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Affiliated Railways

Several railways were affiliated with the Great Western Railway. The characteristics of these affiliations were quite varied. In some cases, the railway promoters and the Great Western worked together from before the incorporation; in others the Great Western entered the “partnership” later, principally as a rescuer of a failing road. In one case, the only affiliation involved the granting of running rights. Sometimes time-limited leases were used, other leases were in perpetuity, and some railways were purchased outright. Summaries of the histories of the affiliated lines up to the time of amalgamation with the Grand Trunk follow in alphabetical order. Unfortunately for the Great Western, these lines were financial liabilities, as attested to in Table 3-1. The positive result for the Detroit, Grand Haven, and Milwaukee was an unusual event.

Brantford, Norfolk, and Port Burwell Railway

The Norfolk Railway Company was incorporated under provincial statutes on January 23, 1869, to build from Simcoe, Port Dover, or Port Ryerse to Caledonia, Brantford, or Paris. Provisional directors were Daniel Mathews, Thomas W. Walsh, William M. Wilson, Isaac Austin, Thomas W. Clark, and H.J. Sutton. Capital of the company was set at $200,000. Construction of the railway had to commence within two years and be completed within five years of the assent date (Provincial Statutes of Ontario, 32 Victoria, chapter 58, assent date January 23, 1869)

With no progress being made on the railway, an extension in deadlines was requested and approved on

Map of the Entire Great Western System, 1880.

R.R. Brown, Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, 1934.

February 15, 1871. From that date, the deadlines to initiate and complete construction were one and three years, respectively (Provincial Statutes of Ontario, 34 Victoria, chapter 52).

In 1872 the charter of the railway was amended to allow the construction of a branch line to Port Rowan. In addition, the railway would be able to enter into leasing arrangements with other railways. As expected, another request was made for deadline extensions, these extensions to initiate and complete construction being two and five years, respectively, from the assent date (Provincial Statutes of Ontario, 35 Victoria, chapter 52, assent date March 2, 1872).

In a letter dated February 8, 1872, President Mathews made a formal request to the province for a grant of $2,000 per mile of the planned forty-mile line. The other sources of capital for the project were detailed, including a rather dismal $10,000 in private stock paid up, $160,000 in municipal bonuses, and $400,000 from the Great Western. In addition, it was mentioned that the Great Western would complete and run the railway after being paid a bonus of $6,000 per mile. In fact, the municipal bonuses totalled more than $160,000 (Town of Brantford, $70,000; Township of Burford, $30,000; Township of North Norwich, $30,000; Town of Tillsonburg, $8,000; Township of Houghton, $10,000; Township of Bayham, $30,000; and Village of Vienna, $4,000 [total=$182,000]).

An application for amendment of the charter was made in 1873 to allow the line to be routed through to a different port on Lake Erie (Port Burwell instead of Port Ryerse) and to extend north from Brantford to the line of the Credit Valley Railway or any other railway northeast of Brantford. This amendment, assent date on March 28, 1873, also extended the time for the initiation of the railway by one year from the assent date (Province of Ontario Statutes, 36 Victoria, chapter 92).

The year 1874 saw the name of the railway changed to the Brantford, Norfolk, and Port Burwell Railway. The legislation also allowed the issue of bonds, not to exceed $12,000 per mile of line, and allowed the railway to enter into leasing arrangements with other railways. As usual, it extended the initiation and completion dates of the railway to two and five years, respectively, from the assent date (Provincial Statutes of Ontario, 37 Victoria, chapter 53, assent date March 24, 1874). On March 16 the railway secured a provincial grant of $2,000 per mile of completed line. In 1876 the portion of the line from Brantford to Tillsonburg at a junction with the Great Western Air Line extension was finally open to traffic. The remainder of the road was never built. As provided for, the Great Western Railway began operations over the forty-seven-and-a-quarter-mile line. In 1878 the Great Western leased the line in perpetuity.

The Brantford, Norfolk, and Port Burwell was put into “first-class shape” by the Great Western in 1880, with new iron bridges being installed between Brantford and Harrisburg. The line had also been entirely equipped with steel rails by this time.

