Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway
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| Reporting mark | THB |
|---|---|
| Locale | Niagara Peninsula, Ontario |
| Dates of operation | 1892–1987 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Headquarters | Hamilton, Ontario |
The Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway (reporting mark THB) was a railway based in Hamilton that ran in Southern Ontario from 1894 to 1987. It never reached the other two cities in its name, although it did have branch lines extending to Dunnville and Port Maitland.
The railway was originally chartered in 1884 by the Ontario Legislative Assembly to run from Toronto to the International Railway Bridge, connecting with local lines to Buffalo. The original charter forbade the company any attempt to merge with, lease from, sell to, or pool with any other railway. Given the business conditions at the time, this turned out to be an impossible condition. The original corporation was unable to complete the line before the original charter expired, so the government revived the act, requiring the line to be completed by 1894, with a new group of promoters.
It began operations in 1892, when it took over the incomplete line of the Brantford, Waterloo & Lake Erie Railway between Brantford and Waterford. The line reached Hamilton in October, 1894 and Welland on December 30, 1895.
In 1895, the Canadian Pacific Railway and the New York Central Railroad bought the TH&B.
The TH&B was jointly owned by the CPR and the NYC for several decades. NYC and its subsidiaries (Michigan Central Railroad and Canada Southern Railway) owned 73%, while the CPR owned the other 27%. It never built into Toronto or Buffalo, but used its parent companies' trackage to reach the two cities. Passenger service on the TH&B was discontinued on April 26, 1981. In 1977, CP Rail acquired NYC's portion (at that point part of the bankrupt Penn Central giving the CPR 90% ownership and destined not to be included in Conrail) which held a 10% ownership, The CPR merged the TH&B into its system in 1987. While the TH&B line between Hamilton and Welland is still in use, its former line west of Hamilton to Waterford via Brantford has been abandoned past Aberdeen Avenue in Hamilton. The portion between Hamilton and Brantford was abandoned in the 1990s after trackage next to the Grand River was washed out. Some former TH&B industrial trackage still remains in the city of Brantford, although it is now operated by Canadian National Railway.
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