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The (GTR) was a
Railway system which operated in the
Canadian provinces of
Quebec and
Ontario , as well as the
American states of
Maine ,
New Hampshire , and
Vermont . The railway was operated from headquarters in
Montreal , Quebec; however, corporate headquarters were in
London ,
England . The Grand Trunk and its subsidiaries, along with the
Canadian Government Railways , was a primary precursor of today's CN.
The GTR had three important subsidiaries during its lifetime:
The company was incorporated on
November 10 ,
1852 as the ''Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada'' to build a railway line between
Montreal and
Toronto .
The charter was soon extended east to
Portland , Maine and west to
Sarnia . In 1853 the GTR purchased the
St. Lawrence & Atlantic from Montreal to the Quebec—Vermont border, and the partner company
Atlantic & St. Lawrence through to the harbour facilities at Portland. A line was also built to
Lévis , via
Richmond from Montreal in 1855, part of the much-talked about "
Maritime connection" in
British North America . In the same year it purchased the
Toronto & Guelph Railroad Company , the latter's railway was already under construction. But the Grand Trunk Railway Company changed the original route of the T&G and extended the line to Sarnia, a hub for Chicago-bound traffic. By July, 1856 the section from Sarnia to Toronto opened, and the section from Montreal to Toronto opened in October of that year. By 1859 a ferry service was established across the St. Clair River to Fort Gratiot (now
Port Huron, Michigan ).
The Grand Trunk was one of the main factors that pushed British North America towards
Confederation . The original colonial economy structured along the water route from the Maritimes up the St. Lawrence River and the lower Great Lakes was greatly expanded by the duplicate route of the Grand Trunk. The explosive growth in trade during the 1850s within the
United Province Of Canada and further east by water to the Maritimes demanded that a railway link the entire geopolitical region together. During this time the GTR extended its line to Levis further east to
Rivere-du-Loup .
By 1860, the Grand Trunk was on the verge of bankruptcy and in no position to expand further east to
Halifax . On the eve of the
American Civil War , it stretched from
Sarnia in the west to Riviere-du-Loup in the east and Portland in the southeast. Colonists in the United Province of Canada, some who experienced their territory being attacked by the
United States only 40 years earlier (in the
War Of 1812 ), were uncomfortably close to the giant
Union Army and faced terrorist attacks during the mid-1800s in the form of
Fenian Raids .
Such security concerns led to demands for a year-round transportation system that British reinforcements could use should their territory be attacked during winter when the
St. Lawrence River was frozen and the only railway for British reinforcements to use would be the Grand Trunk connection at Portland, in the United States. Many citizens thought that the only way to finish the Grand Trunk - and protect the country - would be to unite all the colonies into a federation so that they could share the costs of an expanded railway system. Thus the
British North America Act, 1867 included the provision for an
Intercolonial Railway to link with the Grand Trunk at Riviere-du-Loup.
The end of the American Civil War saw British North America on the verge of uniting in a single federation and the GTR's financial prospects improved as the railway was well-positioned to take advantage of increased population and economic growth. By 1867, it had become the largest railroad system in the world by accumulating more than 2,055 km of track that connected locations between its ocean port at Portland, Maine, its river port at Riviere-du-Loup, the three northern New England states, and much of the southern areas of Lower and Upper Canada (Quebec and Ontario). By 1880, the Grand Trunk Railway system stretched all the way from Portland in the east to Chicago, Illinois in the west (by means of the
Grand Trunk Western Railroad between Port Huron-Chicago).
Several impressive construction feats were associated with the GTR: the first successful bridging of the
St. Lawrence River on
August 25 ,
1860 with the opening of the first
Victoria Bridge at Montreal (replaced by the present structure in 1898); the bridging of the
Niagara River between
Fort Erie, Ontario and
Buffalo, New York ; and the construction of a tunnel beneath the
St. Clair River , connecting Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan. The latter work opened in August, 1890 and replaced the railcar ferry at the same location.
Common during 19th century railway construction in
British colonies, GTR built to a broad gauge (''
Provincial Gauge '') of 5
Feet , 6
Inches (1676 mm); however, this was changed to the standard gauge of 4 ft 8.5 in (1435 mm) by 1873 to facilitate interchange with U.S. railroads.
The GTR system expanded throughout
Southern Ontario , Western Quebec, and the state of Michigan over the years by purchasing and absorbing numerous smaller railway companies, as well as building new lines. GTR's largest purchase came on
August 12 ,
1882 when it bought the 1371
Kilometre Great Western Railway , running from
Niagara Falls —Toronto, and connecting to
London ,
Windsor , and communities in the
Bruce Peninsula .