Detroit and Milwaukee Railway

The Detroit and Milwaukee Railway Company was composed of two predecessor lines, the Oakland and Ottawa Rail Road Company (incorporated in Michigan on April 3, 1838) and the Detroit and Pontiac Rail Road Company (incorporated in Michigan on March 7, 1834). These two lines were consolidated on April 21, 1855. The first through train (Grand Haven to Detroit) ran on September 1, 1858, while the first Grand Rapids to Detroit through train ran July 12, 1858. The Detroit and Milwaukee Railway Company, in turn, was sold at foreclosure on October 4, 1860, and acquired by the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad Company on October 22, 1860. This latter line, in turn, went into receivership on April 15, 1875 (C.C. Trowbridge, receiver), and was sold at foreclosure on September 4, 1878. It subsequently was reorganized on November 9, 1878, as the Detroit, Grand Haven, and Milwaukee Railway Company.

The main line of the railway stretched from Detroit to Grand Haven, Michigan, on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Construction can be summarized as follows:

Schematic of the city of Grand Haven, illustrating the locations of the Detroit and Milwaukee, Grand Trunk, and Goodrich Transportation facilities on the Grand River. The Grand Rapids, Grand Haven, and Muskegon Railway was an electric interurban line that operated from 1902 until 1928.

G.W. Hilton, Lake Michigan Passenger Steamers, Redwood, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002.

 Constructed by Detroit and Pontiac: Detroit to Royal Oak (1838), Royal Oak to Birmingham (1841), and Birmingham to Pontiac (1844).

 Constructed partly by the Oakland and Ottawa and completed by the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway: Pontiac to Fentonville (1855).

 Constructed by the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway: Pontiac to Fentonville (1855), Fentonville to Grand Haven (west side of river) (1856–58), and Ferrysburg to Grand Haven (east side of river) (1870).

Detroit and Milwaukee Detroit freight yard, circa 1857.

Burton Collection, Detroit Public Library.

Total mileage of the line was 189.73 miles.

The preceding, rather dry, listing of facts hides a lineage of corruption and collusion in the financing and construction of this line, in which the Great Western was to play a pivotal role.

View from above of the Detroit and Milwaukee Detroit passenger depot on Atwater Street, circa 1860. A broad-gauge locomotive is proceeding toward the covered train shed.

Burton Collection, Detroit Public Library.

From November 1852 to June 1855 the Canadian government made loans totalling £770,000 ($3.75 million U.S.) to the Great Western. During these years the Great Western was represented by Sir Allan MacNab, who was also the leader of the government for many years. In 1852 he moved a resolution in the Railway Committee, as set forth by the company, which aimed to give the Great Western a monopoly in the Ontario peninsula. However, the bill failed to pass; the obvious reason being the increasingly dominant position of influence of the Grand Trunk Railway at all levels of government.

Detroit and Milwaukee/Great Western Detroit freight depot in 1860.

Burton Collection, Detroit Public Library.

In 1863 Finance Minister John Rose accused the Great Western of misappropriating a total of approximately $1.225 million dollars and doing what it was never chartered to do and what it had no legal right doing — constructing a railway in the United States known as the Detroit and Milwaukee. Rose also asserted that $4 million of Great Western capital was thusly used, as well as used in building other lines and investing in steamships on Lake Michigan.

The Commercial Bank of Canada had also advanced the Detroit and Milwaukee a loan of £250,000 ($1.22 million U.S.), its value being substantially greater than this by 1863 with accumulated interest being unpaid. The bank, however, had no recourse since the Great Western had foreclosed two mortgages in 1860 against the railway. A lawsuit also failed. Charles John Brydges, a former Great Western managing director, was one of

An overview of 1869 Grand Haven taken from Dewey Hill. The Detroit and Milwaukee passenger depot is in the foreground, on the channel between the Grand River and Lake Michigan.

Loutit District Museum, Grand Haven, Michigan.

An 1875 view of the first union station in Grand Rapids located at the corner of Island (now Western) Street and South Ionia Avenue. It was built in 1870 and served two major roads, the Detroit and Milwaukee and the Grand Rapids and Indiana. A locomotive of the latter road and an unidentified passenger coach are also pictured.

