Destiny Derailed: A History of Cobourg’s Railroads 1833-1893, is the working title of the Ted's interest in recording Cobourg's nineteenth century railway history. Along with Coal to Canada and Wooden Cars on Steel Rails, Destiny Derailed reflects his interest in preserving Cobourg's rich, but largely unknown, local railway heritage.
To date much of the history of the initial Cobourg Rail Road (chartered 1834) and the Cobourg & Peterborough Railway (chartered 1853) has been researched and a working manuscript compiled. The CRR was one of the first rail roads chartered in Canada West (now Ontario) and although several surveys between Cobourg, on Lake Ontario, and Rice Lake, fifteen miles north, were undertaken, the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 effectively curtailed further work on what was a highly speculative venture with a largely unknown technology.
A change in government funding policy and a return to more optimistic economic conditions in the early 1850s, led to a second attempt by Cobourg citizens to build a railway north from their community. At this time the local entrepreneurs extended their vision beyond Rice Lake to Peterborough. Unfortunately the Cobourg & Peterborough Railway Company suffered throughout its existence from the duplicity of certain of its directors, the unscrupulous practices of its construction contractor, a lack of practical organizational and operational inexperience. Contributing to its woes, the Company undertook a massive civil engineering project, the second largest in North America at the time: the crossing of Rice Lake on a combination of trestles, 31 Burr Truss bridges, and a single centre pivot draw bridge, a complex that extended some 2½ miles. The ravages of winter ice, and the actions of the owners of the competing Port Hope, Lindsay & Beaverton Railway in dismantling some of the iron stays from the bridge combined to force the railway to terminate operations across Rice Lake by 1861. The railway became moribund for half a decade.
Cobourg’s civic government revived the C&PRy in 1866 but the focus of attention shifted somewhat from reopening the line to Peterborough. Instead a connection to the Marmora Iron Mine, to the northeast, was the object of Cobourg’s resuscitated rail effort. A group of U.S. investors purchased both the revived C&P and the Marmora Iron Mine and created the Cobourg, Peterborough & Marmora Railway & Mining Company in 1867. A new rail line was constructed from Trent Narrows on the Trent River north to Blairton and the iron mine there. Ore brought by rail from Blairton to Trent Narrows was dumped, by a raised trestle onto barges in the Trent River. A steam boat and barges were contracted to transport the ore on Rice Lake to Harwood where a steam operated elevator transferred the ore from the barges to ore cars on the old C&P line. The ore cars were taken by rail to Cobourg harbour and dumped, from an elevated trestle, onto harbour land to await transfer to the holds of vessels. These ships then transported the ore to other ports such as Rochester and Cleveland. While the CP&MR&MCo enjoyed a very modest success initially, the devastating North American economic crisis of 1873 significantly curtailed profits and the Company’s future. After 1873 the Company attempted to court civic leaders in Peterborough to assist in reconstruction of the Rice Lake Bridge but that town had other railway interests by this time and expressed reluctance, if not disdain, at the revival effort. Following a decade of sporadic operation, the CP&MR&MCo became moribund by the early 1880s.
In 1885 a Belleville, Ontario, entrepreneur purchased the CP&MR&MCo in the Court of Chancery for $30,000 . He reorganized the company as the Cobourg, Blairton & Marmora Railway & Mining Company. This company suffered from a lack of financing, a lack of market for iron ore, and the depletion of the timber and lumber from the northern forests. Perhaps in an effort to end the suffering Cobourg experienced with its own railways, the Grand Trunk Railway absorbed the CB&MR&MCo in 1893.
Perhaps the Grand Trunk Railway was primarily interested in gaining access to Cobourg harbour which it did through the purchase of the CB&MR&MCo. The original link north to Harwood and Rice Lake was used on rare occasions for two decades following. Most of the rails were taken up during World War I and transferred overseas for use in France.
Today little exists to the casual observer of the landscape. Much of the berm has disappeared into the surrounding land form. The remnants of the bridge complex across Rice Lake were submerged by the Trent Canal system in 1920. The track to Cobourg’s harbour was removed in the 1980s. Despite the lack of contemporary visual evidence there remains a rich railway heritage centred upon Cobourg, Ontario.
