Toronto and Nipissing Railway

Toronto and Nipissing Railway

Fairlie-patent double-boilered locomotive
Overview
Headquarters	Toronto
Locale	Ontario, Canada
Dates of operation	1868–1882; merged into Midland Railway of Canada in 1882; Grand Trunk Railway; and finally Canadian National, most abandoned in 1980s but GO Transit service survives from Toronto to Stouffville, and York Durham Heritage Railway from Stouffville to Uxbridge
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge from 1881
Previous gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) until 1881

The Toronto and Nipissing Railway (T&N) was the first public narrow-gauge railway in North America. It chartered in 1868 to build from Toronto to Lake Nipissing in Ontario, Canada, via York, Ontario, and Victoria counties. At Nipissing it would meet the transcontinental lines of the Canadian Pacific, providing a valuable link to Toronto. It opened in 1871, with service between Scarborough and Uxbridge. By December 1872 it was extended to Coboconk, but financial difficulties led to plans of the line being built further abandoned at this point. The railway merged with the Midland Railway of Canada in 1882.

A series of mergers, bankruptcies and ownership changes eventually turned this right of way into the CN Uxbridge Subdivision, at least the portions north of the CN Kingston Subdivision at Scarborough Junction. Passenger service was offered to Markham and then Stouffville, before the service passed to Via Rail, and then to GO Transit in 1982. The lines are currently used both by CN in the southern reaches for freight, as well by GO for interurban rail service as their Stouffville line.^[1] The lines are still in place as far as Uxbridge, and the section between Stouffville and Uxbridge is used by the York-Durham Heritage Railway for tourist runs.