Grand Rapids (Michigan) Public Library.

the Canadian directors of the Detroit and Milwaukee line with the other two being politicians (James Ferrer and William Molson). Brydges was appointed receiver and soon the Great Western bought the line for a nominal $1 million. Down went the Commercial Bank of Canada in ruin, one of Canada’s largest banks, with shockwaves reverberating across a Canadian economy already depressed by the American Civil War. The Great Western, in the meantime, was “laughing all the way to the bank.”

Detroit, Grand Haven, and Milwaukee Railway depot in Gaines, Michigan. Built in 1884, it has been lovingly restored and is currently a branch library. Note the extensive use of three-dimensional brick trim around the windows, doors, and eaves. This building “yearned to be a big stone building but lacked the budget.”

Author’s collection.

In the late 1860s the railway began to plan a relocation of the Grand Haven depot from the north side (Dewey Hill) to the south side of the Grand River at Harbour and Washington Streets. To lay track on the south side of the river, train equipment was ferried across, track was laid to the shoreline, and sand was brought into the city to make a solid bed in marshy areas. New docks were built near the depot to maintain connections with steamships plying Lake Michigan. The new depot opened January 1, 1870. Freight trains did not take advantage of the new trackage until six months later.

Detroit and Milwaukee/Flint and Pere Marquette joint depot at Holly, Michigan. Built in 1886, it is in poor condition, awaiting restoration. Like the depot in Gaines, this depot is a very functional brick cottage style which, in Europe, is called a “railroad style” or “Italian villa.”

Author’s collection.

In the year ending December 31, 1871, the Detroit and Milwaukee had thirty-four locomotives (fourteen passenger, sixteen freight, and four switchers), fifty-seven passenger cars (thirty first-class coaches, twenty baggage-mail cars, and seven emigrant or second-class coaches), 518 freight cars (330 box or stock [cattle] cars and 188 flatcars), and one auxiliary car.

In the year ending December 31, 1879, the locomotive and car inventories for the Detroit, Grand Haven, and Milwaukee (successor to the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway) were as follows:

A view of the 1869 Detroit and Milwaukee St. Johns depot after the great tornado of 1920. A new station replaced this one and is still standing, fully restored.

Clinton Northern Railway, St. Johns, Michigan.

Grand Haven Detroit and Milwaukee depot post 1869, with nearby stock pen, water tank, three-stall enginehouse, and three major hotels: the Baldwin to the far left, the Parnell to the right of the Baldwin, and the Sherman near the centre of the photograph.

Grand Rapids (Michigan) Public Library.

Map of Detroit and Milwaukee/Detroit, Grand Haven, and Milwaukee Railways in 1865.

Appleton’s Illustrated Railway and Steam Navigation Guide, 1865 edition.

Examples of Detroit and Milwaukee and Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee passes for free travel.

Author’s collection.

Locomotives — 36

Passenger coaches — 28

Baggage/mail/express cars — 16

Boxcars — 324

Stock (cattle) cars — 26

Flatcars — 124

Freight Total — 474

Service cars — 4

Further details regarding the locomotive and passenger car rosters of the Detroit and Milwaukee/Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee are available in chapter 4.

Erie and Ontario Railroad

Erie and Niagara Railway

In light of the revenue lost to the “new” Welland canal starting in 1829, several businessmen from communities along the Niagara River sought a charter to build a railway to bypass Niagara Falls. They were led by John and Alexander Hamilton, sons of the Honourable Robert Hamilton, the builder of the original Niagara Portage Road.

Due, at least in part, to the bitter fight waged by William Merritt and others of the Welland Canal Company, charter legislation failed in the Legislature of Upper Canada in 1831 and 1832. However, the Hamiltons and their colleagues were not to be denied, and assent to the charter of the Erie and Ontario Railroad occurred on April 16, 1835. Of interest, this legislation was delayed by the need to obtain the assent of the Board of Ordnance, which was responsible for military fortifications. Assent was given, provided the railway did not “intrude” within one thousand yards of military fortifications. It appears that the War of 1812 had not been forgotten. Capital stock for the railway was fixed at £75,000 ($365,250 U.S.) and it was to be completed by April 16, 1840 (Acts of the Legislature of Upper Canada, 6 William IV, chapter 19).

