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Caption: With speculation running high on what Trillium plans to do with their ALCOS, I thought it'd be a good time to go catch the Trillium again, just incase the rumors are true. While getting in location for this shot, I noticed that a ton of tracks from the old yard were still in place, probably last used in the 80's. Once a busy part of the railway, branching off the Lakeshore Spur, and the Grantham Spur, both famed lines in their prime known for street running and servicing unique locations. Now, this line sits very quiet when the Trillium isn't servicing it. These tracks date back to the days of NS&T, Niagara's famed Street Car service which ended in 1959.
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Docta, Speculation is running high but the truth is, you should only believe what’s before you. GMTX 223 is now in the Niagara region and that’s all there is to go on. Crews last week indicated to me it’s business as usual with the ALCO’s except the newcomer will be in the mix. Trillium does call two jobs and requires three units to cover their workload, the MLW’s will continue as a result!
As for this ‘yard’ – it was no yard, what you see along Yale Crescent is the former double track N&ST Mainline – between a point near here (James and Raymond Street) and the Michigan Central Station in NF – this was built as the Niagara Central Railway, a steam road (converted to electric interurban, later on) and on a separate right of way, this formed the backbone of the N&ST network. This mainline connected the St. Catharines and Niagara Falls streetcar networks, and then N&ST continued expanding from there to Port Colborne, Port Weller, and elsewhere.
I’d highly recommend Trillium fans get books on the subject
https://www.amazon.com/Niagara-St-Catharines-Toronto-Railway/dp/1897190271
Keeping in mind Trillium is a mixture of all kinds of roads – former Steam lines that were never part of the N&ST and the N&ST it can be confusing to what belonged to what and when> Some sections of Trillium were built as late as the 1980′s and 1990′s and have only seen modern Diesel engines.
A fascinating road to learn the historical nuances and takes a LONG time to get the right sources on this
Cheers and nice work on the recent photography.
I haven’t believed any speculation yet, I’m just taking precautions just incase. It’s hard to find any legit info on it so I was just shooting them and “if” it was the last time seeing them, then so be it.
And thanks for the history, it’s always interesting to see what was. I’ll check out that book, may just have to give it a look.
A great move – shoot it while you can!
Here it is 2023 and it was on the Turn to St Catharines today !
and 2024
alco survivors!
Good riddance gmtx