This summer I was in St Thomas and had the pleasure of being able to check out the massive abandonned rail bridge nearby that was part of the CASO line. I know that parts of the line has been ripped up, and that the trains don’t run through the downtown of St Thomas anymore. I remember someone telling me that the CASO used to be a joint CN/CP ownership, for strategic reasons only, and that at one point one of the two companies wanted to abandon it. Was this the case with it?
What were the factors that caused the American railroads to drop this shorter route between NY and Chicago? One railfan told me that gov’t regulations along with US labor union pressure pushed most of the traffic to US rails south of Lake Erie.
Is there a chance that this line will ever be revived for NY to Chicago use? I’d hate to see how much a bridge like the one in St Thomas would take to build in today’s dollars.
The CASO line was still quite active during the Penn Central era, but trains were rerouted south of Lake Erie by-passing the CASO Sub when Conrail took over in 1976. Although Conrail did run a few locals such as the Hagersville Turn (out of St. Thomas), I saw more Chessie/CSX thru freights than Conrail. (Chessie/CSX had trackage rights over the CASO when they were still running Detroit to Buffalo freights thru Canada. Even Amtrak ran a train on the line in the middle 1970’s connecting those two cities).
CP/CN purchased the CASO many years ago for two reasons only.
The bridge crossing the Niagara River at Niagara Falls, ON, so CP could run trains into the USA and gain direct access to Buffalo Terminal
The tunnel under the St. Clair River at Windsor, ON so CP and CN could run trains into the USA and gain direct access into Detroit.
Before the purchase, cars would have to be interchanged with Conrail’s CASO operations for transfer to the USA.
Today, the tunnel at Windsor/Detroit is still very active for CP to deliver trains to NS and CSX in the Motor City. NS and CSX run the occasional transfer thru there too.
The bridge in Niagara Falls, ON is now abandoned as CP is running their trains into Buffalo, NY via CN at Fort Erie, ON.
On a final note, the famous Hagersville diamond where the CASO crossed CN"s Hagersville Sub is long gone. Today, the CASO is ripped up and the Hagersville sub is now operated by Rail America (SORR) and the old NYC/PC/Conrail station at the diamond is used by Rail America crews.
I also heard CN and CP both agreed not to let the CASO land in the hands of another railroad who might compete for through traffic after Conrail pulled out (perhaps even Conrail agreed to that). Hence the central portion has been torn up. The parralel CN Cayuga sub is also pulled up.
The CASO (Canada Southern Railway) has quite a history as Wikipedia illustrates. My mother’s family comes from St Thomas and their history (along with that of many others there) was tied up with the CASO. It was owned by many railways among them the Michigan Central, NYC, C&O, Conrail and NS before being strategically purchased by CN/CP. It was known for its long stretches of tangent track and high speed running which was one of the reasons it was constructed. It ran passenger and freight trains very quickly through the southern Ontario countryside between Niagara Falls, Fort Erie and Windsor. It connected at St Thomas for Port Stanley on Lake Erie with the B&LE, CO passenger and coal boats. The CASO interlocking plant (BX Tower) serving this junction still remains and has been restored. When the Welland Canal was enlarged at Port Robinson particularly the coal traffic dried up. The freight and passenger traffic gradually dried up as traffic/routing patterns shifted south of the border beginning about 1960.
The CASO Station at St Thomas (now being refurbished and restored by a local society) was the headquarters and central division point of the CASO. The station is an historical site and is an amazing piece of Italianate construction. The Elgin County Railway Museum is headquartered there also (in the MCRR shops) but as has been pointed out the track has been mostly torn up east and west of St Thomas. Very little of the yard remains, and CN (I believe from local connections) is in the process of parcelling the land for development).
I doubt the CASO will ever be operated again. A pity…many family stories were attached to that railway.
I beleive that when Conrail took over as a US government operation, it’s intention was not to save Canadian railroads or jobs, wich is what the CASO was. It was run by Canadian employees under Canadian rules. As long as the line was proffitable that’s ok, but if it was bankrupt as being part of Penn Central and the US government got involved, there was no more interest in the CASO. Other private interests (like the Erie Express) to run the CASO were blocked by CR, CN and CP Rails. At least that’s how it seems to me.
