Ontario Locomotive & Industrial Railway Supplies Inc.

This company was incorporated in 1981 and used the former Niagara Junction enginehouse complex (in Niagara Falls) before all the tank car-cleaning companies moved in.

Does anyone know what they did or how long they lasted? Thanks.

Charles

IIRC (and no guarantees that I do ) they were related to Andrew Merrilees, a Canadian broker and rebuilder of second-hand and industrial locos and equipment. They took advantage of the location and the availability of a lot of rail equipment available as the large industrial base of the region contracted. The woman who ran it was Maryann Dahlman (sp?). I believe they eventually went belly up and had an auction there.

Thanks, that's what I was looking for. I found a reference to going bankrupt in 1991.

It seems to me that auction included a couple SW1's, possibly former Donner-Hanna Coke but not sure. I had a feeling - right or wrong I still don't know - that the end of the operation was more a function of the available equipment and markets in the area being depleted, rather than anything less savory as "bankruptcy" implies. I recall talking to Ms. Dahlman (Dohlman?) a few times and recall her as knowledgeable and cordial.

I attended that auction. It had "a little bit of everything", but the primary focus seemed to be GE industrial locos and parts. Several locos were auctioned off at the site, including a nice little 25 ton GE. There were other manufacturer's parts, as well; I recall an entire pallet of new EMD power assemblies, still in the original boxes, going for next-to-nothing.

One of the center cab GE's had the name "Dufferin" in the cab, which (I found out later) is a name that is prominent in Canada, and in Ontario especially. This might support the Canadian connection.

I can't say for sure that the Donner Hanna SW1s went in that auction, although they might have. However I do recall that two industrial locos that were located in LeRoy at one of the stone pits, did go in that auction. If memory serves, one was a standard gauge 45 ton, and the other was a narrow gauge center cab that had come out of Bethlehem Steel.

1991 seems about right for the auction year.

JR

Donner Hanna only had one SW1.

Hanna Furnace had many and I think that could have been them. I think it closed in 82.

Charles