For many communities, railway expansion had significant impacts, both good and bad.

The fastest and most economical mode of long-distance transportation in North America, railways were critical to economic development, allowing practical exports of commodities that might not otherwise have a market.

Burnt River is an example of the highs and lows presented by railways. The Victoria Railway created a market for stone quarried right beside the tracks at Burnt River. It would never have been practical to export stone from the region with horses and wagons. The quarry became the largest employer in town and Burnt River’s business section redeveloped and expanded around the railway.

Unfortunately, the decline of the quarry and railway was a devastating blow to Burnt River.

There are many instances where the railway created a new community, while a neighbouring community became a ghost town because it lacked a connection.

The first locomotive to arrive in Lindsay on the Midland Railway in 1857.

Politicians and entrepreneurs realized the power of the railway. Many businesses would be much more profitable if they were located on a line. Many of those business owners were also making political decisions for their municipality as, for many communities, it was their best chance to grow.

Railroad promoters could become extremely wealthy by collecting public subsidies to build infrastructure. Relative to the tax revenues of the day, municipalities would pay staggering sums to make sure that the railway came to their settlement; they would not want to be bypassed. People had their homes demolished or were forced to cede part of their farm to make way for the railway.

Canadian National Railway engine taking on water at the Lindsay station.

Though the most successful railway builders became tycoons, the lines themselves often were not profitable, but to lose the railway would be politically unconscionable. Hence the phrase to get “railroaded.”

Businessmen in Cobourg and Port Hope were both hoping that their town would become the hub that connected the Trent Valley — as the Kawarthas were then called — to the broader North American economy. Cobourg........

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