August 2024
Like many towns that go back to the days of Upper Canada, Lindsay, Ontario, has a long history with railways that crisscross the country and played a major role in settlement and growth of Canada.
The first railway to arrive in Lindsay was the Port Hope, Lindsay & Beaverton Railway (PHL&B), originally chartered in 1846 as the Peterborough & Port Hope Railway. The PHL&B was re-named the Midland Railway of Canada in December 1869, and later taken over by the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) in 1883.
Lindsay was a major railway base during the first half of the 20th Century, with railway tracks winding through and around the small town, which was a key junction point for numerous branch lines. Serving the town with both freight and passenger service were the GTR, and Canadian National Railway (CNR) after its take over of the GTR, and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR).
The GTR/CNR had a railway station along Durham Street at William Street, with a freight shed and roundhouse nearby on Victoria Street, north of Melbourne Streets, and Albert Street, south of Durham Street, respectively. The CNR roundhouse served as the maintenance centre for all of CN’s central Ontario operations.
The CPR had two stations, one for freight and one for passengers along Victoria Street north of Queen Street, and one street over on Caroline Street, north of Queen Street.
Steam-powered locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives in the 1960s, a time when Lindsay’s importance as a railway hub were declining. The CNR station was unceremoniously demolished in 1963, with the CPR station following the next year.
Railways were in decline during the 1960s and 1970s for both freight and passenger travel due to improvements in highways, along with a greater reliance transport trucks and automobiles. The rail lines in and around Lindsay were slowly abandoned. The last of the old tracks were removed by October 1992.
After 1978, traffic and service declined steadily until the eventual abandonment and removal of all tracks by October 1992.
The Railway Display at Memorial Park in Lindsay was created in 1998, when CNR locomotive # 8510, built in 1951, and a wooden caboose, were moved across town from Old Mill Park on Victoria Street, where it had resided since being donated by the railway ten years earlier CNR. Also moved to the new location were two steel CNR boxcars, donated by the Municipality of Dysart, a Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo steam engine, #42, which was donated by the Canadian Science & Technology Museum in Ottawa and a later-era CNR caboose. Restorations were completed by 2817 Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment (Lindsay) Cadet Corps.
Sadly, the display fell into disrepair and the wooden caboose was burned by vandals in 2008. A replacement wooden caboose eventually was purchased. The Lindsay and District Model Railroaders now maintains the display.
CPR stations were generally simple, storey-and-a-half structures, with little ornamentation. The conical roof, also known as a “witch’s hat,” over the waiting room on the Caroline Street station was a notable exception.
Keith Hansen published the book Last Trains from Lindsay in 1997. This volume brilliantly documents train operations in Lindsay, and helps to display what things were like when trains passed through town.
Sources: https://railfandan.wordpress.com/lindsay-ontario-railway-memories-then-and-now/, Lindsay Railway Stations – Ontario Railway Stations (wordpress.com), Trains in and around Lindsay, 1961: Kawartha Lakes Public Library Digital Archive (vitacollections.ca), Midland Railway of Canada – Wikipedia.
