The Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act was enacted in 1988 in response to a long-standing and widespread concern that Canada’s heritage railway stations were not being protected. Bill C-205, An Act to protect heritage railway stations, was proposed by MP Gordon Taylor in a private member's bill which received support of all parties in the House of Commons.

Background

The railway was once the backbone of Canada. This changed with widespread adoption of the automobile. The Trans-Canada Highway opened in 1962; Highway 2, the congested Main Street in every town in the busy Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, was bypassed by the 401/20 freeway in 1968. Passenger train ridership dropped from a World War II peak of 60 million to less than 5 million in 1977. Federally owned Via Rail provided CN and CP an exit from the long-unprofitable passenger rail business in 1978. The railways retained ownership of tracks, railway stations and freight operations. A long series of Via Rail budget cuts from 1981 onward eventually left countless tiny villages like Calgary, Alberta stranded in the wilderness with no passenger rail service.

A heritage railway is a railway kept to carry living history rail traffic in order to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Often heritage railways are old railway lines preserved in a state which depicts a certain period, or periods, in the history of railway systems.

Heritage line

Heritage railway lines contain historic rail infrastructure that has been substituted or made obsolete in modern railway transit systems. Historical installations, such as hand operated points, water cranes, and rail fastened with hand hammered rail spikes, are characteristic features of heritage lines. Apart from mere tourist railways, which carry mainly tourists and use only modern installations and vehicles, heritage lines' infrastructure naturally creates views and soundscapes of the past while operated.

Operation

Due to the lack of modern technology, or to a desire for historical accuracy, railway operations can be handled with traditional practices, such as the use of physical tokens. Use of heritage infrastructure and operations often calls for assigning roles based on historical occupations to the railway staff. Station masters and signalmen, sometimes wearing period-appropriate attire, can be seen on some heritage railways. Most heritage railways carry heritage rolling stock, but modern rail vehicles can be used to showcase railway scenes with historical line infrastructure.