QUOTE: Originally posted by trolleyboy All right something new for you all.I've been sitting on this one for a while, but I figured that given the nature of this place that you would all get a kick or two out of it. CLASSIC STEAM #19 THE BOOZE LINE HIRAM WALKERS RY Hiram Walker's Lake Erie & Detroit River Railway In 1856 American distiller Hiram Walker arrived on tthe Candian side of the Detroit River and began making booze, an operation which would become Canada's most prolific distillery. Around the distillery Walker laid out the planned community of Walkerville. By the 1880's the townsite became one of Ontario's best planned towns with tree lined boulavards,beautiful commersial buildings,hotels,a bank, and soilid well built homes for the plants workers. Walker's own company office was such a beautifull structure that today it's a designated historic herritage building ! And he built a beautiful railway station as well. In 1885 Walker brouhgt into operation the Lake Erie and Detroit River Railway. It was intended to bring in the raw materials from the farmlands south of Windsor for the distillery. As well as to export local cattle and lumber across the Detroit River to the American markets. At first the line crossed only Essex County, reaching Leamington in 1889. But there was a great demand by the municipalities further to the east for a railway so by 1895 the route extended all the way to St Thomas. At St Thomas it met the Canada Southern at the CSR station built 20 years before. From St Thomas the LEDR had hoped to purchase the Electric Radial RY the London and Port Stanley ( classic Juice #1 ), in order to have access to the coal shipments arriving at Port Stanley from accross Lake Erie. Unfortunatly the city of London considered the proposal for too long that Walker's LEDR instead bought the Erie and Huron RY which had it's Lake erie terminus at the Port of Erieau. This gave the LEDR connections to Chatham through Sarnia. At Erieau the LEDR built a large coaling facility then entered the tourist business by adding two excursion steam boats, the Shenango, and the Urania. These ships cruised between Conneaut and Erieau bringing tourists to stay at the Company owned Bungalow and Lakeview Hotels. In 1912 the Bungalow the areas best hotel burnt down and was never rebuilt. In 1972 the line to Erieau was the first portion of the LEDR to be abandoned. Southwestern Ontario's main railway rivalries interestingly did not involve any candian owned companies but American ones. In 1904 to compeet more aggressivly with the NYC owned Canada Southern, the Pere Marquette RY took over the LEDR and operated it until 1951 when it became part of the C&O. Now the CSX. For most of it's route, the LEDR gained it's business from the feed mills an dgrain elevators which were paired with the stations in most of the little towns along the line. Some fish was shipped seasonally from the ports of Kingsville and Wheatley, while,the major industry continued to be the distillery at Walkersville. Gradually trucking intrests slowley took over the industries along the line. Between 1992 and 1996 most of the line between St Thomas and Walkerville was abandonned and the tracks lifted. The only track still in use today is found in Windsor and operates between the CN and CP and in Blenheim where grain is still moved by teh CSX alonf the former Erie and Huron ROW to Chatham. Enjoy Rob
QUOTE: Originally posted by trolleyboy CLASSIC STEAM # 14 THE CANADA SOUTHERN ST CLAIR BRANCH Until 1960 the onlooker would have seen plumes of smoke rising from the stacks of steam engines, or exhaust from diesels trailing strings of passenger cars and boxcars.This was the Candaa southern's St Clair Branch. Part of NYC's Canadian holdings. It was one of the several southern Ontario branchlines that the founders thought would be a convienient shortcut accross ontario between American cities. In this CSR branches case Buffalo and Chicago. It was launched by Canadians William Thompson and Adam Crooke, albeit financed by the NYC. While the mainline of the CSR ran arrow strait from Niagara Falls to Windsor, this St Clair branch veered northwestward from a junction just west of St Thomas ON to the St Clair River. Here, at a point on the railroad called Courtright ( named after chief financial contributor Milton Courtright ) the railroad hopped to establish a major rail terminus,with abridge to carry traffic accross the busy river to St Clair on the Michigan side.From there trains would continue on west to Chicago and points further west. The American link failed however, and the Windsor route with it's tunnel ( GT ) under the Detroit River earned the bulk of the traffic. The grand scheme of a bridge over the river was reduced to barge service. It operated accross the river between Courtright and St Clair for a few years till it burned and sank. With it sank the last vestiges of the American link. The CSR had pinned it's early hopes for revenue on the oil boom that had started in the early 1860's which put places like Oil Springs and Petrolia on the map. To provide easier access to these prospering places, a new line, The Chatham Sarnia & Erie ( CSE) , was created. Originating at a place called Shrewsbury on Lake Erie,it was intended to pass through Oil Springs, Petrolia and terminate at Sarnia; however, the project never went beyond short spurs from the St Clair Branch, south to Oil Springs and North to Petrolia. Later , when the oil industry moved to Sarnia, the CSE was absorbed by the Canada Southern,which rerouted the unbuilt section to bypass the oil fields and follow instead the St Clair River into Sarnia. Finally in 1960, the whistles fell silent on the CSR's St Clair Branch and the track was lifted and the stations removed. Enjoy Rob Researched with the help of Ron Brown's Ghost Railway's of Ontario- good general reference books on the obscure and unusual rail lines. Two Books Volume 1 and 2 highly recomended reading for those wanting to learn of the Ghosts of railways past.
