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78:, consisting of a single running rail which was laid on top of a wood beam, with guide rails mounted on each side. The majority of the line was elevated 10 to 30 feet (3 to 9 meters) on wooden posts, giving rise to the nickname "the Peg-Leg Railway". The line also passed through one small tunnel under a road.
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The passenger carriages were open-sided and had a total of six benches in a back-to-back configuration. These were powered by batteries for the first two years of the line's operation. In the final year, a trolley wire was installed. Power to charge the batteries, and later to energize the trolley
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In spite of the maintenance challenges facing the railway, no major accidents are known. The only known fatality was to a cow, struck by the battery case which hung beneath the car. Nevertheless, a lack of passengers made the line uneconomical. It was more a novelty than a viable means of
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The system nominally operated service at 15-minute intervals; however, its reliability was poor. The posts would sway in the soft ground, especially after heavy rains, and winter frosts shifted the posts, necessitating substantial maintenance each spring.
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This article refers to a small tourist-carrying railway which operated between
Ridgeway and Crystal Beach, Ontario. Ontario Southern was also the name of one of the early companies which were amalgamated into the
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from the Fort Erie museum contains an additional photograph of the
Ontario Southern on page 7, and a description starting on page 10.
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transportation. The primary form of public conveyance to
Crystal Beach was via steamship from
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The
Ontario Southern had a unique design. It was an early example of a
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History of rail transport in the
Regional Municipality of Niagara
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miles (2.4 km) long and operated from 1896 through 1898.
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was a short passenger-carrying line which shuttled patrons of
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wire, came from a generator connected to a stationary
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A train and station on the
Ontario Southern Railway
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40:station at Ridgeway (both communities now part of
221:. Belleville, Ontario: Mika Publishing. pp.
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192:. Canada: Railfare DC Books. pp. 200–203.
86:located at the Crystal Beach end of the line.
190:Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway
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213:Jackson, John; Burtniak, John (1978).
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148:List of defunct Canadian railways
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253:Defunct Ontario railways
143:List of Ontario railways
26:Ontario Southern Railway
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34:Crystal Beach, Ontario
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188:Mills, John (2007).
268:Monorails in Canada
38:Grand Trunk Railway
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42:Fort Erie, Ontario
30:Crystal Beach Park
21:in New York State.
263:Defunct monorails
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101:Buffalo, New York
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