If you have any information or images concerning Cobourg’s railway and are willing to share such, please contact Ted by e-mail at [email protected] or by post directed to Steampower Publishing, 181 Armour Court, Cobourg, Ontario, K9A 4S6, Canada.
To date much of the history of the initial Cobourg Rail Road (chartered 1834) and the Cobourg & Peterborough Railway (chartered 1853) has been researched and a working manuscript compiled. The CRR was one of the first rail roads chartered in Canada West (now Ontario) and although several surveys between Cobourg, on Lake Ontario, and Rice Lake, fifteen miles north, were undertaken, the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 effectively curtailed further work on what was a highly speculative venture with a largely unknown technology.
A change in government funding policy and a return to more optimistic economic conditions in the early 1850s, led to a second attempt by Cobourg citizens to build a railway north from their community. At this time the local entrepreneurs extended their vision beyond Rice Lake to Peterborough. Unfortunately the Cobourg & Peterborough Railway Company suffered throughout its existence from the duplicity of certain of its directors, the unscrupulous practices of its construction contractor, a lack of practical organizational and operational inexperience. Contributing to its woes, the Company undertook a massive civil engineering project, the second largest in North America at the time: the crossing of Rice Lake on a combination of trestles, 31 Burr Truss bridges, and a single centre pivot draw bridge, a complex that extended some 2½ miles. The ravages of winter ice, and the actions of the owners of the competing Port Hope, Lindsay & Beaverton Railway in dismantling some of the iron stays from the bridge combined to force the railway to terminate operations across Rice Lake by 1861. The railway became moribund for half a decade.
Cobourg’s civic government revived the C&PRy in 1866 but the focus of attention shifted somewhat from reopening the line to Peterborough. Instead a connection to the Marmora Iron Mine, to the northeast, was the object of Cobourg’s resuscitated rail effort. A group of U.S. investors purchased both the revived C&P and the Marmora Iron Mine and created the Cobourg, Peterborough & Marmora Railway & Mining Company in 1867. A new rail line was constructed from Trent Narrows on the Trent River north to Blairton and the iron mine there. Ore brought by rail from Blairton to Trent Narrows was dumped, by a raised trestle onto barges in the Trent River. A steam boat and barges were contracted to transport the ore on Rice Lake to Harwood where a steam operated elevator transferred the ore from the barges to ore cars on the old C&P line. The ore cars were taken by rail to Cobourg harbour and dumped, from an elevated trestle, onto harbour land to await transfer to the holds of vessels. These ships then transported the ore to other ports such as Rochester and Cleveland. While the CP&MR&MCo enjoyed a very modest success initially, the devastating North American economic crisis of 1873 significantly curtailed profits and the Company’s future. After 1873 the Company attempted to court civic leaders in Peterborough to assist in reconstruction of the Rice Lake Bridge but that town had other railway interests by this time and expressed reluctance, if not disdain, at the revival effort. Following a decade of sporadic operation, the CP&MR&MCo became moribund by the early 1880s.
In 1885 a Belleville, Ontario, entrepreneur purchased the CP&MR&MCo in the Court of Chancery for $30,000 . He reorganized the company as the Cobourg, Blairton & Marmora Railway & Mining Company. This company suffered from a lack of financing, a lack of market for iron ore, and the depletion of the timber and lumber from the northern forests. Perhaps in an effort to end the suffering Cobourg experienced with its own railways, the Grand Trunk Railway absorbed the CB&MR&MCo in 1893.
Perhaps the Grand Trunk Railway was primarily interested in gaining access to Cobourg harbour which it did through the purchase of the CB&MR&MCo. The original link north to Harwood and Rice Lake was used on rare occasions for two decades following. Most of the rails were taken up during World War I and transferred overseas for use in France.
Today little exists to the casual observer of the landscape. Much of the berm has disappeared into the surrounding land form. The remnants of the bridge complex across Rice Lake were submerged by the Trent Canal system in 1920. The track to Cobourg’s harbour was removed in the 1980s. Despite the lack of contemporary visual evidence there remains a rich railway heritage centred upon Cobourg, Ontario.
If you have any information or images concerning Cobourg’s railway and are willing to share such, please contact Ted by e-mail at [email protected] or by post directed to Steampower Publishing, 181 Armour Court, Cobourg, Ontario, K9A 4S6, Canada.
