Peterborough Ontario - Several iron plates recently collected by a local historian provide physical proof of an early chapter of the city's railroad history that was previously only told in stories.
 
Gord Young of Lakefield Heritage Research saved the railroad tie plates from the Grand Trunk Railroad extension, which runs from southeast of the city near Ashburnham Drive to the main line downtown, now being torn up by a contractor.
 
Previously, it was an "oral story" that the Grand Trunk did a "crash rebuild" of the spur in 1914, knowing that the First World War was imminent.
 
The tie plates, collected just west of Haggart Street, bear the year 1913, proving that reconstruction did happen, Young said.
 
"Now we have physical proof the rebuild was done in order to prepare for the war traffic," he said.
 
The branch line was rebuilt to accommodate much-heavier and more frequent loads as the The Electric City churned out wartime supplies, such as munitions from General Electric, and shovels from the Lundy Shovel and Tool Works.
 
Heavier rail, such as 80 or 100 pound rail that the main line to Belleville would already have been built with, would have replaced the existing 60 pound rail, Young said.
 
The railroad extension would have been considered "the weakest link" at the time, he added.
 
"They saw the war coming and knew they had to upgrade," he said, adding he believes the rebuild happened sometime in the summer of 1914, probably after 12 Jul 1914.
 
On 28 Jun 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, the event widely regarded as to have sparked the outbreak of the First World War.
 
The United Kingdom would go on to declare war on Germany on 4 Aug 1914.
 
Young plans to take the plates to the Trent Valley Archives, once he completes a cover letter.
 
To most, the plates are just a 25 pound "slab of iron," he said, but the local railway history they represent is important to save.
 
"It's neat to hold a bit of history in your hands," he said.
 
"Saving our heritage is very important."
 
Young was eager to collect the plates, knowing that they would bear a date.
 
Tie plates, which are mounted on railroad ties via spikes and hold the rail in place via a clip, provide the most accurate dates as rail itself was brought in from anywhere in Ontario.
 
That means you could end up with a mix of "built-dates," particularly if a segment of rail was replaced, for example, following a derailment, Young said.
 
The city purchased the abandoned rail CP line late last year with plans to develop a new cross-town recreational trail.
 
The former Grant Trunk Railway extension starts at Rink Street about a block and a half west of the Holiday Inn.
 
From there it goes southeast to the old swing bridge over the Otonabee River just off Haggart Street at the southern tip of Little Lake Cemetery.
 
From there it continues south-east, beneath the Highway 7/115 overpass all the way to city limits at Technology Drive.
 
The England-headquartered Grand Trunk Railway went bankrupt in 1920 after defaulting on loans to the federal government the year before.
 
It was fully absorbed into the Canadian National Railway, a Crown corporation, in 1923.

Jason Bain.