The Kingston and Pembroke Railway (K&P) was a Canadian railway that operated in eastern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. 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 of mainline and sidings had been laid, reaching Renfrew. By this time the

Canada Central Railway The Brockville and Ottawa Railway (B&O) was an early railway in Upper Canada, today's Ontario. It ran north from the town of Brockville on the Saint Lawrence River to Sand Point on the Ottawa River. It was built primarily to serve the timber ...

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 (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 sea of CN and CP trackage, 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 Wakefield is one of many villages of the Municipality La Pêche, with the village centre on the western shore of the Gatineau River, at the confluence of the La Pêche River in the Outaouais region of the province of Quebec in Canada. It is thirty- ...

Stations

This is a list of stations from north to south. 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.Bennett and McQuaig 1981, p. 29 * Renfrew * Opeongo ( Ferguslea) * Ashdad * Calabogie * Barryvale *

Flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

* Clyde Forks * Folger * Lavant * Wilbur * Snow Road *

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

* Robertsville * Clarendon * Oso * Sharbot Lake * Olden * Tichborne * Hinchinbrooke * Godfrey *

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

* Hartington * Harrowsmith * Murvale * Glenvale * Kingston

Interchanges

, Renfrew * Canadian Pacific Railway, Sharbot Lake/Tichborne *

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Man ...

, Harrowsmith *

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rail ...

, Kingston The K & P did not share facilities with

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...

/Grand Trunk in Kingston; each operated separate passenger stations in the city. CNoR (as successor to the former

Bay of Quinte Railway The Bay of Quinte Railway was a short-line railway in eastern Ontario, Canada. It was formed as the Napanee, Tamworth and Quebec Railway (NT&QR), chartered in 1878 by Edward Rathbun and Alexander Campbell, with plans to run from Napanee throug ...

) held running rights over a portion of the K & P line from Harrowsmith to Kingston.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * (undated sketch map of mainline) * * * *