Hi John, Nice history with commentary. You bring the transcontinental story to life.
Later, Bill Porter Loxahatchee, Florida > Dear Ed and group: > > Ahh .. Charlie Farquaharson -- comic alter ego of Don Harron, a fine > actor. > > His is probably as good an explanation as any, although there were, in > fact, > three transcontinentals. The Canadian Pacific survived as a private > venture, but the other two, overcapitalized in the anticipation of endless > immigration during the settling of the Canadian west, failed during World > War One. They were not quite completed before the beginning of the Great > War stopped immigration and completely dried up sources of capital. Both > were taken over by the Canadian Federal Government as an emergency measure > in 1917 and combined to form the nucleus of Canadian National Railways. > > One of the transcontinentals was actually a combined system. The eastern > part, built mostly in the remote north, was built by the Federal > Government > as the National Transcontinental (NTR). No private enterprise would risk > building this essentially trafficless through line in unsettled territory. > So, the government had to do it. Well, they didn't have to, but the > Conservatives had built the CPR in the 1880s so the Liberals, now in > power, > had to have a transcontinental railway of their own. > > The western part, in the blossoming prairies, was built by the Grand Trunk > Pacific (GTP), a subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Ry. (GTR). Most of you > will > recognize the name of its U.S. subsidiary, the Grand Trunk Western, which > continued as a separate entity after the GTR itself was brought into the > CN > fold officially in 1923. The GTP also built the British Columbia section, > through Yellowhead Pass to Prince Rupert. GTP planned to create a great > port at Prince Rupert for the Pacific trade and as an outlet for prairie > grain. Prince Rupert is still waiting. > > The Grand Trunk bankrolled the GTP on the understanding it would then > "lease" the National Transcontinental (it was almost a gift) from the > government for its eastern outlet. Voila, a half-price transcontinental > railway. > > Incidentally, the NTR built the mighty cantilever bridge across the St. > Lawrence River at Quebec City. It was, and may still be, the longest-span > cantilever bridge in the world. The rest of the NTR right of way was > built > to first-class standards -- far too good considering the traffic > potential. > The Liberal government of the time spared no expense in building the line > and lining the pockets of its political friends. > > The other and probably more romantic of the transcontinentals was > essentially the brainchild of two men, William Mackenzie and Donald Mann. > Their system, the Canadian Northern, originated on the prairies when they > took over a broken-down streak of rust in Manitoba in the mid-1890s. They > eventually pushed it both east and west to form an almost true > transcontinental. It did, in fact, touch salt water at both ends. They > had > a continuous main line from Vancouver (with additional branch lines on > Vancouver Island) as far east as Quebec City. They had bought a line in > Nova Scotia, but CNOR failed before they could make the last eastern > connection. > > Hmph. Didn't mean to wax so poetic on a couple of magnificent failures. > > OK, Ed? > > regards ... pqr > To REPLY to the list, use REPLY ALL; to reply to the sender, use REPLY. For those of you on DIGEST mode, all REPLY messages go to the list (remember to edit the SUBJECT of your message). To use our CALENDAR or LINKS, change message settings, view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
