CN CAYUGA SUBDIVISION

TRACKSIDE GUIDE & PHOTOS

EX-TH&B RUNNING RIGHTS BETWEEN FEEDER EAST AND ROBBINS WEST
EX-NW & NS RUNNING RIGHTS | TR RUNNING RIGHTS
EX-CN CAYUGA SUBDIVISION
PARTIAL NON-EXISTENT TRACKAGE (MILE 22.0 TO 80.5 +-)
EX-TR CAYUGA LINE
EX-TH&B RUNNING RIGHTS: BROOKFIELD TO ROBBINS WEST

Present timetable listing for this line:

CN ~ ROBBINS CONNECTING TRACKS
NOVEMBER 12, 2001 - PRESENT

MILE
Robbins
(Jct. with CN Stamford Subdivision)
12.0
Brookfield East
(Jct. with CP Hamilton Subdivision)
(Jct. with CN Stamford Subdivision Connecting Track)
13.0

CP ~ HAMILTON SUBDIVISION
NOVEMBER 12, 2001 - PRESENT

MILE
Brookfield East
(Jct. with CN Robbins Connecting Tracks)
13.0
Brookfield
(Jct. with CP Brookfield Siding)
14.2

CP ~ BROOKFIELD SIDING
NOVEMBER 12, 2001 - PRESENT

MILE
Jct. with CP Hamilton Subdivision14.2
Feeder East
(Jct. with TR Feeder Spur)
(Jct. with CP Hamilton Subdivision)
19.1

CP ~ FEEDER SPUR
NOVEMBER 12, 2001 - PRESENT

MILE
Feeder East
(Jct. with CP Brookfield Siding)
19.1
Feeder20.1
Feeder West
(Jct. with TR Canal Spur)
20.9
End Of Steel22.0

Traffic movement on this line:

     Rule 105 Territory - Not To Exceed 15 mphBetween Robbins and Brookfield East.
     No Trackage exists between CN Feeder West and Delhi.


Points of interest along this line:

     Mile 12.0 (Robbins) : Wilhelm Road, Port Colborne : CN Robbins is where the wye is to the CP Hamilton Subdivision via the little segment of the CN Cayuga Subdivision know as the Robbins Connecting tracks. Only the CP locals and CN locals use the west leg of the wye track which heads over to CN Robbins West. These days, CP mainline trains use the trackage of the old CN Cayuga Subdivision to CN Robbins. You will see a handful of trains during the day pass by. They are bound for Buffalo, or CP Welland yard and beyond if they take the east leg/mainline.

     Mile 13.0 (Brookfield East) : (South) Brookfield Road and Forkes Road, Niagara Falls : This is CN (CP) Brookfield East, where the wye connects from the CN Stamford Subdivision to CN Robbins West. From this point westward (north), CP now owns this trackage, since 2001.

     Mile 14.2 (Formerly CN Brookfield) : (South) Brookfield Road and Miller Road : This used to be SNS Brookfield to both CN & CP. CN used to have a signal department building here. CP's referral to Brookfield on the CP Hamilton Subdivision is now at mile 16.1 . This is the location of the east end of CP Brookfield Siding.

     Mile 19.1 (Feeder East) : Feeder Road, Welland : CN Feeder East was located out near Feeder Road, east of the east end of what is now Trillium's Feeder yard. It was probably known as Feeder, because the Feeder Canal during the 1800's which passed through this area long before the tracks were ever here. The main line between CN Feeder East and CN Feeder west no longer exists. Only the siding and the yard remains these days. At Mile 19.1 the west end of CP Brookfield Siding connects to the CP Hamilton Subdivision and the TR Feeder Spur.

     Mile 20.9 (Feeder West) : Farr Road, Wainfleet : CN Feeder West is the limit for trains on the TR Feeder Spur, because the track has been removed from mile 22 westward toward Delhi (mile 83). The CN Cayuga Subdivision from Delhi, west, is now the St. Thomas & Eastern Cayuga Spur. CN Feeder West is also the location of mile 0.0 of the TR Canal Spur. These days you can see Trillium's power parked here. How things can change within a few years. {sigh}...


