Grand Junction Railway (Ontario)
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The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was a
short-line railway A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...
in
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Canada. It ran between
Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...
and Belleville. It was originally designed to be a loop, starting near
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
and running northeast to Peterborough, then southeast to meet the
Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...
(GTR) on the banks of
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...
. By the time it had been built other lines had run into Toronto, so the GJR instead ran from Belleville to Peterborough, and then to Omemee where it met the
Midland Railway of Canada The Midland Railway of Canada was a historical Canadian railway which ran from Port Hope, Ontario to Midland on Georgian Bay. The line was originally intended to run to Peterborough, but the competing Cobourg and Peterborough Railway was comple ...
. Just north of its starting point, the wholly owned subsidiary
Belleville and North Hastings Railway The Belleville and North Hastings Railway (B&NHR) was a short-line railway in Hastings County, Ontario, Canada. It branched off the Grand Junction Railway (GJR) north of Belleville and ended on the Central Ontario Railway (COR) outside Eldorado ...
branched off for the mining areas around
Madoc Madoc ab Owain Gwynedd (also spelled Madog) was, according to folklore, a Welsh prince who sailed to the Americas in 1170, over 300 years before Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1492. According to the story, Madoc was a son of Owain Gwynedd w ...
, meeting the
Central Ontario Railway The Central Ontario Railway (COR) was a railway that ran north from Trenton, Ontario to service a number of towns, mines, and sawmills. It was formed as the Prince Edward County Railway in 1879, and ran between Picton, Ontario, Picton and Trenton ...
just outside Eldorado.


History


Background

With the construction of the
Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...
between
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
and
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
in the early 1850s, the possibility was created for communities along the Grand Trunk's
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...
shoreline route to become significant
rail junctions Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fil ...
for interchange traffic with possible new railways into the interior. The rapidly industrializing centre of
Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...
was a significant target for a series of proposed shortline railways, as it was mainly connected to the outside world through waterways. The first of these shortlines was the ill-fated
Cobourg and Peterborough Railway The Cobourg and Peterborough Railway (C&PRy) was one of the first railway lines to be built in Central Ontario, Canada. The line was initially considered in 1831 as a way to bring the products from the burgeoning area around Peterborough, Ontario ...
. The idea of
Cobourg Cobourg ( ) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario east of Toronto and east of Oshawa. It is the largest town in and seat of Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, to the west. It is ...
as the lakeshore terminus of a railway went as far back as 1834, with a plan for a line from Cobourg to Rice Lake. Even before the Grand Trunk, the port at Cobourg provided an opportunity to export natural resources from
Central Ontario Central Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario that lies between Georgian Bay and the eastern end of Lake Ontario. The population of the region was 1,123,307 in 2016; however, this number does not in ...
via Lake Ontario without navigating certain parts of the river system. A modified version of this plan would be revived in 1852, with a new northern terminus at Peterborough. The Cobourg and Peterborough line was built along a former
plank road A plank road is a road composed of Plank (wood), wooden planks or wikt:puncheon#Noun, puncheon logs, as an efficient technology for traversing soft, marshy, or otherwise difficult ground. Plank roads have been built since antiquity, and were comm ...
(an earlier attempt at a connection between the two centres) and suffered from significant problems related to seasonal ice The second such line had its terminus further west, at neighbouring Port Hope. This was the
Port Hope, Lindsay and Beaverton Railway The Midland Railway of Canada was a historical Canadian railway which ran from Port Hope, Ontario to Midland on Georgian Bay. The line was originally intended to run to Peterborough, but the competing Cobourg and Peterborough Railway was comple ...
. Cobourg and Port Hope were fiercely competitive, and a railway from Port Hope to Peterborough had been planned for years. A revival of these plans in the 1850s, however, saw the railway bypass Peterborough and cut ambitiously to the west, aiming for
Lake Simcoe Lake Simcoe is a lake in southern Ontario, Canada, the fourth-largest lake wholly within the province, after Lake Nipigon, Lac Seul, and Lake Nipissing. At the time of the first European contact in the 17th century, the lake was called ''Ouentir ...
and
Georgian Bay The Georgian Bay () is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To its northwest is t ...
. It reached Lindsay by 1857, and in 1858, a branch line to Peterborough was built from a junction at Millbrook (the Millbrook Branch), providing direct competition to the Cobourg and Peterborough Railway at a time when it was seriously struggling with infrastructure problems. A bridge collapse in 1861 effectively terminated through traffic on the Cobourg and Peterborough line, restricting rail service to Peterborough to only operate via the Millbrook Branch a branch line of a shortline eliminating the direct connection to the Grand Trunk mainline at Cobourg.


Merger and later history

The GJR was one of five struggling short lines merged into the Midland Railway in April 1882. Midland, in turn, was leased by the GTR in 1884 and acquired outright in 1893. The line was used for passengers into the 1960s and freight until the 1980s, but was abandoned starting in 1987. The first portion between Corbyville and Peterborough was lifted that year, followed by the section between Peterborough and Lindsay in 1990. Like many historical railways in Ontario, the route of the GJR is now used as a recreational trail.


See also

*
List of Ontario railways The following railways operate in the Canadian province of Ontario. Common freight carriers *Barrie Collingwood Railway (BCRY) *Canadian National Railway (CN) including subsidiaries Algoma Central Railway (AC), Grand Trunk Western Railroad (GTW) ...


References

{{Reflist Defunct Ontario railways Predecessors of the Grand Trunk Railway Rail transport in Belleville, Ontario History of rail transport in Hastings County Rail transport in Peterborough, Ontario Rail transport in Peterborough County