Great Western station, St. Thomas, circa 1890s. View of the north side, looking southeast. The station was located opposite the north end of Station Street. The photographer was likely located on top of a rail car.
Ian Cameron Collection, Elgin County Archives.
The year 1870 saw the initial replacement of iron rails with 1,100 tons of steel rails. No dividend was paid again, due to the great expense of mixing and working on two gauges at once as well as higher operating expenses. This year saw the “final act” played out in the fiasco of the provincial gauge. An amended act in 1870 repealed the act of 1851 requiring the use of the broad provincial gauge and authority was given to alter the gauge to standard (Dominion of Canada Statutes, 33 Victoria, chapter 50, 1870). As a result, preparations were immediately begun to take up the outside (broad gauge) rail from Windsor to Komoka (just outside London) and to sell the worn-out iron rails. The proceeds of this sale were then applied to the purchase of sixteen standard-gauge locomotives from the U.S. In addition, construction began on five standard-gauge locomotives in the company’s locomotive works in Hamilton. The plan was then to take up the remainder of the outside rail on the main line and branches as broad-gauge locomotives were liquidated (converted to standard gauge, sold, or scrapped; see chapter 4). Around this time, planning was begun for the construction of the Wellington, Grey and Bruce (see chapter 3) and Canada Air Line (aka Glencoe loop line) branches.
The charter of the Glencoe loop line required it to pass “through” St. Thomas and Cayuga and “at or near” Simcoe. This obviously limited the routing of the line. However, the line was practically straight throughout, being only four miles longer than a so-called “air line” (as the crow flies) over the entire 146 miles between Glencoe and the International Bridge at Buffalo. Gradients of this line were far less (238 feet in 96 miles or 0.05 percent) than those of the main lines of the Grand Trunk (967 feet in 38 miles or 0.48 percent) or the Great Western (762 feet in 44 miles or 0.33 percent). There were actually only five grades on the entire line:
East of St. Thomas station, rose over 1,760 yards by one foot in 150 feet or 0.67 percent (rose toward the east)
Approximately one mile west of Tillsonburg station, rose over 1,500 yards by one foot in 150 feet (0.67 percent) and over 900 yards by one foot in 188 feet (0.53 percent) (rose toward the west)
East of Fredericksburg (Delhi) station, rose over 1,666 yards by one foot in 151.5 feet (0.66 percent) (rose toward the east)
East of Simcoe station, rose over 2,000 yards by one foot in 154 feet (0.65 percent) (rose toward the east)
West of Cayuga station, rose over 4,167 yards by one foot in 157.5 feet (0.63 percent) (rose toward the west)
The aggregate gradient was only 6.4 miles long and no helper services were needed along the entire loop line.
The company’s rolling mill at this time was active night and day. A number of machines had been added, including a train of puddle rolls and a rotary squeezer for shingling the puddle balls; hot shears for cutting the puddle bars; a stationary engine of forty horsepower with two boilers; and an extension of the building to enclose the new machinery. The completion of these improvements had been one of the conditions of the contract entered into with Ward, Clement, and Potter in the previous March. The contract was for two years and specified re-rolling of all old iron rails with a very superior quality American iron at the rail heads at a cost of $27 (£5,11 shillings) per ton. It was also planned to replace iron rails with steel rails on the main line at a rate of five hundred tons per month.
By December 1870 alterations had been made to the Toronto depot, including an addition to the southeast corner of the Yonge Street building and one office being moved westward.
A dividend of 6 percent was declared for the final six months of 1870. By January 1, 1871, 111 miles of main line had been re-laid with steel rails or the best of the iron rails. Traffic had increased that winter with a reduction in accidents due to deficient rails. By this time, the following sections had been converted over completely to standard gauge:
Windsor to Komoka (99.75 miles)
Hamilton to Suspension Bridge (43.25 miles)
Hamilton to Toronto (37.75 miles)
Revision of the gauge of the Sarnia, Petrolia, and Guelph branches (total of eighty-three and a quarter miles) would be the next track project. This would allow the car shops to convert all rolling stock over to standard gauge. At that time, the Wellington, Grey, and Bruce branch under construction (fifty and three quarter miles) was broad-gauged. The triple-railed section from Komoka to Hamilton (eighty-six and a half miles) would remain so in order to allow usage of the remaining broad-gauge locomotives until their standard-gauge replacements arrived on site. In a phenomenal feat of organization, revision of the gauge of the Hamilton-to-Toronto branch had interrupted traffic for only eight hours.
On January 21, 1871, a branch line was opened from Suspension Bridge to the city of Buffalo built by the Erie Railroad, producing a second eastbound connection in addition to the long-standing one with the New York Central. January 1871 witnessed the sod-turning ceremony initiating construction of the eight-mile-long Brantford branch. This branch left the Great Western main line at Harrisburg and ran south to Brantford on the Grand River. In the 1850s the city had backed the Buffalo, Brantford, and Goderich Railway (BB&G) over the Great Western. As a result, travellers had to journey west to Paris in order to board a Great Western passenger train to Toronto. The BB&G (later known as the Buffalo and Lake Huron) came under the influence of the Grand Trunk in 1864. Freight then had to travel west to Stratford before going east to Toronto. This short branch would eliminate these problems. See chapter 3 for further details regarding this branch.
A dividend for the first six months of 1871 of 5.5 percent annually was declared. A total of £5,895 ($28,710) was paid for repairs and victim compensation for the Nith River bridge accident on the night of June 5, 1871 (see chapter 6).
Some of the broad-gauge rolling stock that was not convertible to standard gauge was still in fair working condition and too good to scrap. It was decided that the triple-railed section between Komoka and Hamilton would remain in place for the present. Another factor supporting this decision was the inadequate number of standard-gauge locomotives to pull standard-gauge trains. Broad-gauge locomotives could be used with standard-gauge trains in this section of the railway.
A 6-percent dividend was declared for the last six months of 1871. Great satisfaction continued to be expressed regarding the performance of the steel rails, and steel replaced iron as quickly as the iron rails wore out. Steel rails allowed the passage of heavier locomotives, cars, and trains, with diminished wear and tear on the latter.
By January 31, 1872, the entire rolling stock of the company had been converted over to standard gauge. Arrangements were underway to purchase the Erie and Niagara Railway (31.25 miles), a line worked by the Great Western since the fall of 1866 (see chapter 3). At the October 16, 1872, shareholder meeting, a 6.5 percent dividend was declared for the previous six months.
Unfortunately, the proposed purchase of the Erie and Niagara fell through when no agreement could be reached. In place of this, the Great Western approached the Welland Railway and requested running rights over the approximately fifteen miles of line joining the eastern end of the Glencoe loop line with the main line at St. Catharines (see chapter 3).
In July 1872 it was reported that the Great Western would be moving its car shops to London, as part of the deal to lease the London and Port Stanley Railway.
