National Transcontinental Railway
Encyclopedia
The National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) was a historic Canadian
railway between Winnipeg
and Moncton. Much of the line is now operated by the Canadian National Railway
.
(CPR) on November 7, 1885 preceded a tremendous economic expansion and immigration boom in western Canada during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But the monopolistic policies of the CPR, coupled with its southerly routing (new scientific discoveries were pushing the northern boundary of cereal
crops), led to increasing western discontent with the railway and federal transportation policies.
The federal government had encouraged the Grand Trunk Railway
(GTR) system in the 1870s to consider building the transcontinental rail line, but formed the CPR to do the job after the GTR balked. However by the early 1900s, the GTR was willing to consider building a second transcontinental system for the country - provided it received government assistance, similar to the CPR's deal.
The Canadian Northern Railway
was an upstart regional system for the prairies that had begun in Manitoba under entrepreneurs William Mackenzie and Donald Mann
in 1899 through their amalgamation of several smaller branch lines. The CNoR started the process of building Canada's second transcontinental system between 1903 and 1912. The system was built from Winnipeg west to Vancouver and east to Toronto and Montreal, in addition to branch lines in Nova Scotia
.
Mackenzie and Mann had spurned the federal government's offer for assistance to expand the CNoR in 1903 and in doing so, the federal government under prime minister Wilfrid Laurier
committed to building a transcontinental system in partnership with the GTR. In keeping with the trend of railways to exploit virgin territories, the government-backed "transcon" would run from the port of Prince Rupert, British Columbia
across the northern portion of the prairies to Winnipeg, and from there across northern Ontario and Quebec to Quebec City where it would cross the St. Lawrence River and continue on to its eastern terminus at Moncton, New Brunswick by way of a route directly across central New Brunswick
.
The GTR board of directors only wished to assume the financial risks for the portion of the system west of Winnipeg, therefore the agreement resulted in two railway systems being funded by government: the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
which would run from Winnipeg-Prince Rupert and be built and operated by GTR as a subsidiary, and the government owned and built National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) which would run from Winnipeg-Moncton and be operated by GTR upon completion.
The GTPR/NTR deal came in the heady final days of Canada's railway boom and would soon prove to be the financial straw that broke the back of Canada's railway industry during the First World War
. The GTPR/NTR system was surveyed and construction began in 1905 and the entire system was finished (except for the Quebec Bridge
) in 1913. The task was monumental and no expense was spared in building a railway system of minimal grades and curvature. In crossing the Appalachian Mountains
of eastern Quebec and northern New Brunswick, the NTR used massive bridges to span wide valleys. The Quebec Bridge
over the St. Lawrence River - the largest cantilever span in the world - took $40 million of the $170 million total project cost alone. The territory across northern Quebec and Ontario to Winnipeg, through the heart of the Canadian Shield
, posed an extremely difficult construction obstacle (the reason why the Canadian Pacific Railway
avoided the region), yet in the end, the system was one of the best-constructed railways in the world.
(IRC), the Prince Edward Island Railway
(PEIR), and the Hudson Bay Railway
(as well as some smaller lines) into the Canadian Government Railways
in 1915 for administrative and financial purposes, although the individual systems maintained their independent names. CGR and its subsidiaries would last until 1918.
Several years later, on July 12, 1920 the GTPR was nationalized and entered the CNR fold. The GTR itself was placed under government control several weeks earlier on May 21, 1920, however GTR was not merged into the CNR until January 23, 1923.
in 1911 and Robert Borden
's Tories
were forced to finish the project, including the disastrous spanning of the St. Lawrence River with the Quebec Bridge.
The NTR route across northern Quebec and Ontario, far from the major population centres, had been approved by Laurier's government largely due to the support of his Quebec caucus as the routing made Quebec City the preferred port for western grain shipments. The NTR in these provinces never lived up to its expectations for creating traffic, although it did aid the resource-rich mining communities of northern Ontario and northwestern Quebec for a time.
