Lake Simcoe Junction Railway
The Lake Simcoe Junction Railway (LSJR) was a short-line narrow gauge railway in Ontario just north of Toronto. It branched off the Toronto and Nipissing Railway at Stouffville and ran 42 kilometres (26 mi) north to the town of Sutton and then beyond to the shore of Lake Simcoe where a large wharf was built. The presence of the railway helped the town of Jackson's Point form on the lakeside. The line serviced timber and agricultural shipping, but was more widely used for shipping ice cut from the lake in the winter, and allowing weekend day trips to the lake in the summer.
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
| Locale | Ontario, Canada |
| Dates of operation | 1877–1981 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge from 1881 |
| Previous gauge | 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge before 1881 |
The arrival of the Toronto and York Radial Railway at Sutton in 1908 took most of the summertime passenger business away, and the introduction of refrigeration did the same for the wintertime ice business. Service ended to the Point in September 1927 and the rails were lifted. Service below Sutton continued through a connection to the standard gauge Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR), 4 km (2.5 mi) west of the town of Zephyr. It saw some use during the construction of Maple Leaf Gardens three years later, when a spur line was built to a gravel pit a short distance south of Sutton. The entire line closed in 1979 and the rails were lifted in 1981.
A portion of the original route was converted, circa 2000, into the Sutton-Zephyr Rail Trail.