The Grand River Railway ( reporting mark GRNR ) was an interurban electric railway (known as a radial in Ontario) in what is now the Regional Municipality of Waterloo , in Southwestern Ontario , Canada.
141-476: Starting in the 1850s, Canada West (today's province of Ontario) began to see its first railways. Of these, the first chartered was the Great Western Railway , which was completed in 1853-54 and connected Niagara Falls to Windsor via London and Hamilton , linking many contemporary centres of population, industry, and trade. in 1855, a branch line was built to Toronto , which fell on the east side of
282-843: A "Reform Association" in February 1844, to unite the Reform movement in Canada West and to explain their understanding of responsible government. Twenty-two branches were established. A grand meeting of all branches of the Reform Association was held in the Second Meeting House of the Children of Peace in Sharon . Over three thousand people attended this rally for Baldwin. the Association was not, however,
423-483: A bill was passed to replace the process of appointing members by a process of electing members. Members were to be elected from 24 divisions in each of Canada East and Canada West. Twelve members were elected every two years from 1856 to 1862. Members previously appointed were not required to relinquish their seats. Canada West, with its 450,000 inhabitants, was represented by 42 seats in the Legislative Assembly,
564-552: A broad gauge ( Provincial Gauge ) of 5 ft 6 in ( 1,676 mm ); however, this was changed to the standard gauge of 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ) between 1872 and 1885 to facilitate interchange with U.S. railroads. To overcome the gauge difference , the GTR experimented with a form of variable-gauge axles called "adjustable gauge trucks", but these proved unreliable. The GTR system expanded throughout southern Ontario , western Quebec, and
705-563: A connection to Berlin, while the plan for a Preston-to-Berlin connection via Doon and Blair was revived. In 1903, the Preston and Berlin Street Railway , which had been chartered in 1894 and whose construction had begun in 1900, was leased by the GP&;H, and began operations in 1904. A Berlin, Waterloo, Wellesley, and Lake Huron Railway was being promoted at the same time, which was planned to serve
846-571: A consortium of local businessmen, impatient at the lack of progress, purchased the railway and outfitted it with new, purpose-built electric trams, which were manufactured in Peterborough. The Canadian Pacific Railway had from the beginning taken an interest in the Galt and Preston Street Railway, then the Galt, Preston and Hespeler Street Railway, as an electric freight service would provide a convenient way to serve smaller freight customers profitably, due to
987-493: A constitutional crisis that would last a year. Metcalfe refused to recall the legislature to demonstrate its irrelevance; he could rule without it. This year-long crisis, in which the legislature was prorogued, "was the final signpost on Upper Canada's conceptual road to democracy. Lacking the scale of the American Revolution, it nonetheless forced a comparable articulation and rethinking of the basics of political dialogue in
1128-504: A direct result, Canadian Pacific discontinued nighttime passenger service altogether while simultaneously increasing fares, making railway journeys even less attractive to passengers. Passenger rail advocates at the time warned that these service cuts would eventually lead to complete abandonment, and protested to bodies such as the Kitchener City Council. Despite the cuts, passenger rail service continued until 23 April 1955, when it
1269-711: A federal government Board of Management until finally being placed under the control of the Crown corporation Canadian National Railways (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
1410-603: 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
1551-467: A firmly 19th-century-style horse-drawn street railway. However, things would quickly change; by the 1890s, the tone of railway fever had shifted, and many radial railways were being developed throughout Canada and the United States, as cities like Toronto and New York accelerated the process of amalgamation of nearby villages and towns, and urban businesses sought out customers travelling to the city from
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#17328478336931692-456: A historically specific project of rule, rather than either an essence we must defend or an empty homogeneous space we must possess. Canada-as-project can be analyzed as the implantation and expansion over a heterogeneous terrain of a certain politico-economic logic—to wit, liberalism." The liberalism of which McKay writes is not that of a specific political party, but of certain practices of state building which prioritise property, first of all, and
1833-417: A light rail service which could easily shift from street rails to dedicated rail corridors and back again, allowing them to connect to important destinations in downtown areas while also being fast enough to connect cities to each other at the speed expected of contemporary passenger rail. These systems were often also known as interurbans due to the appeal of easily connecting neighbouring cities together with