QUOTE: Originally posted by trolleyboy Allright then Leon another Keith's please. One more bot of steam from the vault this evening I think. CLASSIC STEAM # 20 THE BUFFALO BRANTFORD & GODERICH The BB&G : Fort Erie to Stratford In the 1850's there was all sorts of speculation over where new rail lines were going to be built./ As the railroad building bug had bitten hard. As the Grand Trunk and Chief Rival Great Western Railway began to build their main routes, the various towns and villages clamoured to get on the lines.Despite the various municipalities wi***o participate in and welcome the railway's to town, the land owners tended to hol dout for top dollar forcing the railways to give many of them a wide berth. Despite the want this was not an exception with the merchants of Brantford. Tired of shipping their wares and importing raw materials along the slow and seasonal Grand River Canal ( barge canal it's remainder is at the end of my street ), they demanded the fast year round access to markets that the railway's could provide. In 1849 when the Great Western was surveying a route which would pass north of Brantford , the group ( merchants ) formed a company to raise money for a railway to Link Buffalo with Goderich on Lake Huron. to thier delight this initiative met with the favour in both communities and with most of the other municipalities along the proposed line. Surveys began, starting in Fort Erie, then west to the Grand River where the surveyors followed the east bank of the river into Brantford. the line then crossed the Grand at Paris before angling northwesterly into Stratford. In Stratford it met a roadblock named John Gywnn, who was trying to promote another railway that would run from Toronto to Guelph then on to Goderich. He lobbied parliamment to deny the BBG permission to proceed beyond Stratford. Gwynn failed,and the legislature approved the BBG. Also there were no govt, funds involved in the construction. The BBG was the only railway of it's day built without gov. money. In 1854, before the Grand Trunk even opened it's Montreal - Toronto line the first wood burning steamer pulled into Brantford from Buffalo. The newspaper's of the day tell of a gala celebration and fireworks in fron t of the court house. With a Grand Ball starting at 8pm in the second story of the depots machine shop ! twop abnds one from Buffalo the other the Brantford Philharmonic and 1500 guests ! Two months later the railroads problems continued. The railway buildings were set ablaze and destroyed. Then when they reached Stratford, in sept., it came face to face with the Grand Trunk which uncerimoniously removed the BBG's rails. The BBG's boss then ordered his local contractor to tear up te Grand Trunk aand relay the BBG, and set men to watch it. The GT had plans of it's own, and sent two carloads of armed and drunken navies. However cooler heads prevailed and the confrontation did not happen. In Ridgeway ( near Ft Erie )later the same year 30 BBG labourers angry atv not being paid began to rip up tracks. The BBG then brought in scab workjers to repair the damage guarded by 25 speacial constibles. Theifght that ensued left one dead aand several injured. In 1858 the line finally reached Goderich and instantly hit the profit column. The new terminus at Goderich allowed the BBG to access the Lake freighters which now could make two trips a year instead of one ( sailing vessels ).Townsfolk also could ride the rails to the various beaches and resorts along the Lake shore, something many could not do before the railway. At Fort Erie, a ferry ( BBG owned) would shuttle people accross the entrance of the Niagara river from Buffalo to a new warf terminal in Ft Eries Downtown, and then later to the GT's Victoria later Bridgeburg station ( approx where the peace bridge is today ) From Ft Erie the line ran strait accross country to Port Colbourne where the first station on the line sat at a diamond ( TH&B)on the east side of the Welland canal. This lione was now called the Buffalo and Lake Huron ( just before the 1869 takeover by the GT ) Mnay local resorts an destinations grew out of this line, Ft Erie racetrack,Crystal Beach amusement park ( & town ) the US Based Humberstone resort at Humberstone, now part of Pt Colbourne. A street is still called Tennessee ave there. Another flag stop called Lorraine was set up to serve a US enclave ( summer homes ) called Point Albino which still refuses non residents access along their private road to a lovely old lighthouse at the point. Which has been designated a National Historical Sight West of Port Colbourne the BBG established a station at Wainfleet then as it approached the Grand River at Dunnville it made use of the already established river port facilities there and provided transport for local fish and manufactured goods. At Cannfield JCt abit further along, the BBG crossed the Canada Southern and the Canada Air Line . stopping at Port Dover,Caladonia,Cainsville and then finally Brantord.From Brantford it moved onto Paris amd crossed the grand over the high level bridge ( still in use today )before meeting the Great Western at Paris Jct. From Paris the line continued accross the fertile farm belt to Stratford then onto Guelph and Toronto. The line is still part of the Corridor 90% of which is still intact. the main Toronto-Buffalo mainline of the CN today. Rob