Under CNR (CN post-1960), the NTR route across northern Quebec and Ontario became a marginal secondary main line with little in the way of through freight or passenger traffic. At Nakina, the CNR had constructed the Longlac-Nakina Cut-Off, a 29.4 miles (47.3 km) section of track linking the NTR with the Canadian Northern line at Longlac, completed in 1924. A 122 miles (196.3 km) section of the NTR mainline between Nakina and Calstock, Ontario
was abandoned in 1986 and the Ontario Northland Railway
purchased the section of NTR mainline between Calstock and Cochrane, Ontario
in 1993. The mainline was also abandoned by CN for 82 miles (132 km) east of Cochrane to La Sarre, Quebec
in 1997.
West of Nakina, the combined NTR/GTPR line forms CN's transcontinental mainline through to Tête Jaune Cache, British Columbia
and sees very heavy traffic. From Tête Jaune Cache (Yellowhead Pass), the GTPR line to Prince Rupert is a secondary mainline as the CNoR line southwest from Tête Jaune Cache to Vancouver forms the CN mainline. In recent decades, congestion at many ports along the west coast of North America is making the GTPR's development of Prince Rupert an attractive alternative.
East of La Sarre to Quebec City, the former NTR mainline forms a network of CN branchlines in northern Quebec, although the Quebec Bridge and related trackage in the Quebec City area is heavily used by freight and passenger traffic as part of the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor
.
From Quebec City east to Pelletier, Quebec, the former NTR mainline was abandoned in 1976 following the completion of a 30 miles (48.3 km) "cutoff" from the latter station to CN's former Intercolonial Railway mainline in the St. Lawrence River valley west of Rivière-du-Loup. However, from Pelletier east to Moncton the NTR mainline across central New Brunswick, including the massive bridges in the Appalachian Mountains, is still heavily used and forms the core of CN's Montreal-Halifax mainline.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
railway between Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
and Moncton. Much of the line is now operated by the Canadian National Railway
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....
.
The Grand Trunk partnership
The completion of construction of Canada's first transcontinental railway, the Canadian Pacific RailwayCanadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
(CPR) on November 7, 1885 preceded a tremendous economic expansion and immigration boom in western Canada during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But the monopolistic policies of the CPR, coupled with its southerly routing (new scientific discoveries were pushing the northern boundary of cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
crops), led to increasing western discontent with the railway and federal transportation policies.
The federal government had encouraged the Grand Trunk Railway
Grand Trunk Railway
The Grand Trunk Railway was a railway system which operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The railway was operated from headquarters in Montreal, Quebec; however, corporate...
(GTR) system in the 1870s to consider building the transcontinental rail line, but formed the CPR to do the job after the GTR balked. However by the early 1900s, the GTR was willing to consider building a second transcontinental system for the country - provided it received government assistance, similar to the CPR's deal.
The Canadian Northern Railway
Canadian Northern Railway
The Canadian Northern Railway is a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its demise in 1923, when it was merged into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton.-Manitoba beginnings:CNoR had its start in...
was an upstart regional system for the prairies that had begun in Manitoba under entrepreneurs William Mackenzie and Donald Mann
Donald Mann
Sir Donald Mann was a Canadian railway contractor and entrepreneur.Born at Acton, Ontario, Mann studied as a Methodist minister but worked in lumber camps in Ontario and Michigan before moving to Winnipeg, Manitoba...
in 1899 through their amalgamation of several smaller branch lines. The CNoR started the process of building Canada's second transcontinental system between 1903 and 1912. The system was built from Winnipeg west to Vancouver and east to Toronto and Montreal, in addition to branch lines in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
.
Mackenzie and Mann had spurned the federal government's offer for assistance to expand the CNoR in 1903 and in doing so, the federal government under prime minister Wilfrid Laurier
Wilfrid Laurier
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....
committed to building a transcontinental system in partnership with the GTR. In keeping with the trend of railways to exploit virgin territories, the government-backed "transcon" would run from the port of Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and home to some 12,815 people .-History:...
across the northern portion of the prairies to Winnipeg, and from there across northern Ontario and Quebec to Quebec City where it would cross the St. Lawrence River and continue on to its eastern terminus at Moncton, New Brunswick by way of a route directly across central New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
.