Operations on this line:

     The CN Cayuga Subdivision is one of the oldest lines in the Niagara Region and southern Ontario. It was built in the late 1870's. The Cayuga Subdivision paralleled the Michigan Central/NYC, Penn Central, Conrail and CN/CP days of what we known it the most as the Caso Subdivision.
     Originally, when it was built, it directly connected St. Thomas and Buffalo. At that time, the line went from BlackRock in Buffalo, then into at Fort Erie and west through Stevensville through CN Robbins East, CN Robbins, CN Robbins West, CN Yager East, CN Yager West and then through Dain City and on through CN Feeder South, CN Feeder West and on through to Delhi and Courtland and into St. Thomas. Though I just mentioned this station name signs, they have only been around since the new Welland canal was put in. I jut mentioned them to show that they followed what is now the CN Stamford Subdivision.
     The CN Cayuga Subdivision as originally built became part of today's CN Stamford Subdivision east of CN Yager East, which I believe is at about mile 14.7.
     When the Welland Canal bypass was built in the early 1970's, a new route was built for the CN Cayuga Subdivision and at the time, also the Penn Central's trackage (now the CP Hamilton Subdivision) was rerouted through the new Townline tunnel.
     The new CN Cayuga Subdivision no longer began at mile 0.0. The like now began at CN Robbins, at mile 12.00, off of the new rebuilt CN Stamford Subdivision from mile 0.0 to mile 12 of the former CN Cayuga Subdivision and west ward to mile 14.7 and started to curve north across Miller Road and then north up through CN Netherby, which is all newly built up to Port Robinson, where the line took over old territory of the former CN Welland Subdivision to CN Clifton.
     This new CN Cayuga Subdivision directed rail traffic through the Townline Tunnel and and west to through the Feeder area and connected in with the old CN Cayuga Subdivision (which got renamed to the CN Canal Subdivision, at CN Feeder West, The CN Cayuga Subdivision then followed it originally built ROW to St. Thomas. Therefore, the old CN Cayuga Subdivision that went through the former location of the CN/NS Dain City Intermodal yard on St. Clair Drive in Dain City was renamed to the CN Canal Subdivision. Off topic, the CN Canal Subdivision then headed north through Welland and west to CN Feeder West.
     Once the CN Cayuga Subdivision had been diverted through the Townline Tunnel, CN Feeder yard was also built at mile 19.5. The yard is about 1/2 a mile in length, without about 5 tracks.
     For several years until either 1993 or 1994, Norfolk Southern had four trains that passed through the Feeder area from Buffalo to St. Thomas and possibly beyond to Windsor to the tunnel under the Detroit River. They were NS 145, 146, 327 and 328. This yard was the CN/NS interchange yard. After the CN Cayuga Subdivision was closed down and torn out westward to Fertilizer Road in Delhi, one mile west of CN Feeder West, the CN/NS interchange yard was moved to CN Robbins on the present CN Stamford Subdivision on the north track between 1o and 120.
     Between May 19 and May 21, 1997, the main line through CN Feeder yard from CN Feeder West to CN Feeder East was torn out. A train consisting of CN units CN 3572 and CN 3575 (MLW's) and approximately 30 465XX OCS cars were used to carry the rail away.
     During the months of May and June of 1997, this train was then seen near the diamond of the CN Hagersville Subdivision tearing up the CN Cayuga Subdivision, starting from an area near Cayuga.
     The remnants of the CN Cayuga Subdivision between St. Thomas and Delhi, was renamed the CN/TR Cayuga Spur. Trillium had been also servicing that end of the Cayuga Subdivision until I believe 2008. Responsibility was given back to CN and OSR took over responsibility. But as of 2020, the CN Cayuga Subdivision trackage, now known as the CN Cayuga Spur, as of updating this page is up for abandonment.
     CP and it's predecessor TH&B... up until 1988 had running rights on the CN Cayuga Subdivision between the CN Feeder East area and Port Colborne on the CN Humberstone Subdivision. But as we know, CP now owns the former CN Cayuga Subdivision from mile mile 19.1 to CN (CP) Brookfield East, since 2001. It is now used as a siding and is called CP Brookfield Siding. The name Brookfield comes from east of Welland.
     When CP used to go to Port Colborne, a CP local job would begin out of CP Welland Yard on the present CP Hamilton Subdivision at mile 20.4 and travel to approximately mile 18.5 and cross over to the CN Cayuga Subdivision, or continue on the CP Hamilton Subdivision and cross over to the CN Cayuga Subdivision on the other side of the Townline Tunnel. The train would continue around the bend through CN Brookfield East, CN Robbins West and take former trackage of the CN Cayuga Subdivision, which later became the CN Humberstone Subdivision connecting track. This was the diversion to the left at CN Yager East. The train would continue down the CN Humberstone Subdivision and service INCO on the old CN Dunnville Subdivision. I believe CP/TH&B ended this practice around the end of the 1980's.
