page_title: Northern Railway of Canada
section_title: Locomotives
hierarchical_section_title: Northern Railway of Canada / Locomotives
caption_attribution_description: The Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railroad was founded in July 1849 and named for the three lakes it connected. It became the Northern Railway of Canada, and was acquired by the Grand Trunk railway. It's an early predecessor of the Canadian National Railway we know today. This photograph from Toronto Public Library's Digital Archive shows the steam locomotive engine number 2, the first engine built in Canada. It was manufactured by James Good here in Toronto, in May of 1853. Creator: Unknown Date: 1881 Identifier: B 2-51c Format: Ephemera Rights: Public domain Courtesy: Toronto Public Library. More information: (view details and larger image)
context_page_description: The Northern Railway of Canada was a railway in the province of Ontario, Canada. It was the first steam railway to enter service in what was then known as Upper Canada. It was eventually acquired by the Grand Trunk Railway, and is therefore a predecessor to the modern Canadian National Railway. Several sections of the line are still used by CNR and GO Transit.
  First known as the Toronto, Simcoe and Huron Railway, and then the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway, the aim was to provide a portage route from the upper Great Lakes at Collingwood to Toronto. The plan for the railway was largely executed by Frederick Chase Capreol who was fired as manager of the company the day before the ground broke. Financial difficulties and a government bailout led to a reorganization of the company as the Northern Railway of Canada in 1859. The line saw three major expansions; North Grey Railway extended the original mainline to Meaford, the North Simcoe Railway ran to the port town of Penetanguishene, and the Muskoka Branch ran northeast to Gravenhurst.
context_section_description: The first locomotive of the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Union Railroad was named Lady Elgin and built in Portland, Maine. It was named for Mary Lambton, second wife of James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, the 42nd Governor General of Canada (1847–1854); she had also lifted a ceremonial silver spade for the sod-turning ceremony of the construction of the railway at Front Street and Simcoe Street on 15 October 1851. Because of the high customs duties and shipping costs for the locomotive, executives of the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Union Railroad decided that subsequent locomotives would be built in Ontario.
  The James Good foundry Toronto Locomotive Works, located at the corner of Queen and Yonge Street, would manufacture nine locomotives for the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron railway at an average cost of $5000. The first of these was named Toronto, built in its namesake city and the first locomotive built in Canada or in any colony of the British Empire. Commissioned in February 1853, its construction was completed by 16 April. Over five days, it was rolled along temporary wooden rails on Queen Street and York Street, and on 26 April it was lifted onto the new OSH railway tracks on Front Street. Torontonians would monitor the locomotive's progress from the foundry to the Front Street tracks, and the event was the subject of a later artistic rendering. Its first duty was three weeks later, transporting passengers and freight  between the city of Toronto and the community of Machell's Corner, now known as Aurora. This first duty is commemorated by a plaque installed in 1953 at Union Station in Toronto. The Toronto and other locomotives were scrapped after Canadian railways converted from the 5'6" track gauge to the 4'8​¹⁄₂" American standard gauge starting in the 1870s.
caption: Engine No. 2, The Toronto, seen in 1881 in Toronto.
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