LRT began in Galt and Preston in 1894

(City of Cambridge Archives, 2014)

When it comes to the matter of light rail transit in Waterloo Region, we are justified in saying: been there, done that.

It was more than a century ago that surface passenger transit was launched in the communities that now make up Cambridge, and it is probably not lost on the residents of Cambridge that they will not be among the first to experience the return of such people-movers: the LRT will come first to Kitchener and Waterloo in 2017, with Cambridge getting the so-called "fast buses," for the time being.

But this column is about the past, and what a forward-thinking past it was.

Electric railways: they were the hallmark of the urbane community in the late 19th century. If your town had electricity and a working class, it was necessary that you had a way for people to get to and from work, buy their groceries, go to trade school.

Enter the urban street railway. Cheap fares. Faster than the horse and buggy.

Probably the most extensive online history of the Galt and Preston Street Railway (also known as the G & P) is on trainweb.org. What follows is drawn largely from its pages (information that in large part comes from the City of Cambridge Archives).

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Reference: 

Bean, B. (2014, October 24). LRT began in Galt and Preston in 1894. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from http://www.therecord.com/living-story/4928575-lrt-began-in-galt-and-preston-in-1894/

City of Cambridge Archives. (2014, January 1). River. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from http://www.therecord.com/living-story/4928575-lrt-began-in-galt-and-preston-in-1894/