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The last train
15 July 2011
A chapter in local history was written, and closed, this week. The last freight train left Collingwood on July 14, 2011, ending more than 160 years of rail service to the town. I was present when the BCRY rail line was launched and the first train left for Collingwood, so it was fitting that I was there when its last train came into town, too.
According to the Collingwood Museum (the information here comes courtesy of the museum), it began with the Ontario Simcoe and Huron Railway in 1855, from Collingwood to Toronto, three years before the town was incorporated. Former newspaper editor and mayor, David Williams, wrote about the first train, "In the fall of 1854, the rails were laid into town and on January 1st, 1855, the first locomotive, a wood burner, with a small train came puffing in to be greeted by the populace, who looked upon the advent of a railway connection with Toronto as the beginning of a new era in the history of the town. So it proved to be. Settlers began to pour in, and values began to soar, until it is said, even undiscoverable corner lots were sold for $1,000 each. Everybody was soon to be rich."
The railway changed hands or names a few times over the next century. It became the Northern Railway in 1858, and the Grand Trunk Railway in 1888. In 1872 rails were laid along the North Grey Railway, another line, connecting Collingwood with Craigleith, Thornbury and Meaford.
There was a third rail line coming into town, connecting with Beeton and from there to Hamilton. The Hamilton and North Western Railway was laid along Walnut Street in 1878, and ran to the mill on First Street (the current Kelsey's Restaurant). The Hamilton and North Western Railway was a competitor to the Grand Trunk Railway, but after only a year of service, the line merged with the Grand Trunk.
In 1923, Grand Trunk was taken over by Canadian National Railways, which was renamed to CN (Canadian National) in 1960, which ran it until 1985.
The rail was a busy line in its heyday. In 1866, almost 10,000 passengers boarded trains at the Collingwood Station. Watching the train traffic in Collingwood became a popular past-time among residents. Trains brought visitors to Collingwood for special events, including ship launches, parades and even royal visits.
Before cars became common household items, the railway was how many people go to and from neighbouring communities: day trips were made to Base Borden, Craigleith, Thornbury and Meaford. At the peak of its popularity, there were six passenger trains and countless freight trains arriving in Collingwood every day.
Passenger service was terminated by CN in 1960 and in a nostalgic gesture, many Collingwood residents road the last passenger train to Meaford, July 2, 1960. A grand railway station in Collingwood was built in 1874 on St. Paul Street. After the lines were abandoned, it was remodelled to become the town's museum. The building, suffering from several structural problems, was torn down and a replica built in 1998.
The rails brought tourists to the area in winter for a day of skiing when the ski hills were developed. From 1941 on, the Blue Mountain Ski Special left Union Station in Toronto and came to Craigleith, returning to Toronto in the early evening. But the war ended that service in 1942. Although passenger service had been discontinued, the Ski Special enjoyed a short revival in 1963 and 64, but problems with poor weather brought it to an end.
As Mayor Sandra Cooper noted in her speech, Thursday, "Collingwood benefited from the movement of grain, dairy and farm produce, and firewood. Collingwood's grain terminal of 1855 was constructed by the Railway and received national and international shipments of grain. In 1861, trade at Collingwood amounted to over 2.5 million dollars. Collingwood Terminals Ltd. received its last shipment of grain in 1992."
After passenger service was shut down, the rail line from Collingwood from Meaford remained unused and ignored for a couple of decades. The tracks were torn up in the mid 1970s. That gave the local municipalities an opportunity to create a recreational link between themselves and they turned the abandoned line into the Georgian Trail, officially opened in October, 1989. Today you can bicycle between Collingwood and Meaford on the old railway bed, now nicely gravelled, with only a gentle slope, and quite smooth. It's a pleasant trip.
CN decided to abandon the remaining portion of the line into Collingwood in 1985.
Freight service continued to Collingwood under a private operator - it served a few industries: the grain elevator, Canadian Mist and Nacan among them. But usage was falling. The line itself is narrow-gauge, and required cargo to be unloaded at a terminus, and reloaded onto another car for the wide-gauge lines to carry it to another port. It wasn't efficient or economical, compared to trucking the cargo directly.
The first grain terminal was built in Collingwood in 1855 by the railway to receive national and international shipments of grain. By 1861, trade at Collingwood's terminal was more than $2.5 million. The bustling town of Collingwood was nicknamed 'The Chicago of the North.' The current terminal was built in 1928 in expectation of even more business and growth. But the Depression ended that dream. Business after that never lived up to its bright promise, although the facility continued in use until 1992. It now belongs to the Town of Collingwood, although it has been declared surplus in the hope some developer will buy it.