Deffered maintanance by Penn Central of an otherwise well built railroad didn’t help. Tight clearances in the Detroit river tunnels would have needed to be expanded for autorack and high-cube traffic.
So all traffic was diverted to the south shore of lake Erie.
I would have to agree with you. Too bad thou, as the CASO was my favorite place to watch trains and learn about railroading. I grew up in a world of just CP & CN trains, and when I came across the CASO in the late 1970’s I was just fascinated with it. Must have been those Chessie and Conrail bay window cabooses on the tail end of every train. Never thought they even existed on Canadian soil until I discovered the CASO!
Amtrak ran a through NY to Detroit train via the CASO into the late 70s - The Niagara Rainbow. It got lopped off at Buffalo for a few years, then was reincarnated at the Toronto train (Maple Leaf)
Yes, the CASO was an intreguing, exotic and yet big time (NYC) railroad in CN and CP country. Long and straight double track ABS mainline with wigwag crossing gates. But I never actualy saw any Penn Central or Conrail power on the line, mostly Chessy trains tho. By the time I knew more about the CASO then Conrail was gone. First time I came across the line was the triple track CTC joint part that leads under the Welland canal around 1978.
Question(?) Is the CASO the same railroad that ran parallel to the QEW (Canada Hwy401) between Windsor and the Ft. Erie area?
Found this bit of linked information that might be of interest to those Posting on this Thread: Referencing The Abandonment of the Int’l Bridge by CNR.
While it sure snows in southern Ontario, sometimes CASO was used as an alternate route when N or W winds piled up lake-effect snow along the mainline route along the Lake Erie shore. I suspect the Canadian route was downgraded because they could normally handle all the traffic on the NYC mainline. The CASO’s western connection, the Michigan Central was also downgraded. First traffic was diverted over the “Airline” route at Jackson, MI, to Elkhart. The second track west of Kalamazoo on the MC main was torn-up. In the 80s the “Airline” was abandoned, and remaining Detroit area traffic went south to Toledo, then over the Chicago main. Years ago Amtrak bought the line west of K’zoo. Now the State of Michigan is buying the rest of the line between K’zoo and the Detroit area in order to continue the 110 mph upgrade on the CHI-DET route.
CASO is canada southern railway. Some time in the past Ringling Bros Circus Train had stopped in St. Thomas to service the train, and Jumbo The Elephant was out side his car when he was struck by an other train and was killed.The town of St thomas has built a large elephant on a hill at the western entrance to the town as a tourist attraction ,its quite a site and its free to visit.
I think the reason this line was built in the first place was that it was both faster than the southern route through Cleveland and more direct for trains running between New England and Michigan. Back in the first half of the 20th century speed mattered more, because there was more passenger and express freight in the mix. At the same time, the southern route had a lot more on-line industry than today, especially around Cleveland and Toledo. I can imagine that during WW2, for example, things could get pretty congested down there. Meanwhile the CASO never had much industry. Even though total freight tonnage today may be higher than ever, it’s not as time-sensitive, signalling and dispatching are more efficient, etc. so the CASO just isn’t needed like it once was. Too bad, in it’s prime it was a first-class line - I’ve heard it even had trackside water pans installed so the NYC Hudsons could take on water without slowing down. Also, note that in addition to NYC and C&O on the CASO, CN’s parallel line was mostly used by Wabash to reach Buffalo - six trains a day, I believe. Canfield Jct, where the two lines crossed, must have been one h of a place to watch trains. If you can find a copy, Stephen M. Koenig’s “Trackside Around the Niagara Peninsula 1953-1976 with Reg Button” by Morning Sun Books has a lot of info and photos of the eastern end of these lines.
The Canada Southern was intended to be a short-cut between New England and the west, but as an independent they planned their own extension west into the US. CASO made a bee line to the border, bypassing Detroit, crossing into the US at Trenton, MI, near where the Detroit River meets Lake Erie. However, this was an area of ice floe build-up, which wreaked havoc with the ferries. The Chicago & Canada Southern extension did not get very far into the US. The only thing left of the C&CS today became part of the DT&I between Trenton and Dundee. The NYC used the Great Western as there connection between Buffalo and the Michigan Central at Detroit. The Great Western acquired its own lines to Chicago which became the GTW. After that, Michigan Central picked up CASO as its eastern connection.