Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway

rdf:langString Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway

rdf:langString Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway

rdf:langString after 1873

rdf:langString main, branch

rdf:langString Ontario, Canada

rdf:langString Canadian National Railways

rdf:langString The Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway (WG&BR) was a railway in Ontario, Canada. It ran roughly northwest from Guelph (in Wellington County) to the port town of Southampton (in Bruce County) on Lake Huron, a distance of 101 miles (163 km). It also had a 66-mile (106 km) branch line splitting off at Palmerston and running roughly westward to Kincardine, another port town. A branch running south from Southampton was built during the construction of the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in the 1970s. The line was originally chartered in 1856 as the Canada North-West Railway with the intention of running from Toronto to Southampton and thereby offering a more direct route to the upper Great Lakes than the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron. Options included branches to Owen Sound and a connection with the Great Western Railway's line in Guelph. The original charter lapsed in 1861, but was amended with the new name in 1864, this time with provisions to use the GWR's line for access to Toronto, and the possibility of merging with the GWR. Construction began using Provincial gauge in June 1867, but at this point the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway (TG&B) chartered with a route running north of the WG&BR to Owen Sound and a branch to Kincardine, and the two began competing for funding. The GWR took a lease on the line in June 1869, and the plans were amended with their own branch to Kincardine that year. Construction of the mainline to Southampton was complete in December 1872. The Kincardine branch was completed in November 1873, beating the TG&B, but it sat unused until December 1874 due to overdue payments. Around this time it was re-gauged to standard gauge. The line was a major part of the GWR's network in western Ontario, and became part of the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) after their 1882 merger. In 1893, the GTR merged their local operating companies and the WG&BR officially disappeared. The Grand Trunk's bankruptcy and subsequent takeover by the Canadian National Railway (CNR) in 1923 led to the lines being reorganized into various subdivisions. They began abandoning the eastern sections starting in 1983, routing traffic on the Stratford and Huron Railway, with the final section on the Kincardine branch remaining in use until 1995.

rdf:langString WG&BR

rdf:langString until 1873

rdf:langString Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway