Northern Railway of Canada

Not to be confused with Canadian Northern Railway.
Map
Map
A map showing the route of the Northern at its maximum extent in the late 1800s. Only the portion from Toronto to Barrie and a small section running west remain in service, while the section north of Orillia has merged with another line.

The Northern Railway of Canada was a railway in the province of Ontario, Canada. It was the first steam railway to enter service in what was then known as Upper Canada. It was eventually acquired by the Grand Trunk Railway, and is therefore a predecessor to the modern Canadian National Railway (CNR). Several sections of the line are still used by CNR and GO Transit.

First known as the Toronto, Simcoe and Huron Railway, and then the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway, the aim was to provide a portage route from the upper Great Lakes at Collingwood to Toronto. The plan for the railway was largely executed by Frederick Chase Capreol who was fired as manager of the company the day before the ground broke.[1] Financial difficulties and a government bailout led to a reorganization of the company as the Northern Railway of Canada in 1859. The line saw three major expansions; North Grey Railway extended the original mainline to Meaford, the North Simcoe Railway ran to the port town of Penetanguishene, and the Muskoka Branch ran northeast to Gravenhurst. This last expansion would be the starting point for the Northern and Pacific Junction Railway, connecting to the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline outside of North Bay. In 1887, the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) gained a controlling interest, and the takeover was formalized in January 1888.

The line primarily served the port towns on Georgian Bay, where it faced increasing competition over the years. A combination of factors, including the Great Depression and the opening of a wider Welland Canal led to decreased use of the ports, and traffic fell. The closure of Collingwood Shipbuilding in 1986 led to the abandonment of the sections in Collingwood and to the west. The line is intact from Barrie all the way to Union Station, with the section between Toronto and Barrie used by GO Transit as the Barrie line. The Muskoka Junction has been combined with the Ontario Northland Railway to form CNR's mainline in the area north of Orillia. Section west of Collingwood now form the Georgian Trail. The Meaford station was dismantled after 1960[2] and two stations along this section of the line remain:

  • Craigleith Station - restored and now a museum
  • Thornbury Station - now a retail store on Highway 26

Several sections of the line have been turned over to rail trail use. The section of the mainline from the western side of Collingwood to Meaford is now the high-quality 34 kilometres (21 miles) Georgian Trail, which is being expanded towards Owen Sound as the Tom Thompson Trail. Sections from Collingwood to Stayner have a trail running beside them.[a] The North Simcoe Railway now forms the 22.5 kilometres (14.0 mi) Tiny Beaches Trail with sections south of this also in use.

  1. ^ Peppiatt, Liam. "Chapter 37: F. C. Capreol's Residences". Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto Revisited. Archived from the original on 2018-09-01.
  2. ^ "Charles Cooper's Railway Pages - Northern Railway of Canada Group". www.railwaypages.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).