 This led to the creation of a number of railways whose primary purpose was to act as endpoints for canal traffic to be carried to Toronto.On 30 May 1855 the Peterborough & Chemong Lake Railway (P&CL) was chartered to connect to the canal system at Lake Chemong, northwest of Peterborough.By the summer of 1859 four miles had been completed from the east side of the Otonabee River across a bridge built between 1867 and 1871, where it crossed the Midland Railway's branch to Lakefield.