Did you know?

FAQ – Frequently asked questions.

1) Where was the turntable?

The turntable was located in Doranville, on land that is now the Sharbot Lake Marina.

2) Where was the station?

The first station was located across from what is now the municipal beach. The second station was located just west of the caboose in the V formed by the K&P and CPR rail lines.

3) What were the destinations of the trains?

Passenger trains for example heading south, the final destination would be Kingston. Trains heading west, went to Toronto. Passenger trains heading north would be heading to Renfrew. Eastbound trains, 33 and 34, for example were bound for Ottawa. Trains 35 and 36 went to Montreal.

4) Did you know that’s a CN van?

Yes. We have information on it on our web page.


5) When was the O.&Q.R. built through Sharbot Lake?

It was built between 1882-1884, opening in August, 1884. It was leased to the Canadian Pacific Railway for 999 years.

6) When was the K&P built?

It was built between 1872-1884, opening in December, 1884. Note – the Canadian Pacific Railway took over the K&P in January, 1913.

7) Where’s the bathroom?

You can use facilities at the Sharbot Lake Public Library and the Municipal Beach when they are open.

8) What’s in the other shed?

The other shed is a tool shed.

9) Why was it called “Kick and Push”?

It was probably called the Kick and Push by the unique way the cars were shunted on sidings or spurs. The cars were “kicked” into a yard track, the engine ran around the coaches and “pushed” them into the station.

10) When were the tracks lifted and why?

For the K&P line, tracks were lifted in stages. The section from Tichborne to Sharbot Lake was abandoned in 1964. From Sharbot Lake to Renfrew, by February, 1977, the tracks were all lifted. The last section, from Kingston to Tichborne to Kingston, was abandoned in 1986 and the tracks lifted in 1987.

For the CP rail line, the Havelock subdivision, the section of the subdivision from Glen Tay to Tweed was officially abandoned in July 1971. The tracks were lifted by 1972/1973. The section from Tweed to Havelock was abandoned 1988.


The volume of Ottawa Valley traffic originally anticipated by the railway never really materialized for the K&P.

The new and improved CP rail line south of Sharbot Lake (the Ontario Shore Line), better highways, the automobile, refrigerated trucks, all led to the demise of the railroad in Sharbot Lake.

The Toronto and Ottawa Railway

In May, 1882, at the same time work had commenced on the Ontario and Quebec Railway between Perth and Sharbot lake, Ontario,  800 men were working on the section of the Toronto and Ottawa Railway between Perth and Bridgewater (Actinolite).

In April, 1882, the Toronto and Ottawa Railway was taken over by the Midland Railway, which was leased by the Grand Trunk Railway. Work on the line between Perth and Actinolite was discontinued.

When Highway 7 went through the Sharbot Lake area in the 1930’s much of the old rail bed between Perth and Sharbot Lake was used. Parts of the old rail bed can be seen today near Silver Lake, Ontario.

Railway Slang

Railroaders have their own language. Here are a few terms.

Kick: To shove a car a short distance and uncouple it in motion, allowing it to roll free under gravity and/or its own inertia onto a track. Commonly practiced in rail or hump yards to make up or break down trains or classify large numbers of cars in an expedient fashion.
Kicker – A kicker is a car that sends the train into an emergency brake application, stopping the train. It’s caused by malfunctioning brake equipment in a car.
Outlawed – The term outlaw, or outlawed refers to a crew (or train) which can no longer move because the crew has reached the maximum number of hours they are allowed to work, thereby outlawing their controlling the further movement of any train.
Flying switch: Like a kick except the locomotive is pulling the car when the cut is made.
Banjo: A fireman’s shovel
Big hook: Wrecking crane or auxiliary
Car Knocker:Car inspector or car repairer-from the early custom of tapping the wheels to detect flaws. Also called car whacker; and car toad (because he squats while inspecting), car tink, and car tonk
Dump: a term used to describe the rocks and fill used to make a causeway across a body of water.
Crummy, crum box, crib: A van (Caboose)
Gandy Dancer: Section worker
Green eye: Clear signal.
Highball: Signal made by waving hand or lamp in a high, wide semicircle, meaning “Pick up full speed.”
Hog: Railroad (steam) engine
Hogger: Locomotive engineer
Nosebag: A lunch bucket or bag
Make-up: Assemble cars into a train. Now called consist
Shack: A brakeman, a conductor
Shiny Pants: A railway clerk
Shoofly: A temporary track
Tallowpot, tallow: Fireman
Yard Geese: Switchman

Passenger Service at Sharbot Lake

Canadian Pacific Railroad

1890’s – A busy place during this era as there were also seven freight trains. Trains going West – Train No.3 arrived at Sharbot Lake at 1:29 PM, Train No. 291 arrived at 10:34 AM, Train No. 5, a night express arrived at 1:37 AM. Trains going East were Train No. 4 arriving at 2:26 PM, Train No.192 arriving at 5:25 PM and night express, Train No. 6, arriving at 3:17 AM. Train No.5 and No. 6 ran daily including Sunday. The other trains ran daily except Sunday.

