One of his fondest memories from that time is riding the street car together to Port Dalhousie. When they got on the train, they would race to the vacant motorman seat -- the streetcar had two sets of controls, one for each direction -- so they could pretend to be the driver.

Douglas, like his cousin, Tom Paterson, never lost his love of the rail, and ended up driving the street car in Toronto for 31 years. Though he didn't have a career in trains, Paterson worked for St. Catharines Transit.

"It got in our blood early," Douglas said of their love of trains. "Little boys sometimes never grow up."

Douglas was but one of the many highly knowledgeable railway enthusiasts gathered at the St. Catharines Museum Monday afternoon for the launch of a book detailing the history of the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway.

Toronto author John Mills wrote the book, a 256-page update of his 1963 edition, complete with more than 300 photographs compiled by professional archivist Ted Wickson, who collected many of his pictures from enthusiasts, including Douglas. Another major contributor was local historian John Burtniak, whose collection of postcards was featured in the book.

Mills said he, too, once took what he called fan trips on the electric railway and was upset when it was closed down for good in 1960. Shortly after, he found his way into the car barn near the former St. Catharines terminal at Welland Avenue and Geneva Street, inside which was a treasure trove of information, including a hand-written company constitution.

"Being a compulsive writer, I got started on it and I haven't stopped since," he said.

The resulting story of the NS & T line is one of a comprehensive inter-urban transportation system that included, along with street cars, freight trains, lake steamers and even an amusement park, which was built primarily to attract passengers. For present day, with growing unease about the dependence on personal automobiles, the book offers a glimpse of a time when one could travel across the peninsula and even across the border on a non-polluting electric rail system.

Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto Railway: A Canadian National Electric Railways Subsidiary is published by Railfare DC Books. It is available at the St. Catharines Museum at Lock 3 for $39.95.