From: Loyalist Trails UELAC Newsletter, 2010 Archive  http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Trails/2010/Loyalist-Trails-2010.php?issue=201048#Railroads

Conference 2011: When Railroads Were King in Brockville - by Roy Lewis

For approximately a century, from the mid-1800s until the mid-1900s, railroads were king in Brockville since they were the community's largest employer.

But the town was not unique in this aspect since the coming of trains shaped the development of the entire country. Brockville's location was the prime reason for the extensive railroad industry here. It was among those communities located at a strategic point on the all-important rail corridor between Canada's two largest cities, Toronto and Montreal.

Railroading came to Brockville through the Grand Trunk Railway System. Established in 1852, the Grand Trunk was so named because it was intended to be the main rail line through southeastern Canada with secondary or trunk lines branching out from it. It had its headquarters in Montreal but its corporate headquarters and financial backers were in London, England.

With the growth of burgeoning trade between Toronto and Montreal, Grand Trunk Railway officials realized there was a pressing need to construct a railroad between the two communities. In 1855, the Grand Trunk line was extended through Brockville which was selected as the railroad's first division point. Located a little over 100 miles from Montreal, the division point at Brockville was a train service centre.

At the Brockville division point, the era's steam locomotives hauling the trains needed to refuel with wood (later coal) as well as take on water for boilers and sand used for traction. And more often than not, the locomotives needed minor repairs. Extensive workshops, switching yards and related services developed at division points where train crews would also be changed.

Brockville was home for many members of train crews including engineers, firemen, conductors and brakemen. It also gave employment for workers in the repair shops, operating the coal chutes, cleaning out the ash pits from locomotive fireboxes and transferring goods in the freight sheds. Other railroad employees included dispatchers, clerks and supervisors.

Two more developments helped the growth of railroads here. In 1859, the Brockville and Ottawa Railway extended a rail line from Smiths Falls to Brockville. That route linked with a rail line to Ottawa and the rich timber resources along the Ottawa River.

The following year, the Brockville Railroad Tunnel was opened providing easy access to the community's waterfront. Here, the Brockville and Ottawa Railroad built a large rail and dock terminal. Timber from the Ottawa River valley was shipped by rail to Brockville and transferred onto ships bound for ports around the Great Lakes and Great Britain.

Brockville's third railroad, the Brockville, Westport and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad  was established here in 1886. It was the intention of developers to extend the rail line to the northern Ontario community of Sault Ste. Marie but granite rock caused construction costs to soar and the line went no further than Westport about 35 miles northwest of Brockville.

The three rail companies once dominate in Brockville have disappeared although passenger trains still stop here. The Brockville and Ottawa Railroad amalgamated with the Canada Central Railroad in 1878 which was subsequently absorbed by the Canadian Pacific Railroad in 1881. The Brockville, Westport and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad ceased operation in 1952. The once-dominant Grand Trunk Railroad fell on hard economic times after the First World War and in 1923 was absorbed by the government-operated Canadian National Railroad.

Brockville's dominance as a rail centre declined in the 1950s with the advent of diesel-electric locomotives which travel between Montreal and Toronto before needing to stop for fuel or maintenance.