Background The line was originally conceived by Kenyon Cox (brother of
Jacob Dolson Cox,
Governor of Ohio),
Daniel Drew,
Sidney Dillon and John F. Tracy to connect with the
Wabash Railroad and establish a railway network extending from
Lake Erie to the
Mississippi River. The CSR's banker, Kenyon, Cox & Co. (of which Drew was general partner) failed, and its bonds were subsequently
protested, although some observers felt that the move was unnecessary. When Cornelius died in 1877, his son,
William Henry Vanderbilt, became head of the Vanderbilt railroad empire. In 1929, MCR subleased CSR to NYC, its parent company.
Development of the line The company was originally authorized to construct a railway line between
Fort Erie and
Sandwich (
Windsor), with a
branch line to
Amherstburg. A second branch line was authorized in 1869 between
St. Thomas and
Sombra the following year. Other significant subsequent legislation included: There was an attempt in 1883 to amalgamate the CSR with the
Credit Valley Railway, which was dropped when the CVR opted to merge with the
Ontario and Quebec Railway instead.
Corporate headquarters and the yard as it existed behind the station, circa 1915. CSR's headquarters were located in
St. Thomas, Ontario. The site was chosen because St Thomas was roughly equal-distance between
Windsor and
Fort Erie, Ontario and the city offered a $25,000 bonus to the railroad company as an incentive to build within city limits.
Car shops and locomotive manufacturing A large car shop, located in the yard, facilitated the manufacture of cars and allowed repairs to be made to locomotives. Steam locomotives were also manufactured for CSR in the car shop, beginning in 1882 and closed sometime after 1905. Types of locomotives made included: • B-82b Class - Type
0-6-0 • B-82d Class - Type 0-6-0 • B-84 Class - Type 0-6-0 • B-84b Class - Type 0-6-0 • F-81c Class - Type
4-6-0 • F-82f Class - Type 4-6-0 • F-82 Class - Type 4-6-0 • F-82a Class - Type 4-6-0 • G-80e Class - Type
2-8-0 Initially all locomotives were built for use by CASO, but some ended their career with the
New York Central Railroad.
Later years The CSR was never completely controlled by the New York Central (later part of
Penn Central) or the Michigan Central, as the two together held only about 107,000 of the 150,000 shares outstanding, and the rest were publicly held. The shareholders had received
dividends in every year from 1887, On April 30, 1985, the
Canadian National Railway and
Canadian Pacific Railway jointly purchased the former CASO from Conrail in order to acquire the
Michigan Central Railway Tunnel under the
Detroit River and the
Michigan Central Railway Bridge at
Niagara Falls. Much of the CASO has been downgraded, abandoned or removed by CN and CP over the years. Operations through Niagara Falls (and over the MCRR bridge) were discontinued with that portion of the line through the city removed in 2001. Unlike the rest of the line, however, the Detroit River tunnel is a key part of freight movements across the Canada-US border and still sees a good number of mainline trains. The CASO rarely operated its own
rolling stock after acquisition, and its reporting mark was abolished in 1977. == See also ==