1920’s – There were four west bound trains. Train No. 33 was the night passenger train to Toronto. Train No. 35 was the daily train to Toronto. It ran every day but Sunday. The Sunday only train was No. 41. Train No. 23 was also a daily express train that ran to Toronto (except Sundays). As well, there were four east bound trains. Train No. 34 was the daily night passenger train to Ottawa. Train No. 36 was the daily train to Montreal.  Train No. 24 was a daily express train that ran to Montreal. No. 24 and No. 36 did not run on Sundays.  The Sunday only train was No. 42.

1930’s to 1966 – Four passenger trains ran on the C.P.R. line through Sharbot Lake. Montreal-Havelock-Toronto trains, No. 35 and No.36,  ran daily except on Sundays. Train No. 35, west bound, arrived in Sharbot Lake 1:55 PM. East bound, Train No.36, arrived in Sharbot Lake at 2:25 PM. They made their last runs on Saturday, April 23, 1960. No. 35 had 1414 (FP9A), two head-end cars and two coaches. No. 36 had 8466 (RS-10), two head-end cars, two coaches and two deadhead RDC’s 9049 (ex DSS&A 500 RDC-1) and 9194 (RDC-2).

Pool Trains No. 33 and No. 34 ran between Ottawa and Toronto. Pool trains, brought in during the depression to cut costs, were a way of sharing the much-reduced passenger traffic yet still provide the choice of travel times. This began April 2,1933.

In October 1965, the C.P.R. introduced RDC’s (Rail Diesel Car) and kept the same train numbers. These trains ran only 3 months. On Sunday, January 23, 1966, it was the end of trains No. 33 and No. 34 and the end of passenger service in Sharbot Lake. The end of the rail line followed a few years later.

The Kingston and Pembroke Railroad

1915 Timetable – The K&P offered six passenger trains. Train No. 615  left the Kingston station at 5:00 PM and arrived in Sharbot Lake at 7:40 PM. Train No. 614 left Sharbot Lake at 5:20 AM and arrived in Kingston at 8:00 AM.

Train No. 613 was a through train to Renfrew that departed Kingston at 8:10 AM and arrived in Renfrew at 4:20 PM. No. 612 was also a through train that departed Renfrew at 10:40 AM and arrived in Kingston at 3:45 PM.

Train No. 611 was a later through train to Renfrew that departed Kingston at 10:45 AM and arrived in Renfrew at 4:45 PM. No. 612 an earlier train that departed Renfrew at 7:00 AM and arrived in Kingston at 3:00 PM.

Shore Line

The C.P.R. main line that still runs today just eight miles south of Sharbot Lake through the local communities of Wilkinson, Echo Lake, Parham, Tichborne and Crow Lake was called the Ontario Shore Line. This part of the line, from Agincourt to Glen Tay was constructed by the CLO&WR (Campbellford, Lake Ontario and Western Railway). It’s now the CP Belleville Subdivision.

Surveying of the line was initiated in 1905.  It was felt by CPR officials that the proposed route would serve as an alternative to the busy rail line through Sharbot Lake. Further work on the proposed line lagged and it wasn’t until May 1912 that grading work commenced.  In 1913, the line was officially leased for a period of 999 years to the CPR.  On June 1st, 1914, the new line was completed and opened for traffic. Its full length, as planned, was from Agincourt to Glen Tay.

Kingston and Pembroke Railway

Not really. It was charted to run between these two cities but in reality it stopped at Renfrew.  By the time they reached Renfrew in 1884, a competing railroad had already reached Pembroke. Financial difficulties added to the problems and that ended the dream to reach Pembroke.

Why is the Kingston and Pembroke Railway called the Kick and Push

The K&P was not noted for its speed or its punctuality. The train was so slow it has been said that people actually go off the train at St. George’s Lake and walked to Sharbot Lake. It was a six-and-a half hour train ride from Kingston to Renfrew on the best of days. There was a lot of backing up then moving forward. Sometimes the engineer forgot there was a passenger to be picked up. Or he was going too fast and overran the station.

As a result, people just wanted to get off to kick and push the train to get it going.

Well this is one story.

First Train on the K&P

The first train was run to Godfrey in 1877. In charge was William Carnovsky as conductor and W. Draper as the engineer.