Quote:
Originally Posted by swimmer_spe
I thought the ROW of the old CN sub to Mattawa was still mainly intact.
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It was CP who had a ROW to Mattawa, and you are correct the ROW is mostly intact (though the tracks are were removed between Smiths Falls and just east of Mattawa in 2011/2012). That is why I said it "might be feasible to connect" the Renfrew sub to it. The question is, who would pay to rebuild it.
CN had two northern lines west of Ottawa, the former
Canadian Northern Railway's (CNoR) and the former
Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway (OA&PS), which was later sold to the
Grand Trunk Railway. The CNoR line (CN's Beachburg and Alderdale subs) bypassed Arnprior, crossing over to Quebec near Fitzroy Harbor. Not sure what its status is, but the
Ottawa City Council approved the purchase of the segment from the river to the junction with the Renfrew sub to use as a recreational trail.
It is the former OA&PS that ran through Arnprior, and is the line we are talking about. East of Nylene in Arnprior, the tracks were removed in 1980's and the ROW is so disjointed that there really is no hope of it ever being revitalized.
Here is a link to a map of mainlines in 1915, though the actual article has a bunch of mistakes in it.
map: Canadian mainlines east of Winnipeg in 1915
A great resource for information is
Tracing the Lines : Eastern Ontario and West Quebec Railway History in Maps by Brian Gilhuly, but his maps only extend to about Barry's Bay.