The route that the railway would eventually take was a topic of much discussion and debate on the Island. Every community wanted to benefit from the new railway system, and to be included on its path. When the contract to build the railway was finally awarded, it was decided that the track would be paid for by the mile, but the actual route was still unspecified. This gave a lot of power to the contractors, who were open to including as many communities on the route as they could, which at times made the routes extremely long and circular. There was a station located approximately every 2.5 miles (4 km). This map shows just how many stations were on the early route of the Prince Edward Island Railway.