QUOTE: Originally posted by barndad The True Story of Jesse James, Train Robber Sep 1932 Railroad Stories The James homestead at Kearney, Mo. Where the notorious Jesse spent his boyhood There were few human touches in the criminal career of Jesse Woodson James, train bandit, whose gang operated for fifteen years in Missouri and Kansas, occasionally making forays into near-by states. The search for this outlaw chief was one of the keenest this country has ever known. He mocked railroad bulls, the police, the sheriffs. In vain did the Pinkertons send out their best men. Some never returned. Detectives bombed Jesse’s house, tearing off his mother’s right arm and murdering his half-brother. A total of $75,000 was offered for the arrest and conviction of Jesse and his older brother, Frank. Born in 1847 at Kearney, Mo., Jesse was only four when his father, a clergyman, went to California in search of gold and died there. The evil influence in the early lives of the James boys may be traced to William G. Quantrill, known as “the bloodiest man in the Civil War.” Quantrill was a Confederate guerilla leader. His outstanding feat was the sacking of Lawrence, Kan., a peaceful town which he invaded in 1863 at the head of about 450 men, including Frank James. They killed 182 of the population in one day! Two months afterward, Jesse, a lad of fifteen, was plowing a cornfield when Federal militia decided to “teach the cub a lesson” – apparently for no reason except that his big brother was with Quantrill. Jesse was lashed until the blood came. His stepfather, a kind-hearted country doctor, was strung up to a tree. The future brigand vowed vengeance. Young as he was, he joined Quantrill’s irregulars and fought under the banner until the was ended. Then he tried to surrender but was shot twice in the chest – wounds which never completely healed. An outcast from society, Jesse organized some of Quantrill’s men into that terrible murderous band which held up railroad trains, banks, and stagecoaches. Thus “Jesse James” became a name of terror. No railroad man passing through the Middle West in those days knew when his train would be held up or when he himself would become a target for bandit bullets. An old minister who had known the desperado since childhood once remonstrated with him: “Jesse, why don’t you stop these things?” The reply was: “If you tell me how I can stop, I’ll gladly do so – but I don’t aim to stop right under a noose!” That was it. Once embarked upon a series of crimes, there was no turning back. Jesse James lived perpetually in the shadow of the gallows and within earshot of whistling bullets. He was determined not to be taken alive – and he never was! Jesse James never saw the inside of a jail, although he carried so many bullet wounds that people said you could dig into his body almost anywhere and strike lead. The first train robbery which can be traced to the redoubtable Jesse occurred on the Kansas Pacific Railroad on December 12, 1874, near Muncie, Kan., a flag stop ten miles from the old union depot at Kansas City, Mo. There were six highwaymen, said to be the James brothers, Clell Miller, two of the three Younger brothers, Cole and Frank, and a switchman named Bud McDaniels. In some was Bud had learned that a train leaving Denver with a shipment of gold dust would pass Muncie at 4:45pm. Six horsemen, armed with carbines and heavy revolvers, masked with red bandanas, rode over there and got busy. As a curtain-raiser they robbed Purdee’s general store of $24 and forced the proprietor to help them pile a lot of ties upon the track. At the same time they set out the flag at the station, to make doubly sure the train would stop. Engineer Robert Murphy, on the train from the West, seeing the flag and the obstruction on the track, closed his throttle and ground to a stop. The robbery had been well planned. While one man climbed into the cab and covered the engine crew, the others cowed the trainmen and passengers. A freight train was close behind, so Conductor Brinkenhoff started back to flag it. “Where the hell you going?” Jesse demanded, firing a shot in his general direction. Brinkenhoff