines, it would have proportionally represented only a fraction of overall CPEL statistics. Nevertheless, clear trends are visible. Before amalgamation, ridership on the Lake Erie and Northern peaked in 1921 at 609,000 following the First World War, the post-World War I recession, and the
Depression of 1920–1921 The Depression of 1920–1921 was a sharp deflationary recession in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries, beginning 14 months after the end of World War I. It lasted from January 1920 to July 1921.
; in comparison, Grand River Railway ridership peaked around the same time at around 1.5 million. For the Lake Erie and Northern, this represented a steady rise since the start of service, when ridership was recorded as 373,000 in the first year. Both railways' ridership steadily declined through the 1920s, and by 1931, the last year for which independent ridership statistics were recorded, ridership on both lines had dropped to around (for the GRR) and (for the LE&N) of their respective peaks.


Heritage


Stations

The former LE&N stations in Galt, Paris, Waterford, Brantford, and a number of other destinations have been demolished, but several stations still stand. An old stone house used as a station in Glen Morris stands in its original location alongside an information kiosk about the history of the railway. At Port Dover, both stations used by the LE&N survive in some form: the original union station with the GTR has been moved to the beach and serves as a gift shop, while the 1923 LE&N station serves as a municipal storage facility at the east end of Chapman Street. The Mount Pleasant station, which was moved to Mount Pleasant Road and now sits on private property, is still standing but is in poor condition. In 2019, a local railway heritage group, the Brant Railway Heritage Society, embarked on an ambitious plan to relocate the station, which was built in 1916, to the Mount Pleasant Community Park, restore the building, and open it as a railway museum. The building has been noted as being regionally unique due to its layout, as well as its status as the only surviving original LE&N station.


Rolling stock

While much of the LE&N rolling stock was scrapped after the end of service, a few pieces of its fleet remain and are stored at the Halton County Railway Museum: * LE&N #797, one of the combination cars, originally kept at the
Seashore Trolley Museum Seashore Trolley Museum, located in Kennebunkport, Maine, United States, is the world's first and largest museum of mass transit vehicles. While the main focus of the collection is trolley cars (trams), it also includes rapid transit trains, ...
in
Kennebunkport, Maine Kennebunkport is a resort town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,629 people at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland– Biddeford metropolitan statistical area. The town center, the are ...
* LE&N M-4, a self-propelled electric welding car, which is believed to be the only surviving example of an ERICO Bonder * LE&N M-6, a 1934 Ford-built delivery truck modified to serve as a line truck, which saw service until 1962 * LE&N #50/335, an electric freight locomotive, sold to the
Cornwall Street Railway The Cornwall Street Railway was an electric street railway in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada that operated from 1896 until 1949, and then as a trolleybus service until 1971 when it was replaced by a conventional bus service known as Cornwall Transit ...
after dieselization of freight service in 1962, remained in operation until the early 1970s


Trails

A number of
rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...
s were created along the former
right of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
after abandonment of the line. This includes the Cambridge to Paris Rail Trail, the SC Johnson Trail between Paris and Brantford, the Norfolk Sunrise Trail through Simcoe, and part of the Waterford Heritage Trail.


Status

As of 2019, many destinations and former rail hubs along the line, such as Waterford, Simcoe and Port Dover, have no rail connection whatsoever, and many locations along the line are no longer served by public transit in any form. There is no direct transit connection from Galt to Brantford, and trips between these locations would require passing through Kitchener, Mississauga, and Hamilton on local buses and
GO Transit GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven millio ...
. Waterloo Region's
Ion rapid transit Ion, stylized as ION, is an integrated public transportation network in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by Keolis and is part of the Grand River Transit (GRT) system, partially replacing GRT's Route 2 ...
system, which began service in 2019, is planned to be extended from Kitchener's
Fairway station Fairway is a light rail station and bus station in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It is a stop on the Region of Waterloo's Ion rapid transit system. The station is located just off Wilson Avenue between Fairway Road and Kingsway Drive, adjacent to ...
to the
Ainslie St. Transit Terminal The Ainslie St. Transit Terminal is a bus station and terminal in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the core of Galt, a former city which is now a community within Cambridge. The building is a single-story facility with a waiting roo ...
in Galt, a route which is evocative of the Grand River Railway and the interurban era, though it uses modern
Bombardier Flexity Freedom The Alstom Flexity Freedom is a low-floor, articulated light rail vehicle developed by Bombardier Transportation (and later Alstom) for the North American market. It is marketed as part of the Bombardier Flexity family which includes other m ...
light rail vehicles. Currently there are no plans for any extension of this service south of Galt. Brantford still receives intercity passenger rail service from
Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...
''
Corridor Corridor or The Corridor may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Corridor'' (1968 film), a 1968 Swedish drama film * ''The Corridor'' (1995 film), a 1995 Lithuanian drama film * ''The Corridor'' (2010 film), a 2010 Canadia ...
'' trains along
Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN ...
's Dundas Subdivision, while Galt, once a major railway hub, has no passenger rail service whatsoever, though it still sees freight traffic on the intact
Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
Galt Subdivision Canadian Pacific's Galt Subdivision is Canadian Pacific's 114.6 mile long section of its Montréal-Detroit freight corridor. It is located in Southern Ontario, Canada. Getting its name from the historic City of Galt (now the City of Cambridg ...
.


See also

*
Brantford and Hamilton Electric Railway The Brantford and Hamilton Electric Railway (B&H, or BHER) was an interurban electric railway which operated Hamilton, Ontario. Construction was begun by the Von Echa syndicate of Harrisburg, but the railway was taken over by Dominion Power prio ...
*
List of Ontario railways The following railways operate in the Canadian province of Ontario. Common freight carriers * Barrie Collingwood Railway (BCRY) * Canadian National Railway (CN) including subsidiaries Algoma Central Railway (AC), Grand Trunk Western Railroad (GT ...
*
History of rail transport in Canada : ''This article is part of the history of rail transport by country series.'' The history of rail transport in Canada began in the early 19th century. The Canadian railway system saw several expansion "booms" throughout history, as well as a ma ...
*
Rail transport in Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
*
List of defunct Canadian railways Most transportation historians date the history of Canada's railways as beginning on February 25, 1832, with the incorporation of British North America's first steam-powered railway, the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad. This line opened for tr ...


Notes


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * *


Further reading

* * * *


External links

* * at NiagaraRails.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Lake Erie and Northern Railway Canadian Pacific Electric Lines Defunct Ontario railways History of rail transport in Brantford Passenger rail transport in Brantford Rail transport in the County of Brant Rail transport in Cambridge, Ontario Passenger rail transport in Cambridge, Ontario Rail transport in Norfolk County, Ontario History of Norfolk County, Ontario North Dumfries Interurban railways in Ontario Canadian Pacific Railway subsidiaries Electric railways in Canada Standard gauge railways in Canada 1500 V DC railway electrification