     During the morning of August 11, 1998, CTC on the CN Cayuga Subdivision ended. The signals were simply turned off, and a single yellow aspect signal eastbound at CN Brookfield was turned on. In November 2001, when CP took over the line, this light was upgraded to a two signal aspect.
     The CN Cayuga Subdivision became OCS territory after 1998, and the continued to be OCS territory until 1999 when it became Rule 105. When CP OCS control of the line, it returned to OCS control from CN (CP) Brookfield East, west to old CN Brookfield, where a switch was put in and the former CN Cayuga Subdivision, now CP Brookfield Siding stayed Rule 105. The trackage of the all along CP Hamilton Subdivision was joined in with the former CN Cayuga Subdivision from this point east. The CN Cayuga Subdivision was directly linked up also to the CP Hamilton Subdivision.
     During the late summer of 1998, the main line of the CN Cayuga Subdivision between CN Robbins and the switch at the west end of CN Brookfield was removed, leaving only the siding wrapping eastward across the crossing of Brookfield Road and over to CN Robbins at Neff Road.
     In early October 1998, Norfolk Southern and CN shut down their Intermodal operations in Dain City resulting in terminating use of the CN Canal Spur and CN Cayuga Subdivision and CN Stamford Subdivision pathway to Buffalo.
     In September 1999, Trillium took over operations on the CN Cayuga Subdivision renaming it the TR Feeder Spur. CN 564 still operates on the line as far west as TR Feeder yard to interchange with Trillium via the CP Hamilton Subdivision and CP Brookfield Siding.
     Trillium these days, since taking over the line only operates trains eastward from the TR Canal Spur as far as TR Feeder yard and uses the line east to the switch to CP as head room at the yard.
     In November or December, CP put in the crossover as mentioned above, from the CN Cayuga Subdivision to the CP Hamilton Subdivision east of Miller Road, east of Welland. This crossover was just short of about 1/20 mile west of the CP Welland Tube Lead Switch.
     The CP Hamilton Subdivision is now in reverse position for trains to go to Niagara Falls on the CP Montrose Spur.
     At Feeder by the 18.3 of the CP Hamilton Subdivision detector, a crossover was placed to connect the two lines in mid October 2001, prior to the east end being tied in.
     On November 12, 2001, the CN Cayuga Subdivision between CN Robbins and CN Brookfield East returned back to CN control from Trillium and from CN Brookfield East to CN Feeder East it was handed over to CP. From CN Feeder East to mile 22.0 at the End Of Steel, Trillium Rail kept control of this segment and now calls it the TR Feeder Spur.
     All that track ownership sounds so confusing but to make it simple, CP had the CP Hamilton Subdivision already, CN had the CN Cayuga Subdivision all along. In 1999, when Trillium took control of the CN Canal Spur and CN Cayuga Subdivision, CP still went to Niagara Falls to cross over the border. But in late 2001, CP abandoned access to the U.S. at Niagara Falls. So, since 1999, when Trillium took over the CN Cayuga Subdivision, they technically had the former CN Cayuga Subdivision from CN Feeder West to CN Brookfield East. But when CP in late 2001 moved over to using the CN Cayuga Subdivision from the CN Feeder East (which was just west of the old Feeder Road track access point area, to CN Brookfield East, Trillium's ownership was cut back to mile 19.1 near Feeder Road.
     On occasion, I used to see the NS main line train head west through Feeder. On;y because I didn't go out there that much. They used to get an OCS clearance from CN Feeder West all the way to CN St. Thomas and vice-versa.
     If I am correct, when the CN Cayuga Subdivision was abandoned in 1995 (1996 really, but I will explain in a sec), I think NS created an NS 445, which would run from Dain City to Buffalo and vice-versa daily. This usually happened at dusk heading to Buffalo. I used to see NS 445 move railcars around at Dain City along St. Clair Drive. I used to see NS 445 come into Dain City during the morning from Buffalo.
     The last NS train I ever saw on the Cayuga Subdivision west of CN Feeder West was eastbound and it was on a Tuesday or Thursday in the first or third week of October 1995, through the CN Cayuga Subdivision wasn't torn out until 1996.
     I used to see the CN Dain City switcher 105 pull cars out to CN Feeder yard throughout the day, but all that ended in October 1998, as indicated earlier when the Intermodal facility closed.