1974-482: A linear transfer for passengers at Queen Street. Ironically, passenger ridership in the overall system had yet to hit its peak, which would be nearly 1.7 million riders in 1940. Despite the overall success of the combined CPEL railway system, post-Second World War social trends began to cause a drop in ridership as regional travellers became increasingly likely to own and drive cars. The beginning of residential subdivision development stimulated population growth outside of
2115-579: A merger of Kitchener Transit and Cambridge Transit . It provides regional transit connections between many areas once served by the Grand River Railway. Starting in the 1990s, planners and local government officials began to revisit the idea of a rapid transit system in the region. This culminated in the Ion rapid transit light rail system which opened to the public on 21 June 2019. Ironically, this system (ION Stage 1) does not include either Galt or Preston,
2256-508: A million tons of freight. This represented a decline in passenger traffic of almost 200,000 riders per year compared to the peak in 1940. Meanwhile, Canadian Pacific Transport Company bus service was extended through Kitchener, and train and bus service began to alternate hourly. This followed a general trend, as train service was replaced with bus service on many railways, creating a downward spiral as ridership declined and train journeys with low ridership were cut or replaced with bus service. It
2397-502: A passenger transfer point between it and the Galt, Preston and Hespeler Street Railway. The passenger station was constructed in 1905. Under the consolidated Grand River Railway, Preston Junction continued to be an important station until the end of service. With interurban trains banished from King Street in Kitchener after 1919, a basic wooden station was built in 1921 near the railway crossing at Queen Street, just outside of downtown to
2538-561: A railway which would connect the Great Western and Grand Trunk through their own town and the town of Berlin across the river. In 1857, their dream would be realized with the completion of the Preston and Berlin Railway , which was routed through the small mill towns of Doon and German Mills, with a bridge crossing the Grand River north of Blair . This initial attempt to connect the two cities
2679-417: A regional rail line, often municipally owned and operated. The first such railway in the region was the Galt and Preston Street Railway (G&P), which began operations with half-hourly service in 1894. With Preston boosters still concerned about the potential effect of the railway on their town's economy, the plan ensured that Preston would be the location of many operational aspects of the railway, including
2820-648: A right to make Executive Council and other appointments without the input of the legislative assembly. However, in 1848 the Earl of Elgin , then Governor General, appointed a Cabinet nominated by the majority party of the Legislative Assembly, the Baldwin–Lafontaine coalition that had won elections in January. Lord Elgin upheld the principles of responsible government by not repealing the Rebellion Losses Bill, which
2961-521: A series of incendiary articles published in The Gazette , protested against the Rebellion Losses Bill and burned down Montreal's parliament buildings . It then moved to Toronto (1849–1851). It moved to Quebec City from 1851 to 1855, then returned to Toronto from 1855 to 1859 before returning to Quebec City from 1859 to 1865. In 1857, Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the permanent capital of
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#17328478336933102-496: A staggering number of destinations from Berlin northward to Lake Huron . However, with many of its promoters and supporters being connected to Canadian Pacific and the GP&H, and without the funds for such an ambitious project, scholars like Peter F. Cain have argued that the BWW&;LH was never planned to be constructed, and was simply a vehicle to further Canadian Pacific's ambitions to enter into Kitchener, despite its agreement with
3243-668: 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. As part of this program,
3384-604: A true political party and individual members voted independently. The Parti rouge (alternatively known as the Parti démocratique) was formed in Canada East around 1848 by radical French Canadians inspired by the ideas of Louis-Joseph Papineau , the Institut canadien de Montréal , and the reformist movement led by the Parti patriote of the 1830s. The reformist rouges did not believe that
3525-484: A very large loan and had enacted legislation authorizing debt restructuring . These arrangements allowed the company to float new bond issues to replace existing debt and to issue securities in lieu of interest. Charles Melville Hays joined the Grand Trunk in 1895 as general manager (and in 1909, president, based in Montreal). Hays was the architect of the great expansion during a colourful and free-spending era. He upgraded
3666-448: 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
3807-498: 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
