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Rule 105 Territory - Not to exceed 15 mph on entire trackage.
Mile 0.0 (Feeder West) : Farr Road, Wainfleet : TR Feeder West is the beginning of the TR Canal Spur. It was once a Subdivision/Spur. These days at CN Feeder West it is the purpose of storing Trillium's locomotives and is the home of Trillium's operations. The main line a little west of CN Feeder West was removed
and so was its' related interlocking signals.
Mile 0.8 (Feeder South) : Feeder Road, Dain City : TR Feeder South is located east of TR Feeder West, on the TR Canal Spur. It is the Jct. of the connecting track to the TR Feeder Spur to the north. The connecting track is the normal flow of traffic, in and out of Dain City and Welland.
During the day, you will see Trillium pass through here to and from Feeder yard. Usually between 7:20am and 9am and then around noon and the St. Catharines Job returns later in the afternoon.
Mile 2.2 (Jct. TR Canal Spur) : West Side Road, Dain City : Trillium's Harbour Line leads off of the TR Canal Spur at this point.
Mile 3.0 (Dain) : St. Clair Drive, Dain City : This is Dain City. This is the location of where joint operations between CN and NS once had an Intermodal yard. It is now the property of M. J. Jones Trucking.
Mile 4.2 (Tunnel Bridge) : Humberstone Road, Welland : CN Tunnel Bridge was once located at the south end of Welland, just north of the bridge overpass at Humberstone Road. These days, Trillium runs through here to head for St. Catharines and to service the odd industry still left in Welland.
Mile 6.1 (Welland) : East Main Street, Welland : The CN Welland name sign used to be located approximately 200 feet south of East Main Street in downtown Welland on the east side of the tracks.
Mile 14.0 (Thorold Jct.) : Bridge 10, Thorold : CN Thorold Jct. was once located at mile 14 where it once the connection to the CN Thorold Subdivision. The TR Canal Spur turns into the TR Thorold Spur, continuing north via the ex-CN Thorold Subdivision's mileage from mile 4.2ish to 7.6, at CN Merritton.
This line once had a few trains a day in the 1980's, but I believe CN didn't ripped up the CN Canal Subdivision at that stage because of a possible route for trains, if a derailment happened on the CN Stamford Subdivision north of the Welland area.
The TR Canal Spur is the main line that runs through downtown Welland. It was originally built I believe around 1853 or 1856 to connect ti Port Robinson to the north and Port Colborne to the south. The original name was the CN Welland Subdivision that connected to the CN Grimsby Subdivision around what is the east leg of the wye at CN Clifton connecting to what these days is the CN Stamford Subdivision, from just south of the Canby Street crossing the bridge over the Welland River.
To the south from Welland, the line still does go to Dain City, but at Dain City the line changed names and became the CN Humberstone Spur, then after the Welland Canal bypass was put in, the CN Humberstone Spur became the CN Dain Spur as a storage track for Dain City.
After the Welland Canal bypass was put in, the area of this old line was torn out north of where the former 406 grade crossing used to be. CN then built a different route of the CN Welland Subdivision westward from the 406 area (prior to the 406 even coming to Welland), westward across the Welland River and the old portion of the Welland Canal. A Causeway was built over the Welland Canal with a small access bridge for water to pass under and small boats to pass under, but the Welland River had a totally built bridge across the width of the river. When this new line was built, it continued west across the 2
waterways and then bent north at mile 9.1ish and headed parallel with the Welland Canal through the west side of Port Robinson and Allanburg and connected in with the CN Thorold Subdivision, which already existed going to CN Merritton. Now to the the south at Dain City, the track curved westward on the former pre 1972 trackage of the CN Cayuga Subdivision that ran east west through Dain City before the Welland bypass was built. The line connected to the west at CN Feeder West and still does. CN Feeder West is the west end of the realignment of the CN Cayuga Subdivision through the Townline tunnel.
CN Feeder West under CN (1972 till 1999, when Trillium took over the CN Canal Spur). This westward location is mile 0.0 of the CN Canal Subdivision and mile 20.9 of the CN Cayuga Subdivision.
Once this totally rearranged line opened in 1972, it became the CN Canal Subdivision. Mile 0.0 at CN Feeder West and mile 14.0 at CN Thorold Jct. - at bridge 10 at Allanburg. There was a wye at mile 14 with the CN Thorold Subdivision until 1998. The bridge was removed and the connecting track of the wye became the new CN Canal Spur (Spur by this time in history - connecting to the CN Thorold Spur). It was 1999 that CN handed over the CN Canal Spur and CN Thorold Spur (Thorold Spur on the west side of the canal...to Trillium Rwy.
