The Kingston and Pembroke Railway (K&P) was a Canadian railway that operated in eastern Ontario. The railway was seen as a business opportunity which would support the lumber and mining industries, as well as the agricultural economy in eastern Ontario.
Incorporated in 1871, the K&P was intended to run from Kingston to Pembroke. By 1884, approximately 180 kilometres of mainline and sidings had been laid, reaching Renfrew. By this time the Canada Central Railway had already built a line from Renfrew to Pembroke, and it no longer made financial sense to continue. Thus the K&P was terminated at Renfrew.
Due to decreasing timber and mineral resources in the late 19th century, the company developed financial difficulties. The line was leased to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) for 999 years in an agreement formalized in 1912. The CPR officially gained control of the K&P on January 1, 1913 and the K&P was no longer a legal entity. The line was gradually abandoned beginning in the 1950s, with the last operating section from Kingston to Tichborne closing in 1986.
The K&P is affectionately remembered as the Kick and Push railroad.
The line has been converted to a rail trail known as the K&P Rail Trail. The Kingston Inner Station, originally the southern terminus of the line, is now a tourism information centre.
Read more about Kingston And Pembroke Railway: Stations
Famous quotes containing the word railway:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)