Caption: It blows my mind to think that this photograph was taken 18 years ago. It was May 7, 2001 and for me it was a very somber day but an opportunity I couldn’t miss taking. I have always had a fascination for the TH&B Railway even though it vanished before I picked up my first camera. For years I had hopped to catch a train on the now CP Dunnville but time and distance from my home always played against me. I knew the writing was on the wall for sometime for the north end of the subdivision thanks to several wooden trestles needing repairs as well as the bridge over Highway 20 in Smithville. CP decided instead to rebuild a portion of the former Canada Southern mainline in order to reach the south end of the a Dunnville subdivision and the industries at Port Maitland. This would allow CP to abandon everything between E&O junction (junction with the CASO) and Smithville. As luck would have it this day I was an extra at work and was able to leave work early and race down to Smithville. As it turned out I completely missed the trip to Port Maitland but waited out my time at E&O junction watching work crews ready the new switch connecting to the former CASO. Around 9:30am a headlight finally appeared in the distance, and the slow chase was on. Unfortunately I missed a few wooden trestles I wanted to photograph but did fairly well nonetheless. When the train reached the wye with the Hamilton Subdivision at Smithville the entire line north of E&O junction was officially abandoned for good. The friendly crew briefly stepped down for a few photographs with the dozen photographers on hand, including some from the TH&B historical magazine before locking the switch one last time and heading for the yard at Welland.