| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Hamilton, Ontario |
| Reporting mark | H&LE |
| Locale | Southern Ontario, Hamilton |
| Dates of operation | 1873– |
| Successor | H&NW, GTR, CNR, SOR |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Hamilton and Lake Erie Railway (H&LE) is a historical shortline railway in Ontario, Canada. It ran from Hamilton to Port Dover, about 40 miles (64 km), providing trans-shipping service between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and with connections, to Lake Huron at Georgian Bay.
Formed in 1834 as the Hamilton and Port Dover Railway, it rechartered in 1853 and purchased the Hamilton and Southwestern Railway in 1855. Nothing came of any of these companies. When the charter was renewed in December 1869, it was purchased by the newly formed H&LE. Construction began in 1873, but the $1 million cost of driving up the 330 foot (100 m) Hamilton Mountain (part of the Niagara Escarpment at Hamilton) and building a bridge at the Grand River at Caledonia was too much too bear. The company ran out of cash after reaching Jarvis in January 1875, only a few miles short of Port Dover.
The company was purchased by the well-financed Hamilton and North-Western Railway (H&NW) in 1877. Through this merger, the H&NW controlled a network that connected Lake Erie, Ontario, Simcoe and Huron. The line was finally completed to Port Dover the next year. In 1881, the Grand Trunk Railway purchased both the H&NW and the competing Port Dover and Lake Huron Railway. The operations were merged over the next several years with a new station being built in GT style.
GT's 1918 bankruptcy and subsequent formation of the Canadian National Railway (CNR) in 1923 led to the line becoming part of the Hagersville Subdivision. CN lifted the line between Jarvis and Port Dover in 1935. In 1969 they constructed a new line running to the Nanticoke industrial area on Lake Erie. The remaining spur from Garnet to Jarvis was lifted in the 1970s. The Southern Ontario Railway purchased several lines in the area in 1997, forming an extended route from Brantford to Nanticoke as their newly reformed Hagersville Sub. The section from Hamilton to Caledonia, including the run up Hamilton Mountain, was abandoned in 1997 as part of this purchase. Of the original line, only the 15.6 miles (25.1 km) section from Caledonia to Garnet remains in use.