At its peak, the Great Western system stretched 1,371 kilometres (852 mi) with its main operating base in Hamilton.

The city at the head of Lake Ontario was pivotal in opening up the unpopulated and heavily wooded interior of what was then known as Canada West.

Sir Allan MacNab was the driving force behind the financing of the railway in Canada (and less so in the United States and England), although he was pushed out of the company in 1854.

Due to the length of time to construct its lines, it was beaten into service by six months by the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway.

The original line completed in 1853–54 connected Niagara Falls to Windsor, running by way of Hamilton and London.

As a consequence, GWR managing director Charles John Brydges, who had negotiated a purchase agreement with Zimmerman would engineer MacNab's dismissal from the board.

Its first was a depot at the Queen's Wharf, then it secured the use of the Canadian Northern station at York Street.

Thirty-five passengers were killed at the time of impact, and many remained in the ruins of the train for several hours before being extricated.

The accident, known as the "Great Western Railway disaster", claimed 59 lives and injured 18 of the approximately 100 people aboard.

[18][19] One of the dead was Samuel Zimmerman,[20] who had himself arranged the exemption clause to allow GWR trains to not stop at drawbridges.

He testified that an axle had broken on the engine, causing the cowcatcher on the front of the train to dip and rip up the timbers of the bridge, leading to its collapse.