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22-- PORT PERRY STAR -- Wednesday, June 18, 1975 s TE TIS ¥S POTN Sines ENR AFERFS EES FI SE 3! The railroad came to Port Perry area in 1871 . By Shelley Howsam In 1867, when Canada was forming a country, three small villages in Reach Township were considering their future growth. The prominent men of these villages, Prince Albert, Port Perry and Manchester were rivals in seeking advantages for their own respective communities. The main, large industry of the area at this time was grain and lumber. This had to be teamed to Port Whitby by horse and wagon. These prominent men knew that their villages could not continue to grow without a railway to transport these goods. In 1867, they applied to the Local Legislature for a char- ter to build a railway from Port Whitby to Port Perry. Joseph Bigelow and Thomas Paxton started the project and with five other gentle- men formed a Provisional Board of Directors with Joseph Bigelow as President. After they received the charter, they held meetings with Whitby town, Whitby Township and Reach Town- ship. They raised $100,000 in stocks and with this money they began the construction of the railway. The route for the railway had to be decided and this brought about many conflict- ing interests. Manchester wanted it to pass through there and Prince Albert wanted it to pass by a tannery west of there. The final result was that the terminus of the railway was built at Port Perry with stations south of Manchester and east of Prince Albert. The terminus proved to be more valuable than the stations as Port Perry got all the grain business. J. H. Dumble of Cobourg started to build the road bed, but problems occurred. He sold out to C. E. English of Toronto, but a dispute arose with the result that the com- pany had to finish building it themselves. Money was their biggest problem. Joseph Bigelow was willing to lend the com- pany money, but he could not when he held the title of President. He resigned his position and loaned them $49,110. and James Dryden became president. The railroad was finished in 1871, and in 1873, they were still having financial prob- lems so the company sold out. The profits, if there were any atall, were very small. Many people thought the railway was not, and could not, be a profitable project. In order for any of the larger railways to buy the line through Port Perry, it had to join up with another line. It was finally decided to extend the road to Lindsay. The Midland Railway than bought the line and later it became a branch of the Grand Trunk, or as it is known foday, the Canadian National Railway. The Grand Trunk put two trains on the track and these trains. made seven trips a day. The first trip went from Lindsay to Whitby at 6 a.m. and another along the same route at 7:30 a.m. One of the two came back from Whitby at9:30a.m. This one went to Manilla to connect to the train that came from Tor- onto. Then it turned and cante back at 11:30 a.m. to Whitby. One came back from Whitby at another one on route at 7:30 p.m. The terminus, which had changed the town consider- ably, was situated between two tracks on the east side of Water Street. Where the ball diamond is now, a turntable was situated. Railway engine sheds were on the site where the Yacht Club is today. Wood was used as the fuel that powered the train and fortunately was plentiful at the time. There were huge piles of cordwood all along the tracks from Lindsay to Whitby. The "Nip 'N Tuck" as the train was called, had a great appetite and used more than the normal amount of wood. 5:30 p.m. and the same The train was very slow andit was anallday trip to go to Toronto and home. It got its nickname because it was Nip *'N Tuck whether it would make it up over the riges or not. Passengers could get out here and walk behind and no trouble keeping up to it. By 1913, the track was old and worn. Port Perry was practically without passen- ger service though the freight service was well-maintained. maintained. There were no passenger trains on Monday and Tues- day, and a one way train on each of the remaining days of the week. Considering the amount of trips made once a day in 1871, railway trans- portation in Port Perry had dropped considerably. In 1921, a rumour was passed arcund that the even- ing trains would be taken off. Instead the afternoon trains were removed and the morn- ing train left at 7:15 a.m. By 1930, there were no early morning trains going west and no trains around 6:00 p.m. going east. Strugg- les were made to keep good passenger service with the trains running regularly, but at the end of June, 1930, the morning train was discon- tinued. Again in 1931, Mr. C. C. Jeffrey proposed to give Port Perry a daily train service directly to and from Toronto, but the C.N.R. claimed they could not show a profit and it would actually cost them money. In 1935, they applied to abandon the railroad between Whitby Town and Cresswell. Port Perry and the surrounding villages wanted to keep the railway. They felt if the railroad closed down it would ruin the local grain trade, and they needed it to ship their live- stock. It would also mean a loss in taxes to the town of about $1,000 per year. C.N.R. felt they had to close down as the actual cost of operating one train a day for 4 days of the week over a stretch of 20 miles was $36,083 a year. Many suggestions were made to fix up the railway and bring back some service. One suggestion was to keep the "Noon train', and another was to put on a 'way transportation. Diesel-engine car. All of this was to no avail. The last passenger trip was made in May, 1939 when the # students of Port Perry travel- led to Toronto to see the King and Queen. For a trip to Toronto and back, it took them from 9:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. The train was taken off the tracks and in 1941 the tracks were torn up. Port Perry was left with no rail- This: was mostly due to the expan- sion of the cars and truck industry. The "autos" gained a large share of the transortation and the rail- ways could not compete. Also the track and train were old and it cost too much (continued on page 24) GARY YOUNG 'PLUMBING & HEATING. LIMITED Pumps & Water Softeners a Specialty * BROOKLIN, ONT. * 655-4936 Fa "Need a Good, Reliable PAINTER INTERIOR & EXTERIOR also Paperhanging Free Estimates Call Morn. or Eve. 985-2930 SANRIDGE . San dé& Gravel L.GILBANK Blackstock, Ont BUSINESS DIRECTORY 250 Queen St., A.J. SHEPHERD, B. Comm. CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT Telephone 985-7031 985-2751 Port Perry, Ontario. 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