What will I find here?
Valley Rails is a site about Canadian railway history, mostly the early railway history of the Ottawa Valley. It will treat more general railway topics and events from time to time. The occasional Ottawa River steamboat may appear.
Who creates it?
Brian Gilhuly, author and cartographer of Tracing the Lines. (It’s the only overall account of railways in eastern Ontario and west Québec and you can download it here). I put Valley Rails together in Arnprior, Ontario, about sixty-five kilometres up the Ottawa River from the Capital.
I am a member of the Ottawa Railway History Circle, and also work to preserve and share the broader history of the Ottawa Valley. I’m a board member and research assistant at the Arnprior and McNab/Braeside Archives. Previous involvements include board member and chair of the Arnprior and District Museum.
Why?
Several reasons:
- It makes Tracing the Lines easier to find and download;
- I can share expanded versions of my articles previously published in Branchline magazine with online readers;
- It’s a place to highlight new research findings; and
- A means of access to primary source material that I have collected.