Volume 8 Number 2: February 2005

On the cover:

January 18, 1929 - The worst day in the history of TH&B passenger train operations. In this issue, Kevin Leddy takes an in-depth look at the events surrounding the famous washout and resultant wreck of Train #83 at Stoney Creek, Ontario. While the TH&B kept it's record of never having had a passenger fatally injured on one of its trains, the events of January 18, 1929 were the closest the railway ever came to having that record shattered. On the cover, the Michigan Central's Auxiliary Hook from St. Thomas, Ontario attempts to extricate MCRR K-80 Pacific #8428 from the side of the Niagara Escarpment. Photograph Courtesy Rod Wilson.

Tragedy on the Mountain: The Worst Night in TH&B Passenger Train History

Remains of Michigan Central K-80 Pacific #8428 as it sits in the gully created by the washout, hours after the accident; wreck of Line Coach #72 and Engine 8428; wreck of Line Baggage Car #51; damage to Coach #72; daylight view of wrecked #8428; close-up of Line Coach #72 resting on the cab of #8428; precarious positions of Line Coaches #72 and #73 after wreck; overhead view of wreck showing Baggage Car #51, Line Coach #72, Line Coach #73 and location of engine #8428; MCRR Montrose Yard Auxiliary crane preparing to remove Line Car #73; view from the top of the mountain looking west towards Hamilton showing TH&B Auxiliary Train with X-766; view of clean up effort with TH&B Crane #X-766; Line Car #72 positioned parallel to Engine 8428; TH&B Line Coaches #72 and #73 after having been placed on their sides to facilitate track reconstruction; underside view of damaged Line Car #72; view from mountain showing reconstructed track; side view of damaged coach; TH&B 2-8-0 Consolidation #105 heads up a Work Train dumping extra fill on top of the cribbing along the newly reconstructed mainline, TH&B Hart Convertible Ballast Car #804 from the 801 - 856 series is the second car in the Work Train's consist; workers preparing to move Coach #72; Coach #72 being moved by TH&B crane X-766 and MCRR Auxiliary crane; close up of MCRR St. Thomas Hook lifting Line Coach #72; view from part way down the Niagara Escarpment looking up showing precarious position of Coach #72; TH&B crane X-766 and MCRR Auxiliary crane pulling #8428 out of the washout; remvoing MCRR Engine #8428 from the washout; modern view of “Mountain Watchman” house on Ridge Road between Stoney Creek and Vinemount.

Volume 8 Number 3: May 2005

On the cover:

A National Steel Car painter applies the finishing touches to the dimensional data of brand new cylindrical covered hopper #1501. It's March 13, 1967 and the TH&B is about to take delivery of fifty of the 100-ton cars, the largest capacity covered hoppers on the railway’s roster. 1501 would spend most of its service life with the TH&B in phosphate service at Port Maitland, Ontario. Under CP ownership, 1501 found itself in cement service in Exshaw, Alberta. Photograph Courtesy of the Hamilton Public Library, Special Collections Department.

Massey, Market and Mohawk: Brantford in the mid 1970’s

GP-7 #72, GP-9 #402 and GP-7 #71 at Chatham Street Interlocking Plant, leaving Aberdeen Yard for Toronto with CP Starlite, April 1979; SW-9 #55 outside of Stall #6 at Chatham Street Roundhouse, April 1976; trucks on Claremont Access in Hamilton carrying 2-8-0 Consolidation #103 and its tender to Westfield Pioneer Village, January 17, 1977.

Volume 8 Number 4: August 2005

On the cover:

“Whew! That was close!” Cattle apprehensively peer through the gaping hole left in the side of their cattle car after the derailment of a CPR ‘Extra Hamilton’ on the CNR's Oakville Subdivision on October 3, 1955. Given the industrialized nature of the territory served by the railway, many individuals do not associate the handling of livestock traffic with the TH&B. In this issue, Kevin Leddy takes us on an in-depth look at this segment of the railway's business that has gone largely unexplored. Photograph Courtesy of the Hamilton Public Library, Special Collections Department.

Livestock Traffic on the TH&B Railway

East Local at Aberdeen, July 27, 1950, with stock cars #910, #916, #911 and TH&B Consolidation #107; stock car #525, 1928; stock car #530, circa 1935; stock car #909, 1941; #915 at Market Street Yard in Brantford, early 1950; stock car #917 at Wentworth Street, 1952; stock car #900 at Aberdeen Yard, 1952; stock car #924 at Aberdeen Yard, 1958; stock car #928 at Aberdeen's North Yard, 1958; CP RS-10 #8466 leading Extra Hamilton through Bayview Junction, April 3, 1956; 0-6-0 #51 with West Local at Brantford, undated but prior to 1941; telegram dated Julth 12, 1968, ordering stock cars for train TF-2; TH&B stock pen facilities at St. Ann's, with a CP stock car from the 277200 - 277974 series, September 22, 1964; TH&B stock facilities at Fenwick, September 22, 1964; Brantford stock pens in the mid-1920's with International Great Northern boxcar and unidentified flatcar on C.N.R. Interchange Track, with Koehring-Waterous Plant in background; recently delivered NW-2 #53 handling CP stock car loaded with hogs in Aberdeen's North Yard, 1948; Fowlers Canadian Company on Hamilton Beltline, west of Fisher Yard, 1937; rare Uniform Livestock Contract, produced at Smithville, December 10, 1906.

Jack Beldham, circa 2004; superintendent letterhead; notice of Jack Belham's appointment to superintendent; John G. Beldham's Trainmaster and Safetyu Agent business card; John G. Beldham's Superintendent business card.