The GTR board of directors only wished to assume the financial risks for the portion of the system west of Winnipeg, therefore the agreement resulted in two railway systems being funded by government: the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historical Canadian railway.A wholly owned subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway , the GTPR was constructed by GTR using loans provided by the Government of Canada. The company was formed in 1903 with a mandate to build west from Winnipeg, Manitoba to the...
which would run from Winnipeg-Prince Rupert and be built and operated by GTR as a subsidiary, and the government owned and built National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) which would run from Winnipeg-Moncton and be operated by GTR upon completion.
The GTPR/NTR deal came in the heady final days of Canada's railway boom and would soon prove to be the financial straw that broke the back of Canada's railway industry during the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The GTPR/NTR system was surveyed and construction began in 1905 and the entire system was finished (except for the Quebec Bridge
Quebec Bridge
right|thumb|Lifting the centre span in place was considered to be a major engineering achievement. Photo caption from [[Popular Mechanics]] Magazine, December 1917...
) in 1913. The task was monumental and no expense was spared in building a railway system of minimal grades and curvature. In crossing the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
of eastern Quebec and northern New Brunswick, the NTR used massive bridges to span wide valleys. The Quebec Bridge
Quebec Bridge
right|thumb|Lifting the centre span in place was considered to be a major engineering achievement. Photo caption from [[Popular Mechanics]] Magazine, December 1917...
over the St. Lawrence River - the largest cantilever span in the world - took $40 million of the $170 million total project cost alone. The territory across northern Quebec and Ontario to Winnipeg, through the heart of the Canadian Shield
Canadian Shield
The Canadian Shield, also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien , is a vast geological shield covered by a thin layer of soil that forms the nucleus of the North American or Laurentia craton. It is an area mostly composed of igneous rock which relates to its long volcanic history...
, posed an extremely difficult construction obstacle (the reason why the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
avoided the region), yet in the end, the system was one of the best-constructed railways in the world.
Canadian Government Railways
Unfortunately, the GTR reneged on its deal with the federal government for operating the eastern section (the NTR) and the government folded this railway along with the Intercolonial Railway of CanadaIntercolonial Railway of Canada
The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway , was a historic Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways...
(IRC), the Prince Edward Island Railway
Prince Edward Island Railway
The Prince Edward Island Railway was a historic Canadian railway.-Construction:Located wholly within the province of Prince Edward Island, construction of the PEIR started in 1871, financed by the United Kingdom...
(PEIR), and the Hudson Bay Railway
Hudson Bay Railway
Hudson Bay Railway is a Canadian railway operating over of trackage in northern Manitoba.HBRY was formed in July 1997 to purchase former Canadian National Railway trackage running north from CN trackage at The Pas, MB on two branches, one to Flin Flon, MB and on to Lynn Lake, MB, the other to...
(as well as some smaller lines) into the Canadian Government Railways
Canadian Government Railways
Canadian Government Railways was the legal name used between 1915–1918 for all federal government-owned railways in Canada.The principal component companies were: the Intercolonial Railway of Canada , the National Transcontinental Railway , the Prince Edward Island Railway , and the Hudson...
in 1915 for administrative and financial purposes, although the individual systems maintained their independent names. CGR and its subsidiaries would last until 1918.
Canadian National Railways
On September 6, 1918 the CNoR was nationalized after becoming insolvent and its government-appointed directors were ordered to assume operation of the CGR system. On December 20, 1918 the federal government created the Canadian National Railways (CNR) under which the CNoR and CGR were to be operated.Several years later, on July 12, 1920 the GTPR was nationalized and entered the CNR fold. The GTR itself was placed under government control several weeks earlier on May 21, 1920, however GTR was not merged into the CNR until January 23, 1923.
NTR Legacy
The significant cost overruns of the NTR/GTPR construction contributed to the downfall of Laurier's LiberalsLiberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
in 1911 and Robert Borden
Robert Borden
Sir Robert Laird Borden, PC, GCMG, KC was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the eighth Prime Minister of Canada from October 10, 1911 to July 10, 1920, and was the third Nova Scotian to hold this office...
