In the past mileage was saved by this route and it resulted in Ontario towns like St. Thomas becoming big rail maintenance centers (which apart from some historical places/museums is now all but long gone).
Is there a chance that in todays high cost fuel environment that this route might be revived?
Thanks.
I don’t know enough about it all, including the history, to give a decent answer. But I would ask how customs deals with such crossings now wherever they exist (?), and given the current anti-terrorism climate, how much of an impediment would it be for what you are contemplating? There is more to money and time than mere distance.
To be made viable, a lot of track will have to be relayed. The Caso (Canada Southern) Sub is a black hole between Attercliffe approximately mile 30.5 west to Fargo approximately mile 169.6. There may still be track east to mile 168.6. Generally it’s safe to say there’s no track from Attercliffe to Fargo. The former Cayuga Sub (CN) is a black hole from about 2 miles west of Dain City on the west side of the Welland Canal all the way to about a mile east of Delhi. It’s still used from there to St. Thomas. The Paynes Sub is up for abandonment from the Ford plant west of St.Thomas all the way to Glencoe on the Chatham Sub. The former CSX west from St. Thomas down toward Windsor doesn’t exist anymore. I doubt if there’s enough track capacity on CP’s track from Fort Erie/Buffalo to Hamilton Junction (CN/CP connection). The same goes for CN’s Stamford Sub from Fort Erie that joins the Grimsby Sub (CN) at Niagara Falls, Ontario even if the bridge to Niagara Falls, New York, is used. A portion(s) of the Grimsby sub was single tracked during 2000/01. CP’s track is also a single line. Most of the Chatham Sub is now single track. What’s left of the CASO at the west end is single and falling apart. Portions of the Strathroy Sub is now single track. I don’t believe CN and CP desire any competition from any other railways and I know that CN’s track through southwestern Ontario is at capacity and in much need of repair.
Wasm’t the old CASO a New York Central line or was it owned by one of the Canadian roads and the NYC had trackage rights on it?
Mark
New York Central
As a trucker I have run this route many times. This was per 9-11. Back then you filled out a form and gave that and your bills to the customs officer. He would put a seal on your door and off you would go. At the next customs stop an officer would check the seal and off you would go again. I think it was called " in bond". Not sure how things are done now.
It’s called temporary importation under bond (TIB), and it’s used in a variety of ways. Way back in 1976, I was an Immigration & Customs Inspector at Grand Portage MN and TIB’s were regularly used for the various Canadian stock car drivers who would come down to race at Proctor Speedway. It was also used by an American firm called Pipe Benders that had machinery that bent pipeline pipe as specified for construction projects. The straight pipe would come in by truck and would return a few days later as elbows.
Oh, i wish this route could be revived, but as previously stated, insufficient traffic and miles of new track will likely hold back this possibility from being a reality. Unfortunately, this was largely just a bridge line, with little on-line originating or terminating traffic. At least a little piece survives (St. Thomas shops are now the Elgin County Railway Museum), although CN is now threatening to sell the land it is on. On a side note, does anyone have a track map of Canfield Jct.?
Conrail selling the CASO to CN and CP was the beginning of the end for that line, IMO.