3948-504: The Canadian Government Railways were precursors of today's Canadian National Railway . The original charter was for a line running from Montreal to Toronto mostly along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River . It quickly expanded its charter eastward to Portland, Maine , and westward to Sarnia , Ontario. Over time it added many subsidiary lines and branches, including four important subsidiaries: A fifth subsidiary
4089-810: The Central Vermont Railway . The main goal of the corporation, headquartered in Detroit , was to make GTW profitable and keep parent CN from having to subsidize GTW's losses. CN sold off the Central Vermont in 1995 when CN became a public traded company instead of a crown corporation. CN continued to place its US acquisitions as subsidiaries under the Grand Trunk Corporation which includes Illinois Central , Wisconsin Central , and Great Lakes Transportation . The Association of American Railroads considers
4230-580: The Crown on 10 February 1841, merged the Colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada by abolishing their separate parliaments and replacing them with a single one with two houses, a Legislative Council as the upper chamber and the Legislative Assembly as the lower chamber. In the aftermath of the Rebellions of 1837–1838, unification of the two Canadas was driven by two factors. Firstly, Upper Canada
4371-594: The Grand River , connecting towns and villages in the area such as Galt , Hespeler , Preston , and Guelph . Galt and Guelph in particular were developing into significant urban areas in the region. In the following year of 1856, the Grand Trunk Railway , the dominant railway in Canada East (today's province of Québec ), made a major westward push by acquiring the fledgling Toronto and Guelph Railroad, whose line
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4512-529: The Grand Trunk Railway , and Canadian Pacific sought ways to compete with the Grand Trunk. With its close relationship with Canadian Pacific, the G&;P provided free freight service to Canadian Pacific's depot in Galt, drawing business away from the Grand Trunk and provoking an all-out freight war. In the truce agreed upon by both companies, Berlin remained Grand Trunk territory, while both railways would continue to serve Galt. Canadian Pacific, meanwhile, took control of
4653-558: The Kitchener and Waterloo Street Railway , which had been put under the management of the Kitchener Public Utilities Commission , was rendered disabled even before its planned shutdown due to damage to the overhead electrical wires which was not repaired. In 1946, the combined Canadian Pacific Electric Lines system had a continuous 75.61-mile (121.68 km) mainline, while carrying 1.5 million passengers and over half
4794-693: The Rebellions of 1837 . Lord Elgin granted royal assent to the bill despite heated Tory opposition and his own personal misgivings, sparking riots in Montreal, during which Elgin himself was assaulted by an English-speaking Orange Order mob and the Parliament buildings were burned down. It was under Head, that true political party government was introduced with the Liberal-Conservative Party of John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier in 1856. It
4935-736: The United Province of Canada or the United Canadas ) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham , in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of 1837–1838 . The Act of Union 1840 , passed on 23 July 1840 by the British Parliament and proclaimed by
5076-504: The 1830s. Their support was concentrated among southwestern Canada West farmers, who were frustrated and disillusioned by the 1849 Reform government of Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine's lack of democratic enthusiasm. The Clear Grits advocated universal male suffrage , representation by population , democratic institutions, reductions in government expenditure, abolition of the Clergy reserves , voluntarism , and free trade with
5217-552: The 1840 Act of Union had truly granted a responsible government to former Upper and Lower Canada. They advocated important democratic reforms, republicanism, separation of the state and the church . In 1858, the elected rouges allied with the Clear Grits . This resulted in the shortest-lived government in Canadian history, falling in less than a day. The Clear Grits were the inheritors of William Lyon Mackenzie's Reform movement of
5358-484: 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. During this time the GTR extended its line to Lévis further east to Rivière-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
5499-495: The 1920s to deny the Grand River Railway's applications for renewal of their rail line's leases, forcing the railway into costly track relocations, which gradually forced the rail line further to the west of Kitchener's downtown, making it less convenient for passengers, and creating more room for the auto traffic which would prove to further interfere with railway operations. The Grand River Railway's passenger services were an evolution from earlier streetcar services. Mainline service
5640-511: The Anglophones opposed. The granting of responsible government to the colony is typically attributed to reforms in 1848 (principally the effective transfer of control over patronage from the Governor to the elected ministry). These reforms resulted in the appointment of