By 1880, the GTR stretched from the Atlantic port of
Portland, Maine to
Chicago, Illinois with its line west of the
St. Clair River being operated as the GTWR. The company also sold the line along the
St. Lawrence River between
Riviere-du-Loup and Levis in 1879 to the federal government-owned
Intercolonial Railway Of Canada (IRC), and granted running rights in
1889 to the IRC on trackage between Levis and Montreal (via Richmond); however, the IRC's construction of a more direct line from Levis to St. Hyacinthe in 1899 saw most of this traffic transferred to that line.
Canada's worst railway accident based on loss of life happened on the GTR, occurring on
June 28 ,
1864 when a passenger train operating between Levis and Montreal missed a signal for an open drawbridge on the
Richelieu River , plunging onto a passing barge and killing 99
German immigrants.
As the dominant railway in
British North America , GTR was reportedly asked by the federal government soon after
Confederation to consider building a rail line to the
Pacific coast at
British Columbia (B.C.) but refused, forcing the government to enact legislation creating the
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to meet B.C.'s conditions for joining
Confederation . By the early 1900s, GTR desired to operate in
Western Canada , particularly given the virtual
Monopoly of service that CPR maintained and the lucrative increasing flows of
Immigrants west of Ontario. The federal government encouraged GTR to co-operate with a local railway company operating on the
Prairies , the
Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR), but an agreement was never reached.
CNoR decided to build its own transcontinental system at this time, forcing GTR in 1903 to enter into an agreement with
Wilfrid Laurier 's government to build a third railway system from the
Atlantic to the
Pacific . GTR would build (with federal assistance) and operate the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR) from
Winnipeg, Manitoba to
Prince Rupert, British Columbia , while the government would build and own the
National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) from Winnipeg to
Moncton, New Brunswick via
Quebec City , which the GTR would also operate.
The routing of these systems was extremely speculative as GTPR's main line was located farther north than the profitable CPR main line in the Prairies, and NTR was located even farther north of populous centres in
Ontario and
Quebec . Construction costs on the GTPR escalated, despite having the most favourable crossing of the
Continental Divide in
North America at
Yellowhead Pass . GTR's cost-conscious president
Charles Melville Hayes was one of the victims onboard
RMS ''Titanic'' on
April 15 1912 . His death is speculated to have contributed to poor management of GTR over the ensuing decade, and also contributed to the abandonment of the uncompleted
Southern New England Railway to
Providence, Rhode Island , begun in 1910.
Construction started on the GTPR/NTR in 1905 and the GTPR opened to traffic in 1914, followed by the NTR in
1915 . It was a transcontinental system, with the only exception being the NTR's ill-fated
Quebec Bridge which would not be completed for several more years.
The first indication the arrangement with the government was faltering came when GTR refused to operate the NTR, citing economic reasons. With the enormous cost of building the GTPR and the limited financial returns being realized, GTR defaulted on loan payments to the federal government in 1919. GTPR was
Nationalized on
March 7 of that year, being operated under a federal government ''Board of Management'' until finally being placed under the control of the
Crown Corporation Canadian National Railway s (CNR) on
July 20 ,
1920 .
GTR underwent serious financial difficulties as a result of the GTPR, and its shareholders, primarily in the
United Kingdom , were determined to prevent the company from being nationalized as well. Eventually on
July 12 ,
1920 , GTR was placed under control of another federal government ''Board of Management'' while legal battles continued for several more years. Finally, on
January 20 ,
1923 , GTR was fully absorbed into the CNR on a date when all constituent companies were merged into the Crown corporation.
At the time that the GTR was fully merged into CNR, approximately 125 smaller railway companies comprised the Grand Trunk system, totalling 12,800
Kilometres in Canada, and 1,873 kilometres in the U.S.
GTR was built fully a century before major property and highway development took place in the various jurisdictions it crossed and as such had the choice of geography in selecting the most direct routes. As a result, significant sections of GTR/GTWR mainlines in Canada and the U.S. are still in active use by CN today, particularly the Quebec City—Chicago corridor by way of Drummondville, Montreal, Kingston, Toronto, London, Sarnia/Port Huron, and Battle Creek. Following deregulation of the railway industry in Canada and the United States, CN has abandoned or sold many former GTR/GTWR branch lines in recent decades, including the former Portland-Montreal main line which had instigated the development of the system to a large degree. As well, nearly the entire original Toronto—Sarnia routing via Kitchener, Stratford and Forest, Ontario was sold or abandoned, using the Great Western Railway routing instead.
The corporate name "Grand Trunk" remains in use by CNR (CN after 1960) to this day. CN operated the GTW as its primary U.S. subsidiary until privatization of CN in 1995. The GTW has been transformed into the modern-day holding company "Grand Trunk Corporation" under which CN has placed the assets of major U.S. post-privatization purchases, namely
Illinois Central ,
Wisconsin Central , and
Great Lakes Transportation .
The Portland-Sarnia main line of the Grand Trunk is or was known by the following names:
The Montreal-Toronto segment was previously known by the following names:
