This article is about a historic railway which operated in the British colony of Canada West, later the Canadian province of Ontario. For other articles of the same name, see Great Western Railway (disambiguation)

Great Western Railway (disambiguation)

Great Western Railway or Great Western Railroad may refer to:Australia:* Great Western Railway Canada:*Great Western Railway *Great Western Railway Great Britain:* Great Western Railway...

.

The Great Western Railway was a historic Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 railway that operated in Canada West and later the province of Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, following Confederation

Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...

. Entrepreneur Samuel Zimmerman

Samuel Zimmerman

Samuel Zimmerman was a Canadian railway promoter and entrepreneur instrumental in the construction of the Great Western Railway of Upper Canada.-Early life:...

 was instrumental in promoting its construction and Roswell Gardinier Benedict

Roswell Gardinier Benedict

Roswell Gardinier Benedict was a civil engineer by profession and became involved in land development and the manufacturing of rolling stock for railways....

, a friend of Zimmerman's was the assistant chief engineer and later the chief engineer.

This system stretched 1371 kilometres (851.9 mi), running from Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, Ontario

Niagara Falls is a Canadian city on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. The municipality was incorporated on June 12, 1903...

 to Toronto and connecting lines to London

London, Ontario

London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...

, Windsor

Windsor, Ontario

Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...

 and communities in the Bruce Peninsula

Bruce Peninsula

The Bruce Peninsula is a peninsula in Ontario, Canada that lies between Georgian Bay and the main basin of Lake Huron. The peninsula extends roughly northwestwards from the rest of Southern Ontario, pointing towards Manitoulin Island, with which it forms the widest strait joining Georgian Bay to...

. Having begun operations in 1853, the company was purchased in August 1882 by the Grand Trunk Railway

Grand Trunk Railway

The Grand Trunk Railway was a railway system which operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The railway was operated from headquarters in Montreal, Quebec; however, corporate...

 system and fully merged by 1884.
The main Niagara Falls-Windsor line is now the Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway

The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....

's Grimsby Subdivision, Dundas Subdivision, Chatham Subdivision, and CASO Subdivision. The Toronto branch is the Oakville Subdivision, and the Sarnia branch is the Strathroy Subdivision (which also includes a short piece of the main line, from London to Komoka).