Kingston and Pembroke Railway

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.

The K&P is affectionately remembered as the Kick and Push railroad.

History

Incorporated in 1871, the K&P was intended to run from Kingston to Pembroke. By 1884, approximately 180 kilometres (110 mi) 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,^[1] 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.^[2]^[3] The line was gradually abandoned beginning in the 1950s, with the last operating section from Kingston to Tichborne (joining the CN and CP main lines) closing in 1986.

Part of the line has been converted to a rail trail known as the K&P Rail Trail. The Kingston Inner Station at 209 Ontario Street, originally the southern terminus of the line, is now a tourism information centre. The area opposite Kingston City Hall, once a large rail yard, is now Confederation Park and marina. A restored locomotive, the "Spirit of Sir John A.", sits behind the former station.

The K&P line had a roundhouse in Kingston, on outer Wellington Street. The roundhouse is now gone; the area now contains Ontario Health Insurance Plan offices. The turntable from the site was redeployed to Wakefield, Quebec.^[4]

Stations

Kingston's Inner Station

Railbed of the K&P at Lavant Station, now the K&P Rail Trail

This is a list of stations from north to south.^[5] This list will differ from others since some of the stations were known by different names, some stations were informal stops known only by local residents and train personnel, and some trains only travelled part of the route.^[6]

Interchanges

Canada Central Railway, Renfrew
Canadian Pacific Railway, Sharbot Lake/Tichborne
Canadian Northern Railway, Harrowsmith
Grand Trunk Railway, Kingston

The K & P did not share facilities with Canadian National/Grand Trunk in Kingston; each operated separate passenger stations in the city.

CNoR (as successor to the former Bay of Quinte Railway) held running rights over a portion of the K & P line from Harrowsmith to Kingston.

References

Notes

^ Armstrong 1973, p. 318.
^ Bennett and McCuaig 1981, p. 27.
^ Kingston Historical Society Accessed Oct. 10, 2009
^ "Kingston Historical Society Kingston's Train Round House". www.kingstonhistoricalsociety.ca. Archived from the original on 2013-09-30.
^ Bennett and McQuaig 1981, p. 123.
^ Bennett and McQuaig 1981, p. 29

Bibliography

Hughes, Robert (March 22, 1998), The Kingston & Pembroke Railway, archived from the original on 2007-10-21, retrieved 2007-10-29
North America Maps - The Kingston & Pembroke Railway, March 22, 1998, retrieved 2007-10-29 (undated sketch map of mainline)
Collections, Canada (July 16, 2008), Collections Canada - The Kingston & Pembroke Railway - Maps + Info, archived from the original on February 23, 2008, retrieved 2008-07-16
Armstrong, Alvin (1973), Buckskin to Broadloom - Kingston Grows Up, Kingston, Ontario: Kingston Whig-Standard
Bennett, Carol; McCuaig, D. W. (1981), In Search of the K&P, Renfrew, ON: Renfrew Advance, ISBN 978-0-919137-01-1, OCLC 15900569
New York Times (PDF), August 27, 1901, retrieved 2009-09-22