Railway history
From Booth’s railway to today’s trail
The places and structures that still connect the Seguin Trail to the Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway.
The Seguin Trail follows part of the long-abandoned Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway. The OA&PS was organized under J.R. Booth in 1891 and built westward in stages during the 1890s, with through freight and passenger service reaching Depot Harbour in 1896. Booth’s railway moved timber, grain, passengers and general freight between Georgian Bay, the Ottawa Valley and eastern connections.
The railway prospered until 1933, when the Cache Lake–Two Rivers bridge failed and was not rebuilt. The railway west of the bridge fell into disuse and much of the track in the area that became the Seguin Trail was lifted in 1952.
The official Seguin Trail runs from Fern Glen, west of Highway 11, toward Highway 69 (now Highway 400) in the west. With persistence and a keen eye, much of the old railway route can be traced farther east and west. Old topographical maps reveal sidings and spur lines that no longer appear on modern maps, along with cuts, fills, bridge remains and back-filled trestles.
A railway corridor through time
1891
Booth’s Ottawa-area railway interests were combined into the Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway.
1890s
Construction pushed west across the Canadian Shield toward Georgian Bay, creating the railway corridor followed by today’s Seguin Trail.
1896
Through freight and passenger service reached Depot Harbour, connecting Booth’s rail system with Great Lakes shipping.
1904
The railway passed into the Grand Trunk system and later became part of Canadian National.
1930s
Traffic and infrastructure declined; a bridge failure in Algonquin Park severed the through route.
1950s onward
Rails were removed from much of the western corridor. The former grade eventually became the recreational route now known as the Seguin Trail.
Places and stories
Bear Lake
Where the unfinished Parry Sound Colonization Railway became part of Booth’s route.
View page →From the archives
Period photographs preserved from the original Seguin Trail archive help place the surviving railway grade in context. Source and rights information is recorded as it can be established.
Depot Harbour townsite
A historic town view preserved locally from the original Seguin Trail archive.
Original Seguin Trail archive; exact original source attribution remains incomplete.
Depot Harbour elevators
The harbour’s grain-handling facilities, preserved from the original site.
Original Seguin Trail archive; exact original source attribution remains incomplete.
Community life
The original collection also preserves buildings from the town itself, not only railway infrastructure.
Original Seguin Trail archive.