The grain elevators closed because they were no longer needed - by the 1970s, too few ships brought grain here from the west for the elevators to be profitable. The elevators were once needed because ships could not fully navigate the Great Lakes and had to unload their cargoes so they could be transported by land to another port. With the building of the St. Lawrence and Welland Canals, ships could continue on right to the coast, even overseas. Collingwood's elevator was one of the last in use on the Great Lakes, when it received its final grain shipment, in 1992. After the last train hauled grain from there, the lines from the elevator and through town were torn up and turned into more trails.
In the mid-1990s, it looked likely the rail line would close. However, the councils of Barrie and Collingwood teamed up in 1997 to buy the rail line and continue the service as the Barrie-Collingwood Railway - BCRY - starting in 1997. It was part of an ambitious and well-intentioned economic-retention plan. But the line never saw the use that would have made it practical, much less profitable. After 15 years of increasing costs and diminishing use, and faced with several potentially expensive repairs and upgrades to keep the line open, the current Collingwood Council decided it was time to pull the plug.
For almost 15 years, BCRY served a dwindling handful of local industries, but slowly usage fell as companies turned to trucking for their shipments. In 2010 there were two sporadic users, and the service cost Collingwood taxpayers almost $300,000. Only one, infrequent user was expected in 2011: Canadian Mist. A single train came in only two days a week: Tuesday and Thursday.
Much more expense was projected for 2011, also, because of the need to upgrade and repair some of the line, as well as upgrade the crossing on Poplar Side Road. It was an uneasy burden for council to accept.
As Mayor Cooper noted, "A very difficult decison was made to begin the process of decommission. However I remain optimistic that opportunities to continue the rail in some capacity may continue."
The future? Perhaps a trail corridor? More pipelines? A road? The rail line will be removed and sold for scrap, but beyond that nothing as been decided.
There is a small glimmer of hope that a higher-tier government could buy the operation and keep it open for potential future use. As people move north from the GTA, this area could be ripe for a commuter light-rail service like the Go Train in a few years. But maintaining and repairing the rail line, replacing the narrow-gauge tracks with a wide-gauge line, fixing the bridges and smoothing the bed is well beyond the means of this small community. It would take much deeper pockets than we have.
For Collingwood, this chapter is closed. But it might still be open for others.
According to the Collingwood Museum (the information here comes courtesy of the museum), it began with the Ontario Simcoe and Huron Railway in 1855, from Collingwood to Toronto, three years before the town was incorporated. Former newspaper editor and mayor, David Williams, wrote about the first train, "In the fall of 1854, the rails were laid into town and on January 1st, 1855, the first locomotive, a wood burner, with a small train came puffing in to be greeted by the populace, who looked upon the advent of a railway connection with Toronto as the beginning of a new era in the history of the town. So it proved to be. Settlers began to pour in, and values began to soar, until it is said, even undiscoverable corner lots were sold for $1,000 each. Everybody was soon to be rich."
The railway changed hands or names a few times over the next century. It became the Northern Railway in 1858, and the Grand Trunk Railway in 1888. In 1872 rails were laid along the North Grey Railway, another line, connecting Collingwood with Craigleith, Thornbury and Meaford.
There was a third rail line coming into town, connecting with Beeton and from there to Hamilton. The Hamilton and North Western Railway was laid along Walnut Street in 1878, and ran to the mill on First Street (the current Kelsey's Restaurant). The Hamilton and North Western Railway was a competitor to the Grand Trunk Railway, but after only a year of service, the line merged with the Grand Trunk.
In 1923, Grand Trunk was taken over by Canadian National Railways, which was renamed to CN (Canadian National) in 1960, which ran it until 1985.
The rail was a busy line in its heyday. In 1866, almost 10,000 passengers boarded trains at the Collingwood Station. Watching the train traffic in Collingwood became a popular past-time among residents. Trains brought visitors to Collingwood for special events, including ship launches, parades and even royal visits.
Before cars became common household items, the railway was how many people go to and from neighbouring communities: day trips were made to Base Borden, Craigleith, Thornbury and Meaford. At the peak of its popularity, there were six passenger trains and countless freight trains arriving in Collingwood every day.
Passenger service was terminated by CN in 1960 and in a nostalgic gesture, many Collingwood residents road the last passenger train to Meaford, July 2, 1960. A grand railway station in Collingwood was built in 1874 on St. Paul Street. After the lines were abandoned, it was remodelled to become the town's museum. The building, suffering from several structural problems, was torn down and a replica built in 1998.
