Preston and Berlin Railway Railcar.
(W. Lenheim Collection, Fair Use, Title 17 Section 107)
PRESTON AND BERLIN RAILWAY
The first Preston and Berlin Railway was a steam-operated railway, opened for operation in 1857. Berlin, Ontario (now Kitchener, Ontario), and Preston, Ontario (now part of Cambridge, Ontario), were only 13 km (8.1 mi) apart, but the route required a bridge over the Grand River.
Berlin's city council awarded the line a subsidy.
The line operated for just three months. Ice flowing down the Grand River damaged piers of its bridge at Doon, Ontario.
The bridge never re-opened.
There were recriminations over the line's failure, and the satisfaction of those who inspected the line, and its bridge. Eventually, in 1863, an act in Canada's Parliament exonerated Berlin City Council. Edward Irving Ferguson acquired the line's assets, because he had held a mortgage on some of the line's property. He sold those assets to the Grand Trunk Railway, on November 14, 1865.
The 6.9 miles (11.1 km) from Berlin, to the Grand River, at Doon, was incorporated into a route the Grand Trunk built from Berlin to Galt, Ontario.
Overview
Main regions: Preston, Berlin (now Kitchener)
Stations called: at Berlin, German Mills, Doon, Preston
Parent company: Galt and Guelph Railway, Great Western Railway
Locale: Waterloo County, Midwestern Ontario, Canada
Dates of operation: 1857–1858
Successor: Grand Trunk Railway Galt Branch, CN Waterloo Subdivision, CN Huron Park Spur
Technical
Track gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Length: 9.7 miles (15.6 km)