small street railway had opened in the twilight of the horsecar years, however, as the street railway in Windsor had opened in 1886 with electrified streetcars from the beginning, and Toronto street railways began electrifying in 1891. Electrification The company had little ability to finance electrification, which took over two years to complete, from March 1893 to May 1895, and also involved bonding the rails and reballasting the track. An electric power contract was negotiated with the Berlin Gas Company, beginning a long relationship between these two companies which ultimately would lead to their merger into a single organization. Three of the old horse cars were fitted with electric motors and used as electric streetcars, with the first electrically-powered run occurring on 18 May 1895. The driver of the horsecars was Henry U. Clemens, who estimated that they transported about 400 people per day, carrying 10-15 passengers per car from a first southbound trip at 6:40 am to a final northbound trip arriving at Waterloo at 10:20 pm. Legacy Though the tracks were largely removed in the 1950s, some physical remnants of the streetcar line survived until the 2010s, when wooden ties were discovered during excavations on King Street to prepare for the construction of the ION light rail system. See also Grand River Railway Grand River Transit List of defunct Canadian railways List of Ontario railways List of street railways in Canada Preston and Berlin Street Railway Urban rail transit in Canada Streetcars in North America Public transport in Canada References Citations Bibliography Further reading External links Transit agencies in Ontario Electric railways in Canada Rail transport in Kitchener, Ontario Passenger rail transport in Kitchener, Ontario Rail transport in Waterloo, Ontario Passenger rail transport in Waterloo, Ontario History of Kitchener, Ontario History of Waterloo, Ontario History of rail transport in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo Defunct Ontario railways Horse-drawn railways Street railways in Ontario Railway companies disestablished in 1927