When the new line was opened under CN, traffic for the first 8 or so years dropped considerably. It got to the point where there was only one train 8 hours. I think this was because CN put in a west leg of a to-be wye at CN Clifton in Niagara Falls, where the old CN Welland Subdivision used to go. After the beginning of the 1990's, traffic stopped flowing through Welland, except CN 334, in January of 1994, when the CN Southern yard accident occurred, and the old local Dain City Yard Job 567 came in to take the short cut to Port Colborne. After that, the CN Canal Subdivision
was closed to traffic north of mile 9 (north of the Welland River). It wasn't until September 19thish that this line reopened north of Welland and up through the CN Thorold Spur, to connect to CN Merritton, on the west side of Glendale Avenue, in St. Catharines.
In August of 1997, CN Thorold Jct., at mile 14 of the TR Canal Spur was removed from service and pulled up. The west side of the Thorold Subdivision was connected directly to the CN Canal Spur, as just mentioned, via the old connecting track of the CN Thorold Subdivision wye.
I would have to say the CN Canal Subdivision was the hottest place to watch trains during the years prior to 1970.
The Canal Subdivision was technically closed to traffic from 1992 till 1999, north of mile 9 (Welland River). I heard it was closed that far up even though there weren't any switches there, but was rumored ES Fox who set up shop by there wanted access to the rail, even though no track was there into the plant. ES Fox is a contracting company for refrigeration and plumbing and electrical. I'm sure they did a lot more.
For several years, only the Dain City CN yard switcher 567 switched this line serving Gencorp (a rubber company formerly called General Tire in the 1970's) at mile 6.8... later called GDX in the 1990's. Atlas Specialty Steels also at mile 7.5, through the switch off of this line by Brown Road. Atlas Specialty Steels was taken over by Salit Steel in the 1990's then the plant shut down in 1996 or 1997.
In early 1998, I was told by a CN foreman, there was the possibility of CN trains being permanently re-routed away from the CN Port Robinson yard in Port Robinson on the CN Stamford Subdivision for directional running. These rerouted trains would take the CN Stamford Subdivision as far west as CN Robbins and then the former CN Cayuga Subdivision west (former, because this section became the CP Hamilton Subdivision (writing this after CP took over the line 3 years later than this 1998 choice) to CN Feeder via what is now CP Brookfield Siding, then take the connecting track to the TR Feeder Spur and head east to Dain City on the TR Canal Spur, continuing up the same line through downtown Welland
to CN Merritton via the TR Thorold Spur from mile 4.4 to Mile 9.8 of the CN Grimsby Subdivision via the TR Thorold Spur. This rerouting never happened because CN saw that too many Wellanders walked and trespassed on the CN Canal Subdivision like ants on the ground. It was a safety concern as it was hard to implement charges for trespassing, when it was too overwhelming.
On September 8, 1998, contracted crews from Stoney Creek, Ontario, were brought in to remove all the old trackage between Ontario Road and East Main Street in Welland, except for the main line and the Gencorp lead. Total rail removed was about 4 miles of end to end rideable rail.
Shortly after, CN decided that they would not reopen the now TR Canal Spur to freight traffic, CN handed over the CN Canal Spur, which was downgraded from a Subdivision to a Spur in 1997, Trillium took over the line in September 1999.
In the September 11th issue of the Welland Tribune, there was an article on page B1 regarding the CN Canal Spur re-opening of many new trains. Obviously after that, at no fault to the newspaper, CN had changed it's mind.
On page A1 of the Welland Tribune, September 18, 1998 there was another article about the cancellation of the reopening of the CN Canal Spur due to public safety. People liked to walk the line through town and to thisd day of rewriting this in 2020, people still walk the tracks as a sidewalk, cross at inappropriate places and also use ATVs and motorbikes... which is a federal offence because it is railway land and that they aren't allowed in the city.
Trillium uses the TR Canal Spur also to go out to the TR Feeder Spur in the morning to pick up railcars for the day and to return cars to the yard after switching duties at the end of the day, after either going to St. Catharines, Port Colborne Dain City or Welland. Dain City is a suburb of Welland under the Corporation of Welland.
Up until Trillium took over operations, CN and NS operated on this line. CN with NS, with a local from Dain City Intermodal yard went out to Feeder South to go to over to Feeder yard on the CN Cayuga Subdivision. to move Intermodal traffic for NS to take either to Buffalo or onto St. Thomas.
