Schomberg and Aurora Railway

The Schomberg and Aurora Railway (S&AR, also nicknamed the "Annie Roonie") was a 36 km long railway in Ontario, Canada, running from the town of Schomberg to Oak Ridges, just south of Aurora. It connected Schomberg to the Toronto and York Radial Railway (T&YRR) tram service running along Yonge Street, and from there into the Toronto city proper. The service ran for 25 years between 1902 and 1927; the rails were pulled up shortly thereafter.

History

Map of the S&A circa 1915. See the small S&A and the pale yellow patch near the center of the image.

The S&AR started at the request of a Schomberg businessman who wanted to open the local produce markets to day-trippers from Toronto.[1] The T&YRR had greatly increased visitors to similar markets in Newmarket and they were hoping to do the same for Schomberg. The company was chartered in 1896,[2] and construction started out from the Bond Lake area south of Aurora in July 1899.[1]

The line was completed and opened for traffic in August 1902, an oddity that used steam trains to connect to the much smaller electrified trams.[1] There were four stations in total, Aurora, Eversley Station on Dufferin Street, Kettleby Station at the corner of Kettleby Road and Weston Road, and Schomberg Station in the middle of Main Street in Schomberg. There were also numerous street-side whistle stops along the route, numbers 158 through 171. Because the railway operated on a small budget, it purchased extant buildings for its stations instead of constructing new ones.[3]

There were four spurs, one to Mary Lake to serve a private line to the summer estates of Henry Pellatt and the Eatons (Eaton Hall), two smaller ones near Pottageville serving the Lloyd and Armstrong farms, and a small wye at Brillinger farm.

The S&AR operated independently for only two years before it was absorbed into the T&YRR family,[4] part of William Mackenzie's railway empire. In 1916 the line was electrified[2][4] and connected to the mainline on Yonge, allowing full interchange of cars. The line was never very busy, and as the T&YRR scaled back operations the S&AR was closed in 1927.[1] Attempts by residents in Schomberg to reopen the line failed, and the rails were removed the next year.[1]

Portions of the former right-of-way remain easily visible on aerial photos today, notably the portions closer to Schomberg. The final few hundred yards were incorporated into Dr. Kay Road in Schomberg, running between Main Street and the much newer Highway 27 to the east. Other portions have been incorporated in the nearby 19th Sideroad, Lloyd's Lane and Brule Trail, but development to the east of Highway 400 makes it more difficult to follow.

The Aurora station was converted into a restaurant before being demolished in the 1960s.[2] The only S&AR building still in existence is a house in Schomberg that was once the terminus of the line.[2][3]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Hughes.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Brown 2011, p. 79.
  3. 1 2 McIlwraith 1997, p. 279.
  4. 1 2 Stamp 1991.

References

External links

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