Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway

The Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway ( NS & T ) was an electrified railway line on the Niagara Peninsula, which was operated from 1899 to 1959. It is considered the first Interurban North America. From its headquarters in St. Catharines it operated with electric railcar connections to Niagara -on-the -Lake, Port Dalhousie, Niagara Falls, Welland and Port Colborne.

The Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway was founded in 1899, was reorganized as a pre-existing railway, St. Catharines and Niagara Central Railway. The new company was initially in the U.S. property before it was sold in 1904 to a company from Toronto.

The initial length of the route was 32 km. This consisted primarily of a connection between St. Catharines, Thorold and Port Dalhousie. There were several plans to expand the rail network to Hamilton and Toronto, but none of them was successful. This included a plan for the construction of a radial network along land rights for hydropower. Hydropower pioneer Adam Beck promoted this plan, but provincial and municipal governments rejected grant applications and the preparation of the plan was set.

In 1908 the control of the Canadian Northern Railway ( CNR) was transferred. Due to the financial difficulties it was taken over by the Canadian government and renamed in 1918 in Canadian National Railway ( CNR). In 1923, the CNR a subsidiary that. Canadian National Electric Railways, which the NS & T, the Toronto Suburban Railway, the Toronto Eastern Railway and the Oshawa Railway united under one name The NS & T retained for the operation, however, their current names, the subsidiary had primarily administrative in nature.

The network was expanded to Port Colborne and the mid-1920s set extensively repaired. 1929 launched the NS & T bus operation to complement its rail network. From the mid- 1930s to replace coaches and existing routes. During the Second World War, the railway experienced a brief upswing due to the rationing of fuel for buses.

After the war, started a program to replace many of the electric railcars by diesel powered. However, the decline of the railway continued and in 1951 and 1954, passenger services were transferred to the two main routes on buses. The final cessation of rail transport was carried out in 1959. A year later, the existence of the NS & T ended as an independent unit of the Canadian National Railway.