Lindsay, Bobcaygeon and Pontypool Railway

Thomas Need's saw and grist mill had been operating on Bobcaygeon Island since 1832,[1] and to service the mills the first lock of what would become the Trent–Severn Waterway was installed in 1833.[2] In 1846 this was joined by the first mill of the Boyd Lumber Company, who ran the Trent Valley Navigation Company to haul cargo on the Kawartha Lakes as far as Lindsay. Here they could connect with the Midland Railway of Canada for shipment south. However, the lakes and rivers froze solid in the winter, limiting their markets to the summer. Boyd pressed for a rail link to Lindsay, but failed to gain support.[3]

In 1881 the long-delayed plans for the Ontario and Quebec Railway (O&Q) through Peterborough were picked up by Canadian Pacific Railway. This line was much closer to Lindsay, and ran directly into Toronto. A new line from Bobcaygeon to Lindsay and then to the O&Q would cut the distance to Toronto considerably.[3] The extended Port Whitby and Port Perry Railway along the western side of the Lake Scugog was almost ideal, but had no connection with the O&Q and was notorious for poor reliability.[4] A route along the east side of the river to Pontypool was chosen.

The Lindsay, Bobcaygeon & Pontypool Railway was incorporated in March 1890 by businessmen in the Bobcaygeon and Kawartha area, notably William (Willie) Thornton Cust Boyd and Sam Hughes. However, efforts to gain funding from various levels of government failed, and the charter remained dormant.[5]

Renewed interest by those willing to provide financial support took place near the end of the decade. Surveys of the route began in June 1900, and some grading took place that year and the next. However very little progress had been by 1903, when the CPR agreed to lease the line.[6]

Track laying began in May 1904 and reached Lindsay in June. Here a dispute with the Grand Trunk over rights-of-way broke out and construction stalled until this was addressed. The solution was to run the LP&B under the GTR lines as they crossed the Scugog River. Construction on the connection to the O&Q quickly revealed that the area around Pontypool would be too difficult, so the connection was moved west to Burketon. Construction continued and the first train reached Bobcaygeon on 28 July 1904.[5] Minor additional construction continued until August.[7]

Initial plans called for a connection to the Irondale, Bancroft and Ottawa Railway somewhere between Kinmount and Irondale, an extension of about 20 miles to the existing 38.7 miles of track. However, no work in the extension was ever carried out.[7] By this time the rush to service Haliburton and Hastings meant the area was well served by other railways.

The southern section of the LB&P between Lindsay and the O&Q was made redundant with the completion of the Georgian Bay and Seaboard Railway (GB&S) in 1912. The GB&S had considered using the LB&P line out of Lindsay when their original plans to connect to Peterborough were scuttled. In keeping with the original goal of providing a shortcut to the east, backtracking along the LB&P did not make sense, and a new connection to the O&Q was made near Bethany, originally known as Bethany Station, but later renamed Dranoel. The LB&P and GB&S shared the line through Lindsay and the downtown station.[8]

With both the lines operated by CPR and connecting to the O&Q only miles apart, it was not long before one of the lines would be closed. This fell to the LB&P, whose last passenger train operated along this route on 10 December 1932. The opening of the Fourth (current) Welland Canal reduced the need for a rail link from Georgian Bay to Montreal, and the CPR closed the section of the GB&S between Lindsay and Orillia in September 1937. They reorganized the remaining Bobcaygeon-Lindsay-Bethany route as the Bobcaygeon Subdivision.[8]

The upper section of the LB&P between Lindsay and Bobcaygeon was abandoned on 15 June 1961, and some of the route was later re-used for a local road. The final section of the Bobcaygeon Sub, the original GB&S south of Lindsay, was abandoned on 25 November 1987.[5] The small section within Lindsay, shared by the LB&P and GB&S, was used briefly until 1990.[9]

The section leading out of Bobcaygeon, including the two bridges over the Bobcaygeon River and Emily Creek, was purchased by the Village of Bobcaygeon on 27 February 1963. This was used to provide access to Sturgeon Lake, and forms today's Kawartha Lakes Road 24.[1] The bridge in Bobcaygeon was widened to two lanes in 1973.[10]

Road 24 ends at Ontario Highway 36 just north of the town of Dunsford, with a short section south of 36 used as Dunsford's Community Centre Road. Between Dunsford and Heights Road, a distance of 7 km, is the only portion of the line being used as a trail, the Dunsford Nature Trail.[11]

The LB&P closed before rail trails became popular, and most of the route has been abandoned. A few other portions of the route are used as access roads or private driveways, but the majority now lies on active farmland. The only surviving station is the "Swiss Cottage" style Dunsford Station, now used as a cottage.[11]