NS operated trains between Dain City and CN Feeder West... to push-back trains into the Intermodal facility at mile 3.1 on the CN Canal Spur. NS sometimes went north towards Welland on this line to also back cars into the facility. CN also used the line to access downtown Welland. Already having CN 567 servicing Welland, when Dain City Intermodal closed at the end of the first week of October 1998, CN 549 out of Niagara Falls, that used to be a Niagara Falls St. Catharines industry job began coming to Welland once a week, on a weekday. If 549 came to Welland the first time on a Tuesday, the next week was either one day later or one day earlier the next day. I forgot which it was. 549 operated into Welland until September 1999, when Trillium took over this line.
In the early 2000's Trillium as does today when required has a St. Catharines job and Welland-Port Colborne job, but are interchangeable for on demand for workload.
Back in the 1999 and the 2000's, Trillium's St. Catharines train would come to south to Welland to pick up cars from the yard at Ontario Road, but as time went by Trillium pulled their St. Catharines Job out of St. Catharines and brought it down to TR Feeder West with the Welland-Port Colborne train. Later, the power was stored at Brown Road, but as of 2020 it's back at the Feeder West area.
Trillium started work by 7am and still does by the horn as the train put out and either on the TR Feeder Spur or TR Canal Spur, to access TR Feeder yard or via TR Feeder South to gain access via the connection track to the TR Feeder Spur. I believe Trillium Port Colborne traffic is taken to Port Colborne and industries are serviced there if required first if there is only one crew working. Trillium used to leave TR Feeder yard traffic south of Forks Road on the TR Harborline and pull onto the TR Canal Spur and heads into Dain City to either service the bio-diesel plant or to continue up the
line to downtown Welland where they may service Vesuvius via the CP Welland Industrial Lead to get to the TR West Welland Spur.
The St. Catharines Job would continue into Dain City and north through Welland towards and into St. Catharines at Merritton and requiring to cross over the CN Grimsby Subdivision. I believe the St. Catharines job used to service Gencorp (during the early days of Trillium because GDX, which later became Henengers burned down most of the plant in the 2000's, north of East Main St. The St. Catharines job still continue north where at Thorold it will connect onto their TR Thorold Spur to Merritton. Once the St. Catharines job reaches CN Merritton on the CN Grimsby Subdivision, they tone up the CN dispatcher to open up the electric bolt lock and head west to CN Glenridge and cross over to the north track and head east back to
CN Merritton and open up the electric bolt lock on the north track to leave the CN mainline trackage and enter TR Merritton yard.
The Port Colborne job or if it is just the only train working that day usually returns to TR Feeder yard around 10am or 11am and the St. Catharines job will return during the mid to late afternoon. It takes about 35 to 40 min to travel from the south end of Welland to CN Merritton.
For a period of time when Trillium used to park their in use power at Brown Road, they came back from St. Catharines and parked it on the service track or south of Brown Road, then the next morning, when they went out to go on duty, they took the previous day's train to Feeder yard with them. Now I believe it's taken right back to Feeder yard, as the power is stored out there.
Sometimes on weekends, industries are servuced in Port Colborne, like the former Casco plant or the Bio diesel plant.
With Henenger's (formerly at one time GDX, GenCorp, General Tire) that closed at the end of October 2011, I found out they hadn't received any rail service since about September 2009.
With the expansion project of the 406 to 4 lanes and an overpass, the old 406 crossing at about mile 7.9 is now no longer existing. On or about August 30, 2013, the crossing protection was deactivated, but the protection stood in place as trains still passed by this location, as the new 406 was partially moved to an overpass located on the south side of the old grade crossing.
On September 5 or 6, 2013, the old 406 crossing protection was removed from site and the 406 is no longer a grade crossing. Shortly after this, I noticed that the Daimler Parkway crossing, which was just north of the 406, on the trackage was move a 100 feet to fix the alignment of the crossing. Daimler Parkway for many years has been a roadway off of the 406, but an extension of Woodlawn Road heading up into a golf course. In the mid 2010's I was told the golf course closed and the property was going to be turned into a residential area.
Something that I have overlooked at noting about this line, there used to be a train station at Dain City called CN Welland Junction. This is where the CN Welland Subdivision from the north and the CN Humberstone Subdivision from the south met up with the CN Cayuga Subdivision that passed east west through here. I believe the station was torn down in the early 1970's.
There was also the original CN/N&W Intermodal yard at East Main Street in Welland, on the south side of the the street. I don't know when the Intermodal facility started, but in 1977 there was a fire at the station and the station was then moved down to Dain City where I have mentioned above, the CN/NS Intermodal facility. N&W and Southern merged in 1981 and became NS. That is why it is CN/NS.
