For over 108 years the Canadian National (C.N.) Railways and it's predecessors, including the Great Western (G.W.) Railway of Canada, moved railroad cars across the Detroit River either by car ferrry or by car float. The service ended on March 14, 1975 when the car float "Lansdowne", formerly a car ferry, made her final crossing from Detroit to Windsor, being pushed by the tug "Margaret Yorke". It began on January 1, 1867 when the G.W.. placed in operation on the river the car ferry named "Great Western". C.N. and int's wholly-owned American subsidiary, Grand Trunk Western Railroad, now moved their cars through Conrail's Detroit River Tunnel.

          The main line of the G.W., with a track guage of 5 feet 6 inches, was built west from Niagara Falls to Windsor via Hamilton, Paris, London and Chatham and the first train arrived in Windsor on January 17, 1854. A suspension bridge over the Niagara River began service on March 19, 1855, enabling the G.W. to deliver freight to the New York Central(N.Y.C.) Railroad at Bellevue. The G.W. transported passengers and break-bulk freight between Windsor and Detroit by car ferries, notably the 163-foot, 1190-ton sidewhheeler "Union" which commenced operations in 1857. In 1864 the railway began laying a third rail which ran 284 miles west to Chicago. G.W. completed work on it's 229-mile main line at the end of 1866 and the "Great Western" went into service on the first day of the new year. The evening edition of the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune for January 5, 1867 reported that the car ferry carried across the river on January 1, 1867 the first of a number of standard guage "Blue Line" freight cars bound east. (The "Blue Line" cars were painted blue and were built in the shops of the railroads over which they were to run for service between New York City and Chicago and St Louis. 100 of the cars were constructed at the M.C. shops in Detroit.)

          According to "The Great Lake Car Ferries" (Berkeley, Calif., 1962), written by George M. Hilton, the G.W. ordered from Barclay, Curle and Co. of Glasgow, Scotland, an iron hill which was fabricated on the Clyde River, knocked down and shipped in 10,878 pieces to Windsor. It was reassembled at the shipyard of Henry Jenkins (Jenking) on the Detroit River in the Windsor area. Gartshore of Dundas, Ontario, and the G.W. shops at Hamilton, Ont., built, respectively, the engines and boilers. The "Great Western" was launched on September 6, 1866 and then was fitted out. (The Evening edition of the Advertiser and Tribune for December 13,1866 reported that trial runs were made on December 11 and 12, 1866.) The car ferry was nominally double-ended but loaded cars on from the bow. There were pilot houses fore and aft and her deck had two tracks laid to dual guage with a capacity of 12 cars. With measurements of 220 feet x 40.2 ft. x 13 ft. the "Great Western" was a huge ship - the largest steel or iron vessell on the Great Lakes and the largest ship of any kind save one on the Great Lakes. Her original weight of 1252 tons was reduced to 1030 tons in 1882. She was reboilered with four boilers built at the Montreal shops of the Grand Trunk in 1888. The "Great Western" was sold to the Essex Transit Co. on December 3, 1923 and then was reduced to a barge.

          Slips for the car ferry were constructed near the M.C. depot at the foot of Third in Detroit and the G.W. debot in Windsor. The evening edition of the Advertiser and Tribune for January 5, 1867 informed it's readers that a number of N.Y.C. freight cars with freight from New York City were at the M.C. freight depot on January 4, 1867. It should be emphasized that initially only freight cars were moved across the river by the "Great Western". Ferries continued to transport passengers between the G.W. dock in Windsor and the M.C. and Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad docks in Detroit. The latter was located near the depot at the foot of Brush. The "Great Western" did have passenger accomodations and evidently the plan was to use her along with the "Union" in the transportation of passengers.

          A "first"for the "Great Western" is indicated in the following news item which appeared in the evening edition of the Advertiser and Tribune for January 3,1867:

          "Railroad Excursion - This morning an excursion party of railroad men and capitalists, from Chicago, passed through the city, arriving here by the Michigan Central and leaving by the Great Western Railroad, for Rochester, N.Y., to celebrate the completion of the Blue Line which has gone into operation. The party left Chicago at six o 'clock Monday evening were augmented by a large number from this city and left here about seven o'clock this morning. The train consisted of two new elegant sleeping cars, the "Mayflower" and "City of Detroit" of Pullman's Line, recently built at the Central shops in this city, the magnificent passenger coach "No. 37" of the Michigan Central Company and a refreshment car. The train was conveyed across the river on board the railroad ferry steamer Great Western and left Windsor as a special train. At Hamilton the party will be joined by representatives of the Great Western Railway Company. They will arrive at Rochester about seven oclock this evening and remain there all night. They will leave Rochester to return Wednesday morning, arriving here the same evening, and at Chicago on Thursday morning."

          The "Great Western" moved her first freight cars on January 1, 1867 and evidentaly her first passenger cars (a special movement) on January 8, 1867.

CRP