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Under the sponsorship of Sir Francis Hincks, the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada was incorporated in 1853.
Its purpose was to provide a main trunk line the length of the Province of Canada.
It achieved this by both amalgamating with existing railway companies as well as constructing large amounts of new track.
Much of the financing was raised in England where the head office was established. An English construction firm won the contract to build the Toronto to Montreal section, while Gzowski & Company received the contract for the Toronto to Sarnia section. Casimir Gzowski, more familiar with the Canadian conditions, made a fortune while the English firm suffered heavy losses.
By 1867 the GTR was the largest railway system in the world but insufficient levels of traffic halted further expansion.
In 1882 it tookover its principal competitor the Great Western Railway and by the 1890's it was ready for another round of expansion by double-tracking its main line and by buying more than a dozen smaller railway companies.
Its success led it to setting up the Grand Trunk Pacific which from 1906 to 1914 built a 4800 km line from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, B.C. It was unable to compete with the established Canadian Pacific Railway and its failure led to the bankruptcy of the GTR in 1919.
Both the GTR and the Grand Trunk Pacific were then nationalized to become the main components of the new Canadian National Railway.
In 1988, the railway line from St. Marys to Sarnia was abandonned.
In 1993, the Town purchased the right-of-way from
Junction Station to the eastern edge of town.
In 1996, a volunteers raised money to develop a walking trail along this right of way which includes the viaduct
over the Thames River, shown above, built in 1857.
A similar viaduct was constructed at the same time over
Trout Creek and is still in use.
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