After the last train departed from Orangeville on December 17, 2021, the Orangeville-Brampton Railway (OBRY) became yet another abandoned railway, the last chapter of a once-expansive network of rails that branched out across Midwestern Ontario. Orangeville was the divisional point of Canadian Pacific’s Bruce lines, which served Owen Sound, Walkerton, Teeswater, Fergus and Elora, and dozens of towns and villages en route. By 1995, all of those branches were abandoned by CP, so in 2000, the Town of Orangeville purchased the remaining bit of track to serve local industries, and even launched a scenic excursion train, the Credit Valley Explorer, several years later. For about a decade, the future looked bright.
The Town of Orangeville, which was eager to walk away from the railway it once proudly owned, was quick to tear up the tracks within its boundaries, soon to be replaced by a new multi-use path. In July 2023, the ties are still mostly in place, for now, waiting to be dug up, and while the road crossings are now smooth, signal gantries are still standing on Broadway and Townline Road.
At the old yards and station grounds, the “new” station building, opened in 2007 for the Credit Valley Explorer and an office for OBRY rail crews, is being used as a temporary branch of the Orangeville Public Library, as the main Mill Street location undergoes major renovations.
Through Caledon and Brampton, however, the track remains mostly in place, though it has largely been covered by weeds. Near Alton, the Mile 31 signpost remains erect, though nature has completely taken over the right-of-way.
The Region of Peel now owns the corridor, with the promise of a new rail trail, though with the impending disbandment of that upper-tier municipality, it will be up to the Town of Caledon and the Cities of Brampton and Mississauga (and possibly Credit Valley Conservation) to follow through with removing the rails and ties and putting down a new trail.
In the meantime, the Region of Peel removed the crossings of Highway 136 near Alton. The rusted track simply disappears into the roadbed on either side. The crossing at Mayfield Road at the Brampton/Caledon border has also been removed to allow for widening of that major arterial road. Otherwise, the tracks are still in place, though weeds, debris, and concrete blocks placed at several bridges to deter unauthorized use, have made the rails impassable.
At several crossings, the crossbucks, lights and bells have been removed, replaced with warnings to plow drivers to raise their blades at the disused tracks.
In Brampton, though, transit buses still stop at the crossings on Queen Street, Bovaird Drive, and Steeles Avenue as if anytime was still train time. The signals protecting the diamond at the busy CN line in Downtown Brampton are still active, 18 months since the last train passed through on the Orangeville line.
When I last passed by the diamond, on July 5, I saw work equipment on the old OBRY right-of-way, so perhaps that, too, is not long for this world.
Sean Marshall 