Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway
| Reporting mark | NS&T |
|---|---|
| Locale | Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada |
| Dates of operation | 1899–1959 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Headquarters | St. Catharines, Ontario |
The Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway (reporting mark NS&T) is a historic Canadian railway that operated in southern Ontario from 1899 to 1959.
The NS&T was an interurban electric railway located in the Niagara Peninsula. It was based in St. Catharines and had lines to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Port Dalhousie, Niagara Falls, Thorold, Welland and Port Colborne.
The NS&T was created in 1899 when a previous railway, the St. Catharines and Niagara Central Railway, was reorganized. The new railway was originally under U.S. ownership but was sold to a Toronto group in 1904. The initial layout was about 32 km. This was mainly between St. Catharines, Thorold, and Port Dalhousie. Several plans were made to extend the rail network to Hamilton and Toronto; however, none of them were successful. This included a plan to build a radial network along hydro rights of way. This plan was encouraged by hydro pioneer, Sir Adam Beck, but provincial and municipal subsidy requests were turned down and the plan died on the drafting table.
In 1908, control passed to the Canadian Northern Railway. When Canadian Northern experienced financial difficulties, the government decided to take it over and in 1918 it was renamed the Canadian National Railway.
In 1923, CNR formed a subsidiary called Canadian National Electric Railways which placed the NS&T, the Toronto Suburban Railway, the Toronto Eastern Railway and the Oshawa Railway under the same administration. Since the only connection among them was that they were all electric railways, the NS&T retained its name during subsequent operations.
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