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Niagara Gorge Route Trolley Line

In 1891, the Queen Victoria Parks Commissioners granted the Niagara Falls Park and River Railway a charter to operate an electric railway through Queen Victoria Park and Parks Commission land from Chippewa to Queenston. This single track Canadian railway was opened on May 24, 1893 and was double-tracked in 1894.

A similar double track railway line was constructed by the Niagara Falls and Lewiston Electric Railway on the American side of the River in the early 1890's. This line started at Niagara Falls, New York, gradually descended to the water's edge, proceeded along the Whirlpool and Devil's Hole to Lewiston, where it returned to the top of the gorge.

In 1902 the two trolley lines were purchased by the International Railway Company and combined into the "Great Gorge Route." The Route began at the Gorge Terminal on Falls Avenue in Niagara Falls, NY, where passengers paid a fee of $1.00 and boarded the electric trolleys. The trolleys left the station, crossed the Falls View Bridge into Canada, and proceeded along the top of the Gorge to Queenston, where they met incoming steamships from Toronto. Next the trolley cars crossed the Queenston-Lewiston Suspension Bridge into the United States, descended into the Gorge and followed the route of the original American railway.

The Great Gorge Route had 38 trolley cars, most of which were open cars that ran from May to September. Beginning in 1901, the International Railway Company began offering nightly trips with several powerful spotlights illuminating the Gorge. The Great Gorge Route remained a very popular tourist attraction for nearly 40 years.

The Niagara Gorge Route proved to be dangerous because of  rock falls, derailments, and washouts of the tracks on the American side of the Route. On July 15, 1915, a trolley left the rails, killing 13 tourists. In 1917, a trolley toppled into the Whirlpool and twelve more passengers were drowned. A conductor was killed by falling rocks, and on another occasion, refuse was accidentally dumped from a garbage chute onto an open trolley car. In spite of these incidents, however, the attraction remained open.

With the arrival of the Great Depression, the Great Gorge Route faced a declining number of passengers. Poor business, coupled with high maintenance costs and increasingly hazardous rock falls made the Route too costly and dangerous to continue. Trips along the Great Gorge Route ceased in 1932. The railway on the Canadian was dismantled by the Niagara Parks Commission. Trolleys continued to operate in the United States until a rock fall in 1935 buried the tracks under 5000 tons of rock. At the time of its closure, over 13,000,000 passengers had ridden on the Great Gorge Route and had experienced the magnificent view of the whirlpool and rapids.

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Niagara Falls Park & River Railway

Niagara Falls Park & River Railway

 

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  • Great Gorge Niagara Gorge Trolley 1920s
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  • Niagara Falls Park & River Railway
Last edited by Bobby Ogage

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