Arnprior to Renfrew: the CN Trail option

Thurs. 20 September:  Arnprior to Renfrew:  the CN Trail option

The CN Trail between Arnprior and Renfrew.
See also the more northerly CP (OVRT) route

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the Ottawa Valley Recreation Trail (OVRT).  It follows the route of the old CP rail line from Smiths Falls to distant Mattawa.  Rail services closed in 2009, and the route is being converted into an all-user recreation trail.

Over the past few weeks, I have travelled the OVRT from Smiths Falls northwards to Arnprior, about 65 km.  It was great biking the whole way.  The only minor detour was in Almonte, where they’re working on the river bridge.  The riding surface is smooth, and the bridges in Carleton Place, Almonte, Pakenham and Arnprior are all spectacular.  It’s a perfect route for someone who also wants to enjoy exploring these lovely small towns en-route.

Northwest from Arnprior, towards Renfrew, the track surface has not yet been improved for bicycles.  But there is an option – one less universally known.  It’s the CN rail route.

At one time, it was an easy job to travel between Arnprior and Renfrew, a distance of less than thirty kilometres.  Both CP and CN ran passenger trains.  CP took a more northerly route, along the southern shore of the Ottawa River, while the CN line was a more direct route.  In 1961, the last passenger train ran on the CN line, which was eventually abandoned in 1989.  Passenger services on the CP route lasted until 1990, and the line finally closed in 2009.  Luckily for us today, both routes are now recreation trails.

For a fascinating read, see this link to “Tracing the Lines.  Eastern Ontario Railway History in Maps”, by Brian Gilhuly, dated 2015.  On the front cover is a wonderful photo of a girl standing on the platform at Arnprior station.

https://www.adarchives.org/media/1006/tracing-the-lines.pdf

The old CN trail seems to live in the shadow of its more well-known competitor.  And since ATVs are not allowed on it, the route may be less travelled.  The towns of Arnprior and (especially) Renfrew have done a very nice job of turning these routes into local community trails.  But between the two towns, I had no way of knowing what to expect.  I was in for a pleasant surprise. 

The roughly twenty eight kilometre route, from the corner of William and Ida streets in Arnprior to Renfrew Junction, is a delight the whole way.  There’s a high point roughly half-way between the two towns, at 159m.  From Arnprior it’s a gentle climb of 63m to this high point, then a drop of 32m to Renfrew Junction. 

It’s a rural route, beside fields and farms, with some woodland and an occasional small swamp or pond.  Just over twelve kilometres from Arnprior is a wide, flat, grassy area, the site of Glasgow Station.  It didn’t take much imagination to picture a busy scene of two trains meeting at this rural halt, and passengers and supplies being loaded and unloaded.  The last steam trains ran in early 1960, so for almost the entire life of this line as a passenger route, it would have been operated by steam trains.

At Renfrew Junction the route of the CN line further west is lost.  Fields have been ploughed and all signs of the route are lost for long stretches.  It is at Renfrew Junction that the CN and the K&P railway crossed paths. 

The K&P makes a great ride.  I have travelled the route all the way to Renfrew from Kingston, a journey of about 167 kilometres (including the flooded section north of Tichborne – see separate blog entry!).

Today, I turned north on the newly gravelled surface of the K&P, as far as the old CP route (now the OVRT).  Safety rails have been erected on the Bonnechere bridge since my last visit a couple of years ago.  I followed the OVRT (known as the Algonquin Trail) into Renfrew, where the route looks to be in danger of being lost in the extensive town centre construction activity.  But perhaps a resurfaced OVRT is part of the overall town plan?

Let’s hope that, some day soon, the OVRT is completed between Arnprior and Renfrew, with a surface suitable for bikes, making possible an exciting ‘circular’ bike trip.  In the meantime, the reader should come and discover the hidden magic of the CN Trail.

Note:  This article is intended to be a guide for interested travellers, so I have added more photos than usual.

Starting point in Arnprior....

...here the CN and CP lines crossed diagonally.  View west along CP line. 
CN route crossed here and ran between trees on left and houses at centre

A pleasant walking/biking trail

Heading west at Duncan Drive

Bridge west of Campbell Drive

A welcome sign for hikers and cyclists. 
ATVers will enjoy the new OVRT route

Rare remnant:  a buried rail tie just visible

Glasgow Station:  imagine a passing-line and a small station building?

Swamp west of Glasgow Station

Bridge west of Laventure Road

Snowmobiler warming shack west of Miller Road

Cook Lake, east of McCallum Drive

Here the surface improves, as you enter Horton Township

Rural scene

Passing beneath the main Highway 17

West of Lime Kiln Road

Eastern edge of Renfrew

A chorus line

Renfrew has turned the CN railway into a beautiful community trail.
This sign, and a handy shelter, can be found on Carswell Street at Ross Street.

The route crosses a small creek

Renfrew Junction.  Here the K&P runs to the left (south) to Kingston

Here I turned north on the short final leg of the K&P

On the OVRT (CP) at the Bonnechere River bridge

In Renfrew County the OVRT is called the Algonquin Trail.

The CN Trail contour