List Of Defunct Canadian Railways
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Most transportation historians date the history of Canada's railways as beginning on February 25, 1832, with the incorporation of
British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...
's first steam-powered railway, the
Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad The Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad (C&SL) was a historic Rail transport, railway in Lower Canada, the first Canadian public railway and Oldest railroads in North America, one of the first railways built in British North America. Origin The ...
(C&SL). This line opened for traffic on July 21, 1836, although there are cases of animal-drawn mining tramways in
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
from the 18th century onward. Thousands of railways followed the C&SL and were given a charter by the federal or provincial governments, although in most cases these charters never resulted in an actual line being constructed. Many of these charters were so-called "paper railways" and were absorbed into other railways, that is they existed on paper with the actual trains bearing the name of another railway or system of railways. For example,
Canadian National Railways The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...
alone consisted of over some 400 railways (see List of Canadian National Railways companies). The reason for these "paper" railways was the ease of getting a charter. This was often done by a major railway such as
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
or
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 ...
, but the true interests were kept hidden to keep attention away from the efforts of competing major railways to gain access to another's territory. In other instances local interests wanted a railway to connect their community with the main line of a major railway that did not enter their town, or to connect to another major railway for competitive reasons, to get lower freight rates, something that remains to this day. In many cases these local efforts were quickly taken over by a major railway to both expand its own network and to deny its competition access to traffic. Streetcar and interurban railways were chartered provincially, in the case of
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 ...
under the ''Street Railway Act''. Railways that were not
common carrier A common carrier in common law countries (corresponding to a public carrier in some civil law (legal system), civil law systems,Encyclopædia Britannica CD 2000 "Civil-law public carrier" from "carriage of goods" usually called simply a ''carrier ...
s did not require a charter under the ''Railway Act'' since they were used primarily for the owners' own purposes, mainly logging and mining. American railroads always operated in Canada under charters of subsidiary railways even though most had equipment lettered only for the parent company. Most U.S. railroads also operated in Canada through subsidiary railways with one exception:
Wabash Railway The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary con ...
which had not a mile of track in Canada as it crossed southern Ontario using trackage rights granted by 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 ...
of Canada. These rights still exist with present-day Canadian National and
Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...
, which runs into Windsor and Sarnia, Ontario. It formerly ran through Montreal, Quebec, but service was stopped due to such services causing traffic congestion. This list of defunct railways includes only those railways that actually came into existence. Many were taken over by other railways or had a name change and thus continued to operate trains over the same tracks. A few ceased to exist because they went out of business and were abandoned and dismantled. For simplicity on this list,
Canadian National Railways The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...
(CNR) (pre-1960),
Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...
(CN) (post-1960),
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
(CPR),
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), and
Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonto ...
(CNoR) will be abbreviated for notations. Others will be abbreviated as required. Also consult the list of active Canadian railways.


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See also

*
List of Canadian railways Freight railways by province National Multiple provinces Alberta British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador Nova Scotia Ontario Quebec Saskatchewan Freight railways with track ...
*
History of rail transport in Canada : ''This article is part of the history of rail transport by country series.'' The history of rail transport in Canada began in the early 19th century. The Canadian railway system saw several expansion "booms" throughout history, as well as a m ...


References

* Dorman, Robert: A Statutory History of the Steam and Electric Railways of Canada 1836-1937 Department of Transport, Canada * Dorman, Robert: Appendix to above including addition of maps. * Dorman, Robert; D.E.Stoltz: A Statutory History of Railways in Canada 1836-1986 * Churcher, Colin; Old Time Trains
Old Time Trains
* Smith, Ivan (1998),

'. Retrieved August 16, 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Defunct Canadian railways *
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