Rails-to-Trails, Bioregionalism, and the Haliburton Portion of the Victoria Rail Line

Rails-to-Trails, Bioregionalism, and the Haliburton Portion of the Victoria Rail Line

Sampson, Patrick

Wadland, John; Whillans, Tom
Departments: Canadian Studies and Environmental Studies

TPB-505

1994

U-Links Office and online

Haliburton County

Community development and the Victoria Railway

By considering the history of a portion of the abandoned Victoria Railway between Kinmount and Haliburton Village, the author states his case that there is a connection between the railway line and Haliburton County's search for community development in a bioregional context. From a look at the historical events surrounding the building of the Victoria Railway in the 1870s to the tearing up of the tracks in 1983 and 1984, the author moves on to a discussion of the Rails-to-Trails movement in general, outlining potential benefits associated with such a conversion in Haliburton. Such an initiative is presented in the context of several qualities integral to bioregionalism: the principles of bioregional economies, the actualization of ecological principles through protected spaces, and the regeneration of culture and community.

Trent University