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Caption: The FIRST of the dedicated TH&B steel slab trains from Hamilton (Stelco) to Nanticoke is shown here, about to roll under Cty road 4 on the late afternoon of November 7, 1983. The train reached Nanticoke initially by way of TH&B to x-LE&N at Waterford, down to Simcoe, onto CN, thru Renton & Jarvis to Nanticoke's own trackage. CP purchased some RoW and was then able to reroute these trains along the CASO at Waterford and then on to Jarvis.
Shown here are B&0 4815,C&O 3885 and 4828, power brought in for startup. This train, with the usual 20 cars of 80 tons of slabs each proved to be a real moneymaker until track patrol on May 20, 1986 found a mud-slide beginning at the Cainsville Fill after heavy rain. That night, thousands of tones of fill slid down into the Grand River, and that was the end of the line for the TH&B in this area. Rerouting from Hamilton to Welland and west on the CASO proved to be too costly, as a result the job was handed over to CN. The steel contract was initially broken into 10 week periods, with CN running trains 6 of 10 weeks, and TH&B the other 4. Soon CN took over completely, and the Hamilton to Brantford/Waterford line was abandoned May 2, 1989, and tracks pulled up that same year.
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Now that is an FPON consist! Ok, so it was a daily occurrence a little to the south on the CASO main, but interesting power for the TH&B train that would normally see CP units up front. Not a bad first run at all!
This shot makes my heart sink.
Rats – I knew there was a place I wanted to go yesterday, but I need a time machine to do it
Thanks for being the time machine, Arnold 
This is what I love to see. So little photos of this line. I shot from this bridge just weeks before it was lifted to record the scene, but no train
Too bad the tourist train idea for the line never got off the ground.
What was the hopper for anyway?
I don’t know why the hopper was along for the ride. Perhaps “supplies” for Nanticoke?
) Yeah, Marcus, I wish I had more shots from this line, but they’re far and few between. Almost all Nanticoke-bound slag trains left Hamilton mid to late afternoon and the sun was a factor, especially in the Fall. I got lucky here, but the image is a bit soft. Plus, I had to work for a living. (Oh, the horror!). That goodness it is all now behind me. Back at Hamilton, power assortments at TH&B’s roundhouse consisted of various models of TH&B, CP and Chessie locos. Each visit was an “adventure”.
The Steel Train often worked online industries on the Waterford Sub so the TH&B wouldn’t have to run a “West Local”, which was an as required move by 1983, so this car could be for somewhere online.