Toronto Eastern Railway

The Toronto Eastern Railway is a noted "ghost railroad" in southern Ontario, Canada. It was part of William Mackenzie's ambitious plan set up to provide high-speed electric "interurban" service throughout that district that first appeared in 1910; however, those plans fell afoul of World War I and, later, political manoeuvres.

The railway was incorporated on 4 April 1910 to build a high-speed route from Toronto east to Pickering, Whitby, and Oshawa. The company acquired by Canadian Northern Railway interests in 1911, who extended the proposal east of Oshawa to Bowmanville and Cobourg. They also applied for additional rights of way, north from Cobourg or Port Hope to Peterborough, north from Oshawa to Linsday, north from Scarborough to Markham, Stouffville or Uxbridge, and south from Oshawa to the shore of Lake Ontario. Construction begun on the mainline in 1912, and by 1913 track was in place from Bowmanville to Whitby, when construction halted.

In September 1918 the Canadian Northern was nationalized and re-organized as part of the Canadian National Railways (CNR). On 26 December 1923 CNR merged the Toronto Eastern with its other electric holdings to form the new Canadian National Electric Railways. In 1923, existing tracks were reconstructed and new trackage constructed to allow trains to be run from Bowmanville to Whitby, and a few "test trains" were run. One of these carried the line's only passenger, an uninvited youth who sneaked unto a train in Bowmanville and disembarked when the train reached Oshawa.

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