Where we are

Who we are

What We Sell

Brass Cabinet

N Scale Collectors

N Scale Graffiti

3 Rail Vintage

Memorabilia

Paint Shop

"Credit Valley Ramblings"

Links

Services

Shows/Events

M.T.H. News


Disclaimer

Privacy Policy

Credit Valley Ramblings Online

What is in a name?

We at the Credit Valley Railway Company are very proud of our name and the history related to it. We are located in the Village of Streetsville (now part of the City of Mississauga). Why we chose our name relates to the history of the area.

The location for our store was chosen with accessibility from major highways in mind. This would eliminate the stress of fighting through traffic to buy items for your hobby. (A hobby is supposed to be relaxing.) Streetsville also maintains a strong sense of community and we wanted to become part of the village. As we were a model railway, and railway collectables, store it was logical to adopt a railway name from the town’s past.

Streetsville, Meadowvale, Churchville. Forks of The Credit, and Cataract are all communities located in the valley of the Credit River. In the 1880s a railway was constructed to provide these villages with a connection to Toronto, providing them with an outlet for the goods and materials they produced.

This railway followed the valley of the Credit River for much of its length even though it left the valley to include major communities such as Brampton. It was therefore logical to call the railway, The Credit Valley Railway.

Streetsville was one of the more important communities along the line. It was here that a branch of the Credit Valley Railway left the mainline and headed over towards Galt (now part of the City of Cambridge). The Junction between the branchline and the mainline up to Orangeville, was the focus of much railway activity. Streetsville also had a number of mills and manufacturing concerns that were serviced by the railway.

Unfortunately the railway did not make money. Within four years of its completion it was taken over by the Canadian Pacific Railway, who wanted to extend the branchline to Galt to connections at Windsor.

Streetsville remained a busy junction, but the Credit Valley Railway name disappeared and was replaced with the Orangeville Subdivision.

This is why our choice of a name to call our store was The Credit Valley Railway Company.

What about other railway names?

Some like the CPR are easy to understand, it is a railway created as a private corporation to connect the new Dominion of Canada with the Pacific Ocean. CNR on the other hand stands for the Canadian National Railways. It was created from merging a number of bankrupt railway systems which the Government of Canada had taken over. The government felt these railways were needed to preserve access to many parts of the country. Both of these companies had acquired many local railways to act as feeders lines to bring commerce to the mainlines.

These little branchlines originally had names that indicated the location of the railway, and sometimes the goals of the founding fathers. Many of the goals were never reached.

The Brockville, Westport, and Sault Ste Marie wanted to connect Brockville, on the St Lawrence River to the Lake Superior. It managed to reach Westport, only about fifty miles.

The Coburg and Peterborough Railway connected those two towns. The connection did not last long as they had constructed a causeway across Rice lake which was destroyed by winter storms only a few years after completion.

The Kingston and Pembroke did connect those cities, but bypassed most of the communities close to the line. Short branches ran to each of the communities from the mainline. The founding fathers of this railway were lumber mill owners. So the line went from one stand of timber to the next. Serving the nearby communities was only an afterthought. Passenger service was so slow that the locals referred to the Kingston and Pembroke ( K&P )as the Kick and Push.

Some Railways just named who owned them. For example The Standard Chemical Railway or The Trout Creek Lumber Company Railway.

Create a name for your own empire. Pick any two place names, or any two family names, or a business name that interests you, and create a name from them.

Build a branchline railway from the town of Brechin, on the CNR, to the fictitious town of Enterin. What would its name be. Maybe Enterin has a penitentiary?

What is in a Name? A lot of fun if you wish to create one.