Whitney and Opeongo Railway

The Whitney and Opeongo Railway (W&OR) was a former logging railway in Ontario, Canada. It ran from Opeongo Lake to Whitney, where it connected to the Canada Atlantic Railway (CAR), running a total distance of about 14 miles (23 km). It opened in 1902 and closed in the 1920s with the end of major logging operations in the area.

The southern end of the former route was taken over as the basis of Ontario Highway 60 for a section west of Whitney in Algonquin Park, while the northern end to Opeongo Lake is now used as a park access road. Only a short section of the original railbed is no longer used, abandoned when the highway was constructed further west.

The line was built by the St. Anthony Lumber Company, who set up sawmill operations in the Whitney area starting in 1894. The mill was a major stop on the CAR, with an extensive switch yard extending on the south side of town along the east bank of Galeairy Lake.

Construction of the W&OR by the Ottawa contractor Thomas McLaughlin began in May or June 1902. The line was completed in November 1902 at the relatively high cost of $200,000 due to a number of rock cuts. It entered service in June 1903. The railway was heralded as a "revolution" in the lumber industry, reducing the time to get logs to the mills to twenty-four hours, where it used to take as long as six months.

The northern end of the line connected to the southern end of Opeongo Lake, one of the largest lakes in the area, allowing timber to be floated to that point from a wide area across the center of the park area. It replaced a river-based route that was some 50 miles long and took days to traverse. The line was fairly active, and by 1904 the company was running four trains a day carrying a total of 2,000 logs.

The mill was purchased by the Munn Lumber company in 1910, itself recently purchased by James Brockett Tudhope, to supply hardwood to his furniture company in Orillia. Munn became infamous for their clearcutting of Algonquin Park, and caused a serious backlash when they proposed to cut around the Highland Inn. In response, the Department of Lands, Forests and Mines purchased Munn for $290,000 and closed down its operations.

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