explained. The bandit leader was unconvinced. “That’s O.K.,” injected Switchman McDaniels, who knew his railroading. “He just wants tuh head off another train an’ keep it from crashing into our rear.” “Well, he better watch his step,” growled Jesse. “All right, let him go.” Meanwhile the crew were forced to uncouple the express car and pull it away a short distance from the rest of the train, and the looting began. Frank Webster, The Wells, Fargo & Co. express messenger, had been caught unprepared, with the doors of his car unlocked. Two ruffians leaped into the car. “Let’ssee how quick you can open that safe, fella,” said one of them. “We’re in a hell of a big hurry.” “But I don’t know the combination,” protested Webster. “i-“ “Maybe this’ll teach you!” bellowed the thug, striking him on the head with a revolver butt. Dazed, the messenger did as he was told. The booty consisted of $30,000 in gold dust, $20,000 in currency, and jewelry valued at about $5,000. All of this was dumped into a wheat sack – the usual receptacle carried by the James boys on their raids – and the rest of the car was searched thoroughly. It contained nothing else of value except some silver bricks, which were too heavy to carry off. As they left, Jesse flung a parting threat at the express messenger: “If you poke your lousy head out of that door we’ll shoot it off!” Meanwhile, two members of the gang had been robbing the passengers of money and watches, which they returned upon learning what had been taken from the express car. “We’re not after chicken feed!” they said. To delay pursuit, the brigands shot two horses which they found in the vicinity, then mounted their own steeds and galloped off. Waving a greeting to the engineer, one of the gunmen called out: “You can back up now and get your train,” and to the scared passengers he shouted: “Give our love to the folks in Kansas City.” Murphy lost no time in hooking up and making the fastest possible run to Kansas City, but it was too late for posses to pick up the trail. The James gang had crossed over into Missouri and were hiding in the mountains. Two or three days later Bud McDaniels boasted to his girl friend in Kansas City that he had acquired a lot of jewelry, and made a date to take her on a buggy ride. But she did not keep the date. Instead, she went out with another man. Bud was furious. Here he was ready to show a lady a good time, with lots of money, and she goes off with some other guy! Can you beat that? Felling the need for consolation, he drove over to a saloon and soon got tanked up. Late that night he was arrested for reckless driving and drunkenness. Searched at the police station, he was found to have more than $1,000 in cash, two six-shooters, and pieces of jewelry which were identified as part of the loot taken at Muncie. “I bought that stuff for Susanna,” he insisted, “but I don’t give a *** who gets it now. She’s gone back on me.” This explanation seemed fishy to the authorities, who made an investigation, the upshot of which McDaniels was indicted for complicity in the holdup. The unlucky switchman escaped from a deputy sheriff before being placed on trial, but was located a few weeks later and was shot to death while resisting arrest. [:I] An old hillbilly farmer had a wife who nagged him unmercifully. From morning till night (and sometimes later), she was always complaining about something. The only time he got any relief was when he was out plowing with his old mule. He tried to plow a lot. One day, when he was out plowing, his wife brought him lunch in the field. He drove the old mule into the shade, sat down on a stump, and began to eat his lunch. Immediately, his wife began haranguing him again. Complain, nag, nag; it just went on and on. All of a sudden, the old mule lashed out with both hind feet; caught her smack in the back of the head. Killed her dead on the spot. At the funeral several days later, the minister noticed something rather odd. When a woman mourner would approach the old farmer, he would listen for a minute, then nod his head in agreement; but when a man mourner approached him, he would listen for a minute, then shake his head in disagreement. This was so consistent, the minister decided to ask the old farmer about it. So after the funeral, the minister spoke to the old farmer, and asked him why he nodded his head and agreed with the women, but always shook his head and disagreed with all the men. The old farmer said: "Well, the women would come up and say something about how nice my wife looked, or how pretty her dress was, so I'd nod my head in agreement". "And what about the men?" the minister asked. "They wanted to know if the mule was for sale". [:I]
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