Taking advantage of the waterpower available from the creeks flowing through these hilly areas, industries had developed in the early- to mid-19th century, which would be potential freight customers for the railway.

In theory a short distance of only 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), a route which was noted by contemporary travellers as sometimes difficult for roadway traffic[6] proved circuitous and steep for railways.

[10] The railway initially opened in November 1857 without incident, running passenger trains on revenue service, with a 40-minute timetabled travel time between Berlin and Preston.

In February 1858, disaster struck when the key infrastructural element to the line, the bridge over the Grand River, was washed out.

Interest arose in restoring the rail connection between Preston and Berlin, and a company was incorporated for this purpose in 1894.

[12] Work proceeded east along King Street until it reached Freeport, after which it began at the other end of the line in Preston.

Local industrialist Joseph Seagram, the owner of a major distillery, opportunistically supported the Preston and Berlin against the Grand Trunk.

[14]: 26 Ultimately, the local electric railways proved a tempting acquisition, especially given their propensity to undercut Grand Trunk freight service.

The BWW&LH was framed by promoters around lofty goals of constructing further lines to the north, but retrospectively, researchers such as Peter Cain argued that it simply functioned as a vehicle to further Canadian Pacific's ambitions.

[14]: 26 In 1914, the BWW&LH was effectively rebranded to the Grand River Railway, and greater attempts were made to consolidate the P&B and GP&H systems on a technical and operational level.

The Preston and Berlin line built in the first few years of the 20th century began to change drastically, as municipal politicians in Berlin (renamed Kitchener in 1916) began to oppose the private street railway operations in downtown areas, in favour of automobile traffic as well as the recently municipalized Kitchener and Waterloo Street Railway.

Under Canadian Pacific-guided infrastructure upgrades, the Grand River Railway switched to 1500 V DC operations, as well as larger passenger cars and an increasing emphasis on freight.

By the 1990s, Canadian Pacific began to abandon the freight line through the west end of Berlin to Waterloo altogether, in favour of an interchange yard with CN Rail, which had abandoned the southern part of the original Preston and Berlin Railway line in the 1960s.