The municipality is in talks with a developer proposing to build a funicular railway connecting the Millennium Lookout on County Road 22 and Delhi Park.

In exchange for a lease agreement to allow a railway station at the Lookout, Pathside Engineering will construct a double track railway able to transport up to 28 passengers at a time up and down the cliff between Picton, Macaulay Heights, and Base31.

Two passenger cars linked by an underground cable will ascend and descend simultaneously along the line on parallel tracks.

A funicular employs counterbalanced cars: the descending car helps to pull the ascending car up a steep incline. Double tracks allow the cars to pass each other at the midpoint.

The first, steepest descent will require a 256m track cut into the limestone escarpment at a slope of about 65 degrees — a very steep incline. This railway will descend to the southern edge of Delhi Park, between Mount Olivet and Glenwood cemeteries.

The second portion of the track will run a further 280m to a central station inside the park. It will have an incline of about 30 degrees.

“It’s going to take some engineering to make the cliffside portion feasible,” commented Pathside geological engineer Lisa Berger. “The descent will be breathtaking in every possible way.”

“Niagara Falls has had its Maid of the Mist funicular since 1890,” said the Mayor. “It’s about time we got one, too.” That storied railway carries passengers down the steep incline of the Falls to the waters below.

The County’s funicular could be modelled on those of English beach towns. Plans draw from the historic East Hill Cliff Railway in Hastings, Sussex, built in 1902.

“That funicular is a designated site of national importance in England,” noted the Mayor. “It’s part of a historic area designated ‘1066 Country’.”

County Castles the Inspiration

Pathside CEO Simon Langstaff is proposing a turreted railway station at the lookout point offering panoramic views over Picton’s old town and harbour.

“We are still deciding between the turret styles of castles Rickarton and Villeneuve,” he said. “Rickarton is more in keeping with the military theme of the former Camp Picton; its huge, crenellated turret suggested battlements. But Castle Villeneuve was so romantic — and its turrets were taller.”

Built in 1840, Castle Villeneuve was expanded in 1860 into a French Gothic Chateau on Picton Bay. It was destroyed by a propane explosion in 1986. 

Rickarton Castle, which also stood on the harbour, was built about 1860 and featured a square, crenellated turret.

“It will create a landmark visible from every point in Picton,” he continued. “This funicular railway will draw visitors from across the country — if not around the world.”

“It’s not only functional, enabling easy pedestrian access between Picton, Macaulay, and the Base through Delhi Park. It’s also a living enactment of development’s first principle: build it and they will come,” he noted.

“This is exactly the kind of historically inflected revitalization the County is becoming known for,” said the Mayor. “A funicular railway will connect Prince Edward County to a past we all want to visit. It suggests a return, in a small way, to the days of direct rail service to Picton.

“We are taking seriously the call to turn the County’s rich and storied heritage into a point of access that will draw tourists from around the world.

“This railway represents a significant step toward turning the County into a living museum.”

Everything on the railway will be modelled to recall the nineteenth century, the heyday of the County’s rumrunners and bootleggers, when vast robber-baron- style fortunes were made — and castles were built.

“The railway cars suggest an Agatha Christie murder mystery; they are straight out of Victorian England,” said Pathside designer Sarah Knightsbridge.

Not everybody the Gazette spoke to  on the subject was keen, however. 

“This is not quite the pathway into Delhi Park I had imagined,” noted Veronica Taylor, a landscape architect. “Will the station be right on top of the planned pickleball courts? Or would the developers prefer to destroy the community gardens?”

“Nothing’s been carved into or out of the limestone yet,” cautioned the Mayor. “This proposal requires a full review at planning and all the regular studies — including environmental. 

“It’s exciting, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”  

April Fool’s Day Disclaimer: very little in this story is true.