Canada Southern Railway Kelly

This lantern was made by the Kelly Lamp Works of Rochester, N.Y. sometime in the 1870s to 1890s. This model of lantern was named the monitor. This lantern came to me in sad shape, it was in basically un-salvagable shape, pinholes were all over the lantern, a large hole in the bell and the brass top was entirely pushed into the chimney. A friend helped me out and restored this way better than I ever could have when i got this lantern. A large patch was put in the bell, brass top pushed out as best as possible, cleaned of rust and painted black. This is one of those lanterns worth saving at any cost.

The Canada Southern Railway (reporting mark: CSR) was incorporated in 1868, under a different name, but reincorporated 1869 as the Canada Southern Railway. Its route was considered a shortcut between New York and Chicago, making it quite lucrative to Americans, and as such was leased to the Michigan Central Railroad for 99 years. The CSR was headquartered in St. Thomas, Ontario. In 1929 the New York Central Railroad took control of the CSR. In 1985, the CSR was sold to Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway as a joint ownership. Majority of the line was abandoned in the early 2000’s.

The Canada Southern Railway has been wonderfully preserved on Terry Link’s website : www.canadasouthern.com