Midland Railway of Canada - Merger

Merger

The Midland (144 route miles) was surrounded by railways which also were not making money:

• The Grand Junction Railway of Canada (90 route miles)
• The Belleville and North Hastings Railway (15 route miles)
• The Victoria Railway (56 route miles)
• The Whitby, Port Perry and Lindsay Railway (46½ route miles)
• The Toronto and Nipissing Railway (114 route miles of 3' 6" gauge)

Cox first floated a proposal to purchase the Toronto and Nipissing Railway in July 1881 in order to gain the supreme prize of direct Midland Railway access to Toronto. Negotiations continued throughout the Fall and Winter when the shareholders and bondholders were presented with a proposal for ‘Approving an agreement between the Toronto and Nipissing Railway Company; the Whitby, Port Perry and Lindsay Company, the Victoria Railway Company, the Toronto and Ottawa Railway Company; the Grand Junction Railway Company and the Midland Railway Company for the purpose of consolidating said companies into one company, under the name of the Midland Railway of Canada.’

The T&NR and the Midland Railway had always maintained good relations and since it was certain that the T&NR could not long survive in its present form, work commenced during the negotiations to lay a third rail from Midland Junction to Scarborough Junction. The first through passenger train from Peterborough to Toronto ran on December 15 1881. An Act enabling the merger came into force on Saturday April 1 1882 and on that day the first official trains of the new Midland Railway of Canada travelled the system. On January 1 1884 the GTR finally consolidated its hold on the Midland group of companies by leasing them; full ownership was obtained in 1893. It was eventually absorbed into the Canadian National Railway system.