The rails brought tourists to the area in winter for a day of skiing when the ski hills were developed. From 1941 on, the Blue Mountain Ski Special left Union Station in Toronto and came to Craigleith, returning to Toronto in the early evening. But the war ended that service in 1942. Although passenger service had been discontinued, the Ski Special enjoyed a short revival in 1963 and 64, but problems with poor weather brought it to an end.
As Mayor Sandra Cooper noted in her speech, Thursday, "Collingwood benefited from the movement of grain, dairy and farm produce, and firewood. Collingwood's grain terminal of 1855 was constructed by the Railway and received national and international shipments of grain. In 1861, trade at Collingwood amounted to over 2.5 million dollars. Collingwood Terminals Ltd. received its last shipment of grain in 1992."
After passenger service was shut down, the rail line from Collingwood from Meaford remained unused and ignored for a couple of decades. The tracks were torn up in the mid 1970s. That gave the local municipalities an opportunity to create a recreational link between themselves and they turned the abandoned line into the Georgian Trail, officially opened in October, 1989. Today you can bicycle between Collingwood and Meaford on the old railway bed, now nicely gravelled, with only a gentle slope, and quite smooth. It's a pleasant trip.
CN decided to abandon the remaining portion of the line into Collingwood in 1985.
Freight service continued to Collingwood under a private operator - it served a few industries: the grain elevator, Canadian Mist and Nacan among them. But usage was falling. The line itself is narrow-gauge, and required cargo to be unloaded at a terminus, and reloaded onto another car for the wide-gauge lines to carry it to another port. It wasn't efficient or economical, compared to trucking the cargo directly.
The first grain terminal was built in Collingwood in 1855 by the railway to receive national and international shipments of grain. By 1861, trade at Collingwood's terminal was more than $2.5 million. The bustling town of Collingwood was nicknamed 'The Chicago of the North.' The current terminal was built in 1928 in expectation of even more business and growth. But the Depression ended that dream. Business after that never lived up to its bright promise, although the facility continued in use until 1992. It now belongs to the Town of Collingwood, although it has been declared surplus in the hope some developer will buy it.
The grain elevators closed because they were no longer needed - by the 1970s, too few ships brought grain here from the west for the elevators to be profitable. The elevators were once needed because ships could not fully navigate the Great Lakes and had to unload their cargoes so they could be transported by land to another port. With the building of the St. Lawrence and Welland Canals, ships could continue on right to the coast, even overseas. Collingwood's elevator was one of the last in use on the Great Lakes, when it received its final grain shipment, in 1992. After the last train hauled grain from there, the lines from the elevator and through town were torn up and turned into more trails.
In the mid-1990s, it looked likely the rail line would close. However, the councils of Barrie and Collingwood teamed up in 1997 to buy the rail line and continue the service as the Barrie-Collingwood Railway - BCRY - starting in 1997. It was part of an ambitious and well-intentioned economic-retention plan. But the line never saw the use that would have made it practical, much less profitable. After 15 years of increasing costs and diminishing use, and faced with several potentially expensive repairs and upgrades to keep the line open, the current Collingwood Council decided it was time to pull the plug.
For almost 15 years, BCRY served a dwindling handful of local industries, but slowly usage fell as companies turned to trucking for their shipments. In 2010 there were two sporadic users, and the service cost Collingwood taxpayers almost $300,000. Only one, infrequent user was expected in 2011: Canadian Mist. A single train came in only two days a week: Tuesday and Thursday.
Much more expense was projected for 2011, also, because of the need to upgrade and repair some of the line, as well as upgrade the crossing on Poplar Side Road. It was an uneasy burden for council to accept.
As Mayor Cooper noted, "A very difficult decison was made to begin the process of decommission. However I remain optimistic that opportunities to continue the rail in some capacity may continue."
The future? Perhaps a trail corridor? More pipelines? A road? The rail line will be removed and sold for scrap, but beyond that nothing as been decided.
There is a small glimmer of hope that a higher-tier government could buy the operation and keep it open for potential future use. As people move north from the GTA, this area could be ripe for a commuter light-rail service like the Go Train in a few years. But maintaining and repairing the rail line, replacing the narrow-gauge tracks with a wide-gauge line, fixing the bridges and smoothing the bed is well beyond the means of this small community. It would take much deeper pockets than we have.
For Collingwood, this chapter is closed. But it might still be open for others.
