George Laidlaw

George Laidlaw (February 28, 1828 – August 6, 1889) was a businessman who promoted the development of narrow gauge railways and was invaluable in the chartering of the Toronto & Nipissing (with which his own Victoria Railway would soon compete) and the Toronto Grey & Bruce Railways in 1868. From then until his retirement in 1881, he continued to promote the initiation or extension of several other local railways, and proposed a grand plan for uniting the independent railways of southern Ontario into a competitive alternative to the Grand Trunk Railroad. Though it was met with minimal success at the time, the idea was the backbone of what was to become the Canadian Pacific Railway.

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jun 21 2017, 23:31:17 UTC