     When Trillium first started up operations in 1997 in Port Colborne, Trillium had running rights west (south) on the CN Canal Spur to WH yard, which is west of Hwy 58 (Westside Road) to interchange with the CN local, in the yard behind the radio station.
     In 1999, when Trillium took over the lines north of Port Colborne, including the CN Canal Spur, west side of the CN Thorold Spur, CN Cayuga Subdivision and all the old NS&T trackage that still existed in Thorold and St. Catharines, CN relocated the interchange location to what was now Trillium's Feeder yard on the CN Cayuga Subdivision which became the TR Feeder Spur.
     Trillium. to this day, still uses TR Feeder yard as their main yard. Everything that goes in and out of the company's interchanges with CN or CP is done out of this yard... yes I have mentioned it a bit. CN interchanges here with Trillium a few times a week. CP in recent years has gained running rights to directly interchange with Trillium at north siding switch Brookfield over to CP Brookfield Siding, and back into TR Feeder yard on the TR Feeder Spur.
     When I started railfanning the CN Cayuga Subdivision in 1992, I used to see all of the crossover tracks between the 2 Cayuga Subdivision tracks and the 2 CP Hamilton Subdivision tracks coming in at the throat of the split, west of Feeder Road. It was all CTC controlled. CP had taken out their 2nd unneeded track then CN took out the second track about 5 years later (1997). But the center track through the Townline tunnel was removed in 1992 or early 1993. The center track was shared both by CN and CP, but was installed back when the track bypass was built. Amtrak used to use the center track to easily get to the CP Fort Erie Subdivision (later CP Stevensville Spur).      I'm not really that familiar with the CN Cayuga Subdivision west of Niagara, though I have been to several of the places. There used to be a handful of industries before 1995 (obviously before), The next rail yard west of Niagara was at CN Delhi, but I believe it was for just switching out cars for the industries that used to be there. Mostly for just running around their cars. The next yard was at CN Tillsonburg beside Vienna Road, south of Hwy 3. This yard was through mile 94. at this yard, the former CP Port Burwell Subdivision had a diamond with the CN Dunnville Subdivision. The CP Port Burwell Subdivision came from Ingersoll. The diamond of the CP Port Burwell Spur was taken out I'm guessing in the 1970's, but there was a connecting track westward into CN's Tillsonburg yard. CP (OSR who later had operating lease) couldn't come in via this connecting track because there was a bridge north of Hwy 3 that was too unstable for rail traffic.
     Heading west there was a small yard at CN Aylmer, and then just east of St. Thomas was a place where the single track CN Cayuga Subdivision and double track CN/CP Caso Subdivision crossed. This was Yarmouth Diamond. It allowed the two tracks to cross each other so that each others lines could get to the appropriate area of the city of St. Thomas. This CN/CP Caso Subdivision is the same rail line that was the former CP Hamilton Subdivision through Niagara Falls, and CP Fort Erie Subdivision to Fort Erie and along Lambert Road in Wainfleet passing CP Welland yard.
     Once in St. Thomas, there was another yard. This yard was I believe CN Hiawartha yard. It was connected to the CN Talbot Subdivision (Spur to the north and the former CN Chatham Subdivision to the west, but the CH Chatham Subdivision was renamed going north to Komoka, was of London and the line heading west out of the yard was then renamed the CN Paynes Subdivision to Glencoe, where it then tied in with the CN Chatham Subdivision.
     The CN Cayuga Subdivision also passed another location that I neglected to mention, heading west from Niagara. It was where the CN Dunnville Subdivision crossed the CN Cayuga Subdivision and the CN/CP Caso Subdivision also crossed the CN Dunnville Subdivision. It was called Canfield Jct. Canfield Jct. was busy in it's early days, but in the 70's it started to slow down. This is probably due to traffic no longer passing through Welland and traffic declining economically. The CN Dunnville Subdivision was shut down in 1985, and the CN/CP Caso Subdivision was already declining since the early 1970s. Canfield Jct isn't just a name with the railways, but a countryside area on the map.
     To the west of Canfield Jct., you came to Cayuga, where there was at least one siding, The CN Cayuga Subdivison crossed the Grand River here also. Westward after this were the yards I had just brought up.
     It's sad to see the old ROW of this line get bought up and used for homes. One place is I believe Diltz Road, north of Dunnville. There are 2 homes on both side of the road blocking the ROW. I believe at Simcoe, the line is also built on.


