April 2023
Like many waterfront towns, the southern Ontario town of Niagara-on-the-Lake was once a shipping port, transporting goods and people across Lake Ontario and back. Railways were a big part of that transportation system, going back to the first half of the 19th Century. The Erie and Ontario Railway (E&ORR), the third railroad in Upper Canada, was one of the railway companies serving the Niagara area.
Beginning operations on operations on 3 July 1845, E&ORR originally ran from Chippawa to Niagara Falls, but by 1854, the E&ORR had extended its service northward from Queenston to Niagara-on-the-Lake. This extension allowed the railroad to connect to an already established Lake Ontario steamer service docking at Niagara-on-the-Lake.
It was at the steamer docks that the E&ORR built a wooden engine house and turntable in 1854. The engine house, measuring 40 feet wide and 75 feet long, it was big enough to park two steam locomotives side by side. A repair pit, measuring about 6 feet deep, allowed maintenance crews to conduct repairs or inspections on the locomotives. The locomotives could also be stored overnight in the engine house to allow the watchman to maintain the fire that heated the boiler, thus allowing the steam pressure to be maintained for departure in the morning.
Just outside the north end of the engine house was a turntable for turning the locomotives around for the southbound journey. Measuring 60 feet in diametre, the turntable was manually operated by the railway crews.
In 1863, the E&ORR was under new ownership and became known as the Erie & Niagara Railroad, but in 1878, the Erie & Niagara Railroad was taken over by the Canadian Southern Railway. By 1882, the financially-struggling Canadian Southern Railway was taken over by the Michigan Central Railroad.
The Michigan Central Railroad terminated passenger service along the former Erie & Ontario rail line in 1926, but freight service continued until the rail line was abandoned in 1959. Concurrent with the termination of passenger service, the engine house was demolished and the turntable removed, along with the rails.
All that remains of the Niagara-on-the-Lake facilities is one of the filled-in repair pits and half of the stone circle that made up the turntable base. Covered over and forgotten for around 80 years, they were uncovered in 2007.
Recently, the area surrounding the stone remains of both were cleaned-up of brush and debris by a group of local volunteers, including Ron Simkus, who lives beside the old repair pit. It was his research that has brought to light a little-known part of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s history.
Interestingly, the repair pit first appeared to be just a set of blocks in a rectangle shape, with even spaces in between each . It was after consulting with local author Peter Mulcaster (Off to Paradise Grove: A Railway History of Niagara-on-the-Lake), that Simkus, who lives beside the old repair pit, discovered that the stones themselves are actually the tops of a solid foundational wall, with notches cut out to hold railway ties.
While there is no intention to excavate the repair pit, rails were placed atop period railway ties that were found during the recent demolition of a house at 93 River Beach Drive, the Goring Ball home, thus creating a visual representation of what railway workers would have seen inside the engine house.
A garden was planted around the stone layout that remains from the turntable, and is maintained by local residents Pat Hartman and Jim Reynolds.
Both remains have been designated under the Ontario Heritage Act and are marked by two bronze plaques that tell the story of these two artifacts from the railway days in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Army Troop Trains
During the Fenian raids in 1866, it was the Erie and Niagara Railway that transported the soldiers of the Queen’s Own Rifles, whom had crossed Lake Ontario from Toronto by steamer, from the Niagara-on-the-Lake Dock to Fort Erie to confront the invading Fenians
In the early 1880s, this was the only rail line that could transport soldiers to the new military camp in Niagara-on-the-Lake, near historic Fort George.
Stone Cairn
A stone cairn that commemorates the Erie & Ontario Railroad, can be found in Niagara Falls at the corner of Stanley Avenue and Morrison Street.
Sources: Volunteers hope to tell story of historic railway repair pit (notllocal.com), Residents push town to restore historic train repair pit in dock district (niagaranow.com), Railways In Niagara – www.NiagaraRails.com, Niagara Falls Railroad History | Erie & Ontario Railroad – Niagara Falls Canada (niagarafallsinfo.com).
