It also had a 66-mile (106 km) branch line splitting off at Palmerston and running roughly westward to Kincardine, another port town.

The line was originally chartered in 1856 as the Canada North-West Railway with the intention of running from Toronto to Southampton and thereby offering a more direct route to the upper Great Lakes than the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron.

Options included branches to Owen Sound and a connection with the Great Western Railway's line in Guelph.

The Kincardine branch was completed in November 1873, beating the TG&B, but it sat unused until December 1874 due to overdue payments.

The Grand Trunk's bankruptcy and subsequent takeover by the Canadian National Railway (CNR) in 1923 led to the lines being reorganized into various subdivisions.

As the need for rail service grew, the counties and townships in the area began to organize their own operating companies to serve these markets.

[1] In May 1856, the year after the Northern reached Collingwood, the Canada North-West Railway Company was formed to build a line running roughly northwest from Toronto to Southampton, with various options for Owen Sound and other points.

[3] Work began with a sod turning in Fergus on 28 June 1867, running west through Elora and reaching Alma by the end of 1870.

The line reached Harriston, 49 miles (79 km) from Fergus, in October 1871, Paisley in June 1872, and Southampton on 7 December 1872.

[4] A lack of funds precluded further development, and the plans to reach Owen Sound from Kincardine, which would also connect at Southampton, along with a shorter line from Clifford to Durham were both dropped.

Notable among these was the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway (TG&B), which formed in 1868 to run a narrow gauge line to Southampton with branches to Kincardine and Owen Sound.

[6] Starting from the Grand Trunk Railway line at Guelph Junction on the west end of the city, the WG&BR begins running northwest, parallel to Edinburg Road.

The mainline continued northwestward to a point just southwest of Elora, where it made a right-angle turn to run northeast, parallel to the main axis of the town.

They both ran unto Listowel, where the S&H turns to run out of town to the southeast while the WG&BR continued southwest a short distance to Atwood.

Only a short distance of the original lines remain in use, running between the starting point in Guelph and the industrial areas on the northwest side of town.