Pictorial view of this line:

389 photos in gallery

Select a mileage to display
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Mile 100.20
Looking East
(2003)

Mile 100.20
Looking West
(2003)

Mile 100.40
Looking West
(2015)

Mile 101.56
Looking East
(2003)

Mile 101.56
Looking West
(2003)

Mile 102.23
Looking East
(2003)

Mile 102.23
Looking West
(2003)

Mile 104.27
Looking East
(2003)

Mile 104.27
Looking West
(2003)

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     These photos are of the former Feeder West signs that were once located at Forks Road and Farrs Road west if Dain City, in Wainfleet.

1 photos in gallery


Looking West
(2001)


     These photos are of the former CN Cayuga Subdivision prior to the new Welland Canal bypass. To the west, is the canal, which connected the line into Dain City and to the east, it connected to the latest CN Humberstone connecting track and eastward onto to Fort Erie.

39 photos in gallery


Mile 14.70
Looking East
(1996)

Mile 14.70
Looking West
(1996)

Mile 14.85
Looking East
(1996)

Mile 14.85
Looking East
(1997)

Mile 14.85
Looking East
(1998)

Mile 14.85
Looking East
(2002)

Mile 14.90
Looking East
(2013)

Mile 15.00
Looking East
(1996)

Mile 15.00
Looking East
(1997)

Mile 15.00
Looking East
(1997)

Mile 15.00
Looking East
(2004)

Mile 15.00
Looking East
(2004)

Mile 15.00
Looking East
(2008)

Mile 15.00
Looking East
(2013)

Mile 15.00
Looking East
(2013)

Mile 15.00
Looking West
(1997)

Mile 15.00
Looking West
(2004)

Mile 15.00
Looking West
(2004)

Mile 15.00
Looking West
(2008)

Mile 15.00
Looking West
(2013)

Mile 15.05
Looking East
(2013)

Mile 15.05
Looking West
(2013)

Mile 15.24
Looking West
(1996)

Mile 15.54
Looking East
(1997)

Mile 15.54
Looking East
(2002)

Mile 15.54
Looking East
(2003)

Mile 15.54
Looking East
(2013)

Mile 15.54
Looking West
(2002)

Mile 15.54
Looking West
(2003)

Mile 15.54
Looking West
(2013)

Mile 15.91
Looking East
(1997)

Mile 15.91
Looking East
(2013)

Mile 16.00
Looking East
(2013)

Mile 16.00
Looking West
(2013)

Mile 16.30
Looking East
(1999)

Mile 16.30
Looking West
(1999)

Mile 16.70
Looking East
(1999)

Mile 16.70
Looking West
(1999)

Mile 17.30
Looking West