A portage railway is a short and possibly isolated section of railway used to bypass a section of unnavigable river or between two water bodies which are not directly connected.[1] Cargo from waterborne vessels is unloaded, loaded onto conventional railroad rolling stock, carried to the other end of the railway, where it is unloaded and loaded onto a second waterborne vessel. A portage railway is the opposite of a train ferry.
![[icon]](view_image.php?q=Portage_railway&sq=&lang=&file=File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2008) |
- ^
Derek Hayes (2006). "Historical Atlas of Canada: Canada's History Illustrated with Original Maps". Douglas & McIntyre. p. 210. ISBN 9781553650775. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
Most of Canada's first railways were portage railways, designed to meet river traffic and ferry it past rapids.