The GTR aroused great anticipation, butĬanadians had neither the money nor the technicians to build it. The most ambitious pre- Confederation railway project in Canada was the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) - a bold attempt by Montreal to capture the hinterland of Canada West and traffic from American states in the Great Lakes region. In this case Conservative politician and businessman Allan MacNab arranged for partners in Canada and the United States, and persuaded the legislature to proffer a loan of £200,000, profiting mightily himself. Niagara Falls to Windsor, Canada West (Ontario), in January 1854. While the Act established government assistance for railway construction, it also inspired a railway building mania in Canada, and led companies and governments to overextend themselves financially.Īnother collaboration between Canadian and American interests lay behind the Great Western Railway, which began construction in October 1849 and was completed from Under the Act, railways that were longer than 75 miles (120 km) were eligible to receive a government grant that guaranteed interest of up to 6 per cent on half its bonds once half of the railway had been completed. Which ensured the railway’s completion (1853). Galt raised another £53,000 in EnglandĪnd mortgaged his land company to get the project moving.īut it was the Guarantee Act, 1849, sponsored in the Canadian legislature by Galt’s friend Francis Hincks, In the initial enthusiasm, Montrealers subscribed £100,000 but paid only 10 per cent of that amount. Promotion of the railway set a pattern often repeated later. Ocean outlet and Portland with access to a hinterland. The dual purpose of the line was to provide Montreal with a year-round Poor of Portland, Maine, and Canadian entrepreneurĪlexander Tilloch Galt. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad, promoted initially by John A. Montreal and Lachine Railroad (1847) was another short (12 km) line built to supplement water transportation. On 19 September 1839, the first railway in the Maritimes opened the Albion Mines Railway was built to carry coal from Albion Mines some 9.5 km to the loading pier at Dunbar Point (near Pictou, Nova Scotia). Portage” between Montreal and Lake Champlain, in practice the railway carried little freight. John Molson and other Montreal merchants, the line opened officially on 21 July 1836. Johns on the Richelieu River (now Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu). The first true railway built in Canada was the Champlain and Saint Lawrence Railroad from La Prairie on the St. Its roads were poor and its waterways were frozen for up to five months per The Province of Canada (1841–1867) was an enormous country. Nevertheless, it did not take long for politicians and entrepreneurs to realize the potential benefits. Railway fever came a little later to British North America the colony had a small population and much of its capital was tied up in the expansion of its canals and inland waterways. In this early stage: steam locomotion, the standard gauge (1.435 m), and the rolled-edge rail (which bellied out on the underside for strength). Many of the lasting characteristics of the railway were established By 1841, there were some 2,100 km of rail in the British Isles, and by 1844 the frenetic promotion of railways aptly called “The Mania” was underway. Steam locomotion, together with the low rolling friction of iron-flanged wheels on iron rails, enabled George Stephenson (the first of the great railway engineers) to design and superintend the building of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1830). Of the Rideau Canal to carry stone from the quarry at Hog’s Back in Ottawa. Another railway was used during the building In the 1820s, an incline railway of cable cars, powered by a winchĭriven by a steam engine, was used to hoist stone during the building of the Quebec Citadel. Of this type may have been used as early as the 1720s to haul quarried stone at the fortress of Louisbourg. In the early 17th century, mining railways were introduced to England powered by horses, these early railways carried ore and coal from pitheads to water.
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