Did you know that without railways, the line to grab a Webers burger on the way to the cottage would be even longer?
Well, maybe you did, considering the beloved Orillia, Ont., burger joint expanded into refurbished Canadian National Railway (CNR) cars to meet demand. But what you may not have known is, without railways, there wouldn’t be a cottage to visit.
Much of central Ontario was inaccessible until the mid-19th century. People travelled slowly and seasonally by water, foot, or stagecoach. The Northern Railway of Canada (NRC)—Ontario’s first steam railway—marked a change. In about three hours, it traversed the tricky terrain between Lake Ontario and Lake Huron that formerly required days of travel.
“Resources drove railways to service new locations that couldn’t be reached any other way,” says Ryan Goldsworthy, the head curator at the Toronto Railway Museum. The NRC expanded into cottage country to link with the Canadian Pacific Railway. As logging and mining created work, settlements grew around the stations. Suddenly, central Ontario was an essential stop for transcontinental trade. “Tourism was a happy coincidence,” says Goldsworthy. “Muskoka really opened up in the late 19th century because people could actually get there.”
Then came cars. “Automobile production rose after World War Two, and rail ridership fell 56 per cent by 1962,” says Goldsworthy. The CNR took over Ontario’s bankrupt lines, and rail funding was reallocated to roads.
Active or not, the railway’s legacy survives. GO Transit’s Barrie line runs on a NRC route, and there are a handful of retired rail cars in Muskoka and the Kawartha Lakes. And then there’s the Northlander. The daily service passenger train from Toronto to Cochrane ran from 1977 until 2012, before it was decommissioned due to lack of passengers. It’s making its return in 2026. How popular will rail service through central Ontario be in 2026? You might not be able to stop for a burger, but you will skip sitting in northbound traffic on the 400. Worth it?
1885
The Canadian Pacific Railway is completed after 15 years. 140 years later, transit projects still take just as long.
1920s
In summer, the CPR runs four daily trains to and from Bala, Ont. So many Americans come to perform that the feds make Bala an official port of entry.
1950s
Post-war investment in roads and air travel hinders passenger rail.
1963
Weekend service to Bala stops.
1968
The TurboTrain launches, travelling between Toronto and Montreal in less than four hours. By 1970, trains are plagued by frozen brakes and onboard fires; service ends in 1980.
1995
CN Rail is privatized. To boost profits, the company prioritizes freight trains, and passenger trains pay the price as they wait (and wait) on the tracks for freighters to pass.
2012
The province halts the Northlander passenger train.
2026
The planned relaunch for the Northlander. Plus ça change…
This story originally appeared in our Spring ’26 issue.
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