In 1942 or 1947 a small rail yard was built up backside of what used to be Beaver Lumber, on the west side of the CN Welland Subdivision, and on the north side of East Main Street. The business these days that building is now known as NAPA auto parts. The yard was torn out in 1997. 1997 is the year CN went around at least the Niagara Region tearing out all the track that wasn't needed.
Before the CN/N&W Intermodal facility at East Main Street existed was a passenger station, located on the west side of the siding. It must have existed from at least the early 1900's until possibly the 1950's.
Prior to the early 1970's, there were many industries along the CN Welland Subdivision. I can think of at least 15, but as times went by, industries involved in coal, ice, bread, LCL (Less than car load) shipping, all ceased. It was the beginning of the end of good industry in Welland. It would take a few more decades until the steel industry and UCAR left for financial $ reasons.
If you head west out of Dain City on Forks Road to where the track crosses Forks Road, that is today's TR Harborline to Port Colborne, but if you look on the north east side of the crossing and going back several feet towards the CN Canal Spur, this whole area including the towing company to the west side of the tracks was the former CN Signals dept office property before the Welland Canal bypass was put in, and before the CN Signals building was built on the Cayuga Subdivision in 1972.
848 photos in gallery
Select a mileage to display
| 0 - 1 | 1 - 2 | 2 - 3 | 3 - 4 | 4 - 5 | 5 - 6 | 6 - 7 | 7 - 8 | 8 - 9 | 9 - 10 | 10 - 11 | 11 - 12 | 12 - 13 | 13 - 14 | 14 - 15 |
 Mile 0.00 Looking East (1995) |
 Mile 0.00 Looking East (2003) |
 Mile 0.00 Looking West (2001) |
 Mile 0.00 Looking West (2001) |
 Mile 0.10 Looking East (2007) |
 Mile 0.10 Looking West (2003) |
 Mile 0.20 Looking East (2014) |
 Mile 0.20 Looking West (2014) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking North (2010) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking North (2010) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking North (2014) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking East (2000) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking East (2003) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking East (2003) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking East (2010) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking East (2012) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking East (2013) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking East (2014) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking South (2010) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking South (2010) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking West (1997) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking West (2003) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking West (2010) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking West (2012) |
 Mile 0.38 Looking West (2014) |
 Mile 0.45 Looking East (2012) |
 Mile 0.58 Looking North (2003) |
 Mile 0.58 Looking East (2000) |
 Mile 0.58 Looking East (2003) |
 Mile 0.58 Looking West (2000) |
 Mile 0.58 Looking West (2003) |
 Mile 0.58 Looking West (2013) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking Northwest (2012) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking East (1997) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking East (1997) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking East (2006) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking East (2006) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking East (2012) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking South (2012) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking West (1997) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking West (1997) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking West (2003) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking West (2006) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking West (2006) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking West (2006) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking West (2006) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking West (2012) |
 Mile 0.90 Looking East (2013) |
 Mile 0.90 Looking West (2012) |
 Mile 0.90 Looking West (2013) |
 Mile 0.96 Looking West (2006) |
Select a mileage to display
| 0 - 1 | 1 - 2 | 2 - 3 | 3 - 4 | 4 - 5 | 5 - 6 | 6 - 7 | 7 - 8 | 8 - 9 | 9 - 10 | 10 - 11 | 11 - 12 | 12 - 13 | 13 - 14 | 14 - 15 |
Photos of the Welland River bridge at mile 8.68 of the TR Canal Spur. 
These photos are of the Feeder Connecting track that runs between the TR Canal Spur and the TR Cayuga Spur, west of Dain City.
 Mile 0.00 Looking Northeast (1998) |
 Mile 0.00 Looking Northeast (2012) |
 Mile 0.00 Looking Southwest (2012) |
 Mile 0.01 Looking Southwest (2012) |
 Mile 0.10 Looking South (2013) |
 Mile 0.20 Looking Northeast (1992) |
 Mile 0.20 Looking Northeast (2006) |
 Mile 0.20 Looking South (2006) |
 Mile 0.22 Looking Northwest (2012) |
 Mile 0.22 Looking Northwest (2012) |
 Mile 0.22 Looking Southeast (2012) |
 Mile 0.25 Looking Northwest (2012) |
 Mile 0.28 Looking North (2012) |
 Mile 0.30 Looking Northwest (2000) |
 Mile 0.30 Looking Northwest (2003) |
 Mile 0.30 Looking Northwest (2012) |
 Mile 0.30 Looking North (2011) |
 Mile 0.30 Looking North (2014) |
 Mile 0.30 Looking Southeast (1992) |
 Mile 0.30 Looking Southeast (2000) |
 Mile 0.30 Looking Southeast (2003) |
 Mile 0.30 Looking Southeast (2012) |
 Mile 0.30 Looking South (1998) |
 Mile 0.40 Looking Southeast (2012) |
 Mile 0.50 Looking Northwest (2012) |
 Mile 0.50 Looking Northwest (2012) |
 Mile 0.50 Looking Southeast (2006) |
 Mile 0.50 Looking Southeast (2012) |
These photos are of WR Yard, located at Ontario Road in Welland.