Construction began in 1835 but proceeded slowly. By 1837 the line was far from complete and money was running short. A provincial loan of £5,000 ($24,350 U.S.) was arranged. The line has been variously described as beginning operation in 1838 or 1839. Likely both answers are correct in that sections were probably opened as they were completed. The railway was “fully completed” by 1841. However, this may not be entirely correct since there is good evidence that the wharf at Queenston was not completed until 1846!

The railway was an animal tramway in the beginning. Railcars (coaches or freight wagons) were drawn by horses (two to four per car, draught horses for freight wagons and trotting horses for passenger coaches). Coaches/wagons rode upon wooden rails topped with iron strapping. Coaches had the appearance of Stockton and Darlington Railway coaches of 1840s England. Each held twenty to twenty-four people with baggage being carried on the roof. As one might imagine, on both economic and pragmatic bases, the railway closed for the winter, operating only in the high tourist season of summer. The line followed a path nearly parallel with Stanley Street in present-day Niagara Falls.

In 1852 the charter was revised to allow the line to be rebuilt and equipped with steam locomotives as motive power (Provincial Statutes of Canada, 15 Victoria, chapter 50, assent date November 10, 1852). In addition, the line was extended to Niagara-on-the-Lake, this section being opened on July 3, 1854.

The Erie and Ontario only owned one locomotive, Niagara, an inside-connected 4-4-0 with sixteen-by-twenty-inch cylinders and sixty-inch-diameter driving wheels. It was built in 1854 by Amoskeag Manufacturing Company of Manchester, New Hampshire. In all likelihood, this locomotive was the Clifton (Amoskeag construction number 169), built for Zimmerman and Balch, contractors. It was disposed of early in 1860 and replaced by the leased locomotive to be next described. Niagara (2nd) was an outside-connected 4-4-0 with eighteen-by-twenty-inch cylinders and sixty-six-inch-diameter driving wheels (Amoskeag 1854, construction number unknown). The identity of the locomotive’s owner is unknown.

In addition, the rolling stock of the road as of December 31, 1860, was as follows:

 four first-class passenger coaches (six-wheeled trucks)

 one baggage car (four-wheeled trucks)

 one boxcar (four-wheeled trucks)

 eight flatcars (four-wheeled trucks)

 ten gravel cars (four-wheeled)

 two handcars

The ever-present Samuel Zimmerman was involved in the rebuilding process of the railway, as well as in the order­ing of the only locomotive on the railway’s roster (see above). Zimmerman took over the railway in 1854, but his ownership was cut short by his death at the Desjardins Canal disaster on the Great Western Railway on March 12, 1857 (see chapter 6). During the rebuilding process, the line was relocated closer to the villages of Clifton and Elgin and bypassed Queenston and its heavy grades.

In 1857 the Fort Erie Railway Company was formed to construct a line from Fort Erie to Chippewa (completed in 1860) (Provincial Statutes of Canada, 20 Victoria, chapter 151, assent date June 10, 1857). In 1862 the town of Niagara, which had previously acquired all of the assets of the Erie and Ontario Railroad, sold them to William A. Thomson of Fort Erie.

Legislation introduced in 1863 was to change the Erie and Ontario forever. This act empowered the Fort Erie Railway Company to build a line from “some point at or above the wharf of Samuel Cowtherd” (Fort Erie) to Chippewa and acquire the line of the Erie and Ontario Railroad, ending at Niagara-on-the-Lake. In addition, the name of the resulting railway was to be changed to the Erie and Niagara Railway Company. This railway was now capitalized at $2 million and could amalgamate with or engage in leasing arrangements with any other railway. The Erie and Niagara could likewise buy the Erie and Ontario from William Thomson. Branch lines were permitted to the Buffalo (New York) Railway Depot and to Port Robinson on the Welland Canal (as well as a junction with the Welland Railway). An optimistic completion date of October 15, 1865, was set. Lastly, provision was made for incorporating very broad-gauge track (six feet) with the normal Erie and Niagara broad gauge of five feet six inches, such that the Erie and Atlantic and Great Western Railways would be able to run trains over the Erie and Niagara (Provincial Statutes of Canada, 26 Victoria, chapter 59, assent date October 15, 1863).

