Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway

Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway

Overview
Headquarters	Ottawa, Ontario
Reporting mark	OA&PS
Locale	Ontario, Canada
Dates of operation	1897–1959
Successor	Canada Atlantic Railway
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

v t e Canada Atlantic - OA&PS
Legend
Depot Harbour 0 South Channel, Parry Sound Rose Point (near Parry Sound) 3.5 GTR/CP 5.5 CN 6.0 Falding 10.5 Maple Lake 18.7 Edgington 21.8 Seguin Falls 28.2 Bear Lake 33.7 Spruce Lake 40.2 Mud Lake Siding 45.8 Scotia Junction (GTR) 51.2 Kearney 56.6 Ravensworth 63.8 Rainy Lake 73.6 Brule Lake 81.7 Canoe Lake 87.8 Joe Lake 88.1 Algonquin Park 95.8 Rock Lake 107.7 Opeongo Lake/W&OR Whitney 118.4 L'Amable Siding 126.0 Shirley Lake Egan Estate 130.5 Madawaska 133.6 Bridge 51 (CP) 142.8 Aylen Lake 146.0 Western Division / Middle Division Martins Siding 153.0 Barry's Bay 155.2 Wilno 161.7 Killaloe 170.0 Pembroke (GTR) Locksley Woito Dore Bay Golden Lake 178.9 Eganville 186.8 Caldwell 194.1 Douglas 197.1 Admaston 202.8 Renfrew Junction (GTR) 207.9 Renfrew 209.0 Goshen 213.9 Glasgow 217.7 Arnprior 225.4 Galetta 230.4 Kinburn 235.0 Carp 243.4 South March 249.4 Graham Bay 254.5 Chaudière OA&PS / M&OJ Chaudière Junction (CP) 261.1 Elgin Street Roundhouse 262.1 Ottawa Union Station 263.8

The Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway, or OA&PS, is a historic railway that operated in central and eastern Ontario, Canada, from 1897 to 1959. It was for a time the busiest railway route in Canada,^[1] carrying both timber and wood products from today's Algonquin Provincial Park areas, as well as up to 40% of the grain traffic from the Canadian west from Depot Harbour at Parry Sound through to the St. Lawrence River valley.

The railway was built by John Rudolphus Booth, a 19th-century Canadian lumber baron and entrepreneur who owned considerable timber rights in the Algonquin area as well as a major sawmill in downtown Ottawa. To open markets for the mill's products, he purchased Donald Macdonald's lines and formed the Canada Atlantic Railway (CAR) from Ottawa to Vermont. To supply the mills, the OA&PS shipped timber in from across central Ontario. Together, the OA&PS and CAR allowed through shipment from the Canadian west to the US eastern seaboard areas. The lines were amalgamated under the CAR marque in 1899, and sold to the Grand Trunk Railway in 1905.

Use of the OA&PS fell dramatically with the rapid stripping of most of the useful timber from the Algonquin area. Traffic was further reduced with the 1932 opening of the widened Welland Canal, which allowed lakers to bypass trans-shipping points on Georgian Bay, along with the dramatic decrease in grain prices and trade during the Great Depression. The trestle bridge between Cache Lake and Lake of Two Rivers closed in 1933 due to safety concerns and was not re-built. Both ends of the now-separated line continued in use for some time; the western section between Parry Sound and Cache Lake ended services in 1952, while the eastern section saw use in some locations until 1959.

Its route through Algonquin Provincial Park saw it play an important role in the park's development of the tourist industry, with a large station and the Highland Inn on Cache Lake being a focal point of the park though the 1910s and 20s. Sections through the Park now form an expanding group of rail trails used mostly for cycling. Outside the park the line forms various rail trails including the Park-to-Park Trail, Seguin Trail, and others.