's Tories
Conservative Party of Canada (historical)
The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...
were forced to finish the project, including the disastrous spanning of the St. Lawrence River with the Quebec Bridge.
The NTR route across northern Quebec and Ontario, far from the major population centres, had been approved by Laurier's government largely due to the support of his Quebec caucus as the routing made Quebec City the preferred port for western grain shipments. The NTR in these provinces never lived up to its expectations for creating traffic, although it did aid the resource-rich mining communities of northern Ontario and northwestern Quebec for a time.
Under CNR (CN post-1960), the NTR route across northern Quebec and Ontario became a marginal secondary main line with little in the way of through freight or passenger traffic. At Nakina, the CNR had constructed the Longlac-Nakina Cut-Off, a 29.4 miles (47.3 km) section of track linking the NTR with the Canadian Northern line at Longlac, completed in 1924. A 122 miles (196.3 km) section of the NTR mainline between Nakina and Calstock, Ontario
Calstock, Ontario
Calstock is a place in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the unincorporated geographic township of Studholme in Cochrane District. It is located a few kilometres north of Highway 11, at the northern terminus of Highway 663, just south of the Constance Lake First Nation Reserve.Calstock...
was abandoned in 1986 and the Ontario Northland Railway
Ontario Northland Railway
The Ontario Northland Railway is a Canadian railway operated by the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a provincial Crown agency of the government of Ontario....
purchased the section of NTR mainline between Calstock and Cochrane, Ontario
Cochrane, Ontario
Cochrane is a town in northern Ontario, Canada. It is located east of Kapuskasing, northeast of Timmins, south of Moosonee, and north of Iroquois Falls. It is about a one-hour drive from Timmins, the major city of the region. It is the seat of Cochrane District...
in 1993. The mainline was also abandoned by CN for 82 miles (132 km) east of Cochrane to La Sarre, Quebec
La Sarre, Quebec
La Sarre is a town in northwestern Quebec, Canada, and is the most populous town and seat of the Abitibi-Ouest Regional County Municipality. It is located at the intersection of Routes 111 and 393, on the La Sarre River, a tributary of Lake Abitibi....
in 1997.
West of Nakina, the combined NTR/GTPR line forms CN's transcontinental mainline through to Tête Jaune Cache, British Columbia
Tête Jaune Cache, British Columbia
Tête Jaune Cache is an unincorporated rural area and the site of an important abandoned historic town in British Columbia, Canada. Its population is approximately 500. It is located on the Fraser River in the Robson Valley at the intersection of Yellowhead Highways 5 and 16...
and sees very heavy traffic. From Tête Jaune Cache (Yellowhead Pass), the GTPR line to Prince Rupert is a secondary mainline as the CNoR line southwest from Tête Jaune Cache to Vancouver forms the CN mainline. In recent decades, congestion at many ports along the west coast of North America is making the GTPR's development of Prince Rupert an attractive alternative.
East of La Sarre to Quebec City, the former NTR mainline forms a network of CN branchlines in northern Quebec, although the Quebec Bridge and related trackage in the Quebec City area is heavily used by freight and passenger traffic as part of the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor
Quebec City-Windsor Corridor
Quebec City – Windsor Corridor is the most densely-populated and heavily-industrialized region of Canada. As its name suggests, it extends from Quebec City in the east to Windsor, Ontario in the west, spanning . With more than 18 million people, it contained 51% of the country's population and...
.
From Quebec City east to Pelletier, Quebec, the former NTR mainline was abandoned in 1976 following the completion of a 30 miles (48.3 km) "cutoff" from the latter station to CN's former Intercolonial Railway mainline in the St. Lawrence River valley west of Rivière-du-Loup. However, from Pelletier east to Moncton the NTR mainline across central New Brunswick, including the massive bridges in the Appalachian Mountains, is still heavily used and forms the core of CN's Montreal-Halifax mainline.