First Welland Canal points on the Lake Erie shore, and also offered a natural harbour for the ships waiting to enter the canal. The new part of the canal was to run in a fairly straight line, except for a stretch where it followed a local ravine and a creek to minimise required excavation of hard rock in the area. The Welland Canal Company obtained a loan of 50,000 pounds from the Province of Upper Canada. Construction started soon after, but it was delayed by rain, difficulty in clearing land, and a cholera outbreak in 1832. Neither the Wainfleet Marsh nor the rock
Welland Canal, Bridge 15 combined with the fact that the narrow, curving section of canal through Welland had no less than a total of six bridge crossings in just a few miles, led to the decision to inaugurate the Welland Canal Relocation Project. With the first sod turned in 1967, this project would relocate the canal to a much straighter alignment with no bridges about 2 km east of bridge 15. This route of the new canal would sever the CASO line. As part of the relocation project, this line, as well and the Canadian National Cayuga Subdivision, were rerouted through the new Townline