 Looking North (2004) |
 Looking South (2004) |
 Looking South (2012) |
 Looking South (2013) |
 Looking South (2016) |
 Looking South (2012) |
 Looking South (2013) |
 Looking North (2004) |
 Looking South (2004) |
 Looking North (2004) |
 Looking North (2012) |
 Looking Northwest (2011) |
 Looking North (2013) |
 Looking North (2013) |
 Looking North (2013) |
 Looking North (2011) |
 Looking North (2013) |
 Looking South (2004) |
 Looking North (2013) |
 Looking North (2013) |
 Looking South (2012) |
 Looking South (2013) |
 Looking South (2013) |
These photos are of the Team Track at Brown Road in Weland, on the old property of Atlas Specialty Steels.
 Looking Southwest (2003) |
 Looking Southwest (2003) |
 Looking Southwest (2003) |
 Looking Southwest (2005) |
 Looking Southwest (2006) |
These photos are of the old CN Thorold Subdivision connecting track between the CN Canal Subdivision and the CN Thorold Subdivision, on the west side of former bridge 10, up in Allanburg.
 Looking East (1996) |
 Looking East (1996) |
 Looking East (1997) |
 Looking West (1996) |
These photos are of the old HEPC trackage in Welland that ran (well, it's still there, but hasn'tbeen used for decades) off of the CN Canal Subdivision & Spur down by mile 4.1-ish.
 Looking Northwest (2006) |
 Looking Southeast (2012) |
 Looking South (2006) |
 Looking Northwest (2006) |
 Looking Southeast (2006) |
 Looking Southeast (2006) |
These photos are of the old Feeder South area pedestrian xing for farmer's use. I had noticed that in March 2012, these signs no longer existed. I don't know when the signs disappeared.
 Mile 0.80 Looking South (1997) |
 Mile 0.80 Looking North (2006) |
This photo is of the East Main Street xing in Welland years ago.
 Looking Northeast (1972) |
These photos are of the old CN Fertilizer Lead in Dain City off of the old CN Canal Subdivision. I believe the line was removed in the 1980's. This plant produced I believe liquid fertilzer, for local farmers.
The Lead left the CN Canal Subdivision at mile 2.4.
These photos are of the old CN Fertilizer Lead in Dain City off of the old CN Canal Subdivision. I believe the line was removed in the 1980's. This plant produced I believe liquid fertilzer, for local farmers.
The Lead left the CN Canal Subdivision at mile 2.4.
 Looking East (1985) |
 Looking East (2012) |
 Looking Southwest (2012) |
 Looking East (2012) |
 Looking Southwest (2012) |
 Looking East (2012) |
 Looking East (2012) |
 Looking Southwest (2012) |
These photos are of the yard trackage at Dain City that leads off of the old CN and now TR Canal Spur along St. Clair Drive.
 Looking Northwest (2002) |
 Looking Northwest (2012) |
 Looking Northeast (2012) |
 Looking East (2011) |
 Looking East (2012) |
 Looking East (2013) |
 Looking Southeast (2013) |
 Looking West (2012) |
 Looking West (2012) |
 Looking West (2013) |
These photos are of the SLM Salvage business at the north end of Welland, off of the TR Canal Spur. The lead runs off of the TR Canal Spur north of Brown Road, and runs across Brown Road along the TR Canal Spur into the back of the old Atlas Steels plant, and then there is a switch you back northward into the plant.
I believe the lead off of the TR Canal Spur here is the old 'team track'.
Th switch into the plant along the side of the fence was put in during the summer of 2012.
About 70% of the way along the SLM salvage propery heading south, is the switch to back off this old 'team track' into the salvage plant.
 Looking Northeast (2013) |
 Looking Southwest (2013) |
 Looking Southwest (2013) |
 Looking Northeast (2013) |
 Looking Northeast (2013) |
 Looking Northeast (2013) |
 Looking Southwest (2013) |
 Looking Southwest (2013) |
 Looking Southwest (2013) |
 Looking Northwest (2013) |
 Looking Northwest (2013) |
