Grantham Spur Finale
One hundred years ago in Southern Ontario’s burgeoning Niagara Region, electric interurbans hummed beneath the pulse of high-speed overhead catenary lines as they whisked along the expansive network of the Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway. From its inception as a pioneering radial railway at the turn of the twentieth century until its gradual demise in the late 1950s, the NS&T was one of Canada’s most enduring intercity electric lines. In its heyday, the NS&T transported interurban streetcars and electric freight trains alike over a system spanning over 75 miles. Although operations on the NS&T have now ceased for longer than they were in existence, several vestiges of the railway’s past linger on. One such example is a location known as Eastchester Yard on the NS&T’s once-bustling Grantham Division. Although weed-strewn and reduced in status from division to a spur, today, Eastchester Yard in St. Catharines’ north end serves as a visible reminder of what once was. Since 1999, Trillium Railway (GIO Rail) has operated approximately two miles of track from Canadian National’s Grimsby Subdivision at Merritton to Eastchester Yard on the former NS&T Grantham Division to serve a dwindling handful of industries where electric interurbans once roamed.
Thursday, February 29th, 2024 marked Trillium’s final run up the Grantham Spur to St. Catharines; 64 years, 11 months, and a day after the last NS&T streetcar ran over the line. Although Trillium’s departure from the Garden City drew considerably less fanfare than that of the line’s historic predecessor, the occasion certainly did not go unnoticed amongst local railfans who were eager to capture the moment. The following images document Trillium’s final days on the Grantham Spur as we bid ado to the shortline’s presence operating on remnants of Canada’s last interurban railway.
It’s the last day of Trillium’s operations in St. Catharines, Ont., as former Canadian Pacific MLW RS-18u 1859 lifts two empties and spots two final loads at Clearwater Paper in the sequence below.
Ominous skies foreshadow the future of the line — despite rumours that CN will take over operations from Trillium, with only one customer left, the prognosis for this spur line does not look good.
With Clearwater Paper’s plans for relocation to the neighboring town of Thorold and rail service from Trillium to subsequently cease, the forklift operator at the St. Catharines warehouse unloads the final boxcar ever to be received; rolls of fluff pulp from Brunswick, Georgia!
All is quiet on the evening of February 29th as 1859 slumbers silently after the venerable MLW suffered a severe oil leak earlier in the day necessitating the train to spend the night at Eastchester Yard.
1859 trundles along the Grantham Spur for one last time with the final train out of St. Catharines.
Before returning to home rails on the other side of CN’s Grimsby Subdivision, Trillium’s last train out of St. Catharines cools its heels at Merritton as Toronto to Port Robinson train no. 421 rolls by on the main.
With 421 in the clear, Trillium’s last train off of the Grantham Spur reverses down CN’s Grimsby Subdivision so they can complete their ritual switching maneuver of crossing over to the foreground tracks to access home rails of the Canal Subdivision for the rest of the trip to Welland.
Now back on home rails at Thorold, Ont., Trillium 1859 climbs the steep grade of the Canal Subdivision at Lock 7 with an eight-car train in tow. Another chapter in Ontario railroading history closes.