Irie Mon said "Both are fantastic links, thanks for bringing me back, Abbysmum and wow, how old am I. I remember the rail line from the CNR tracks along the west side of 9th Street. There was a loading dock just behind the Princess Edward hotel. I think the bar at the Prince Eddie was called the Red Caboose if I can remember right. I was too young to go in of course. What I can't remember is the rail line going into the Fair Grounds. That maybe before my time. I do remember the old grandstand at the fair ground. Saw the Hell Drivers there! "
The line to the fairgrounds makes sense though! If you think about how much livestock used to be transported via railcar back in the day. Not trucks like today.
I find the map from 1964 especially fascinating, because a lot of what Brandon looks like now is there, but you can still see lots of what was there before. I live in Riverheights and we assumed the paths running behind the houses by the rail line were old rail beds, and turns out we were right! It's clearly marked abandoned rail line on the map. There's also a surprising number of gravel pits marked.
I knew we had that line that went up 9th/10th, but didn't know about 25th St. So interesting how our city has changed over the years!