At the London (U.K.) Great Western Railway shareholders meeting in April 1865, President Thomas Dakin announced that a twenty-one-year-long agreement had been concluded with the Erie and Niagara even before its thirty-one-mile line had been completed. The road would be operated by the Great Western. The advantage of this agreement for the Great Western lay in its provision of a direct line into Buffalo, and direct connections with the Erie and Atlantic and Great Western lines. This line would shorten the Buffalo-to-Detroit distance by twelve miles.

In the fall of 1867 the Great Western closed down the Erie and Niagara, bringing about legal action to reopen the line. The judge ruled in favour of the Erie and Niagara in 1868, forcing the Great Western to reopen the line, allow connections with other railways in the spirit of the agreement, run the line continuously, and give W.A. Thomson of Queenston his proper place as joint comptroller of the Erie and Niagara. If the Great Western failed to perform any of these required actions, the contract would be rescinded. Damages were also awarded to the railway for past Great Western misdeeds.

In 1872 the Great Western board of directors suggested that the Erie and Niagara be purchased, hopefully for a price of £75,000 ($365,250). The board wanted to join the eastern end of the main line to the Glencoe Loop Line using the Erie and Niagara. However, negotiations were to bog down due to the multiple “owners” of the Erie and Niagara. Finally, the Great Western achieved its aims by another means; that is, by negotiating an agreement with the Welland Railway instead (see Welland Railway monograph in this chapter). It was not long before the Canada Southern Railway would approach the Erie and Niagara to complete the “Great Southern Route.” The incident that concludes this section illustrates just how low railway companies would stoop to outcompete each other.

In April 1872, along the line of the Erie and Niagara Railway, it appeared as though the Great Western and Canada Southern Railways were at war. Early in the morning of April 22 William A. Thomson and N. Kingsmill, with an accompanying gang of men, took possession of all stations from Fort Erie downstream, locking the drawbridge at Chippewa open to prevent Great Western trains from passing. Arriving at Niagara at 0500 hours, they ran a Great Western freight car off the rails and took possession of the station. The scheduled train from Fort Erie arrived at 1030 hours, Great Western officials having broken the locks on the drawbridge at Chippewa and having repatriated the stations at Fort Erie and Chippewa along the way. The train brought a gang of Great Western employees who attempted to regain possession of the station. However, Thomson’s gang prevented this from happening and the Great Western men returned to the Suspension Bridge. Thomson’s gang now began to lift rails in several places to prevent passage of Great Western trains. Fortunately, it appears that cooler heads prevailed and that there was no escalation in tensions or violent confrontations. The Canada Southern would win the Erie and Niagara in the end, amalgamation occurring in 1875.

In an ironic twist, the last Great Western cars to undergo gauge conversion (broad to standard) were the nineteen reserved in 1871 for use on the Erie and Niagara.

Galt and Guelph Railway

The act incorporating the Galt and Guelph Railway gained assent on November 10, 1852 (Provincial Statutes of Canada, 15 Victoria, chapter 42). Its promoters included some of the wealthiest men in the area, including Absalom Shade, Andrew Elliott, William Dickson Jr., and Jacob Hespeler. It provided for the construction of a railway from the terminus of the Great Western Harrisburg-Galt branch line to Guelph. Capital stock would be a maximum of £140,000 ($681,800 U.S.) and the maximum borrowing capacity was £50,000 ($243,500 U.S.). Promoters planned to lease it to the Great Western once completed.

Investors were initially reluctant to participate based, in part, on the results seen in other railway promotions in the area. Several public meetings were held to bolster support and encourage investment in the line.

Soon a dispute broke out between the Galt and Preston factions regarding the best route for the line. This, of course, was based upon the self-interest of the combatants. The Galt faction wished the line to proceed through Hespeler to Guelph, while the Preston faction wanted the line to proceed through Preston then Hespeler to Guelph. Eventually, the Preston faction won out because it seated more individuals on the board of directors by less than transparent and ethical means.

A contract was signed in January 1854 to build the line, with the official sod turning being done by President Grange (who was also the sheriff) on May 12, 1854. From the start, financial woes plagued the project. Finally, in spring 1855, the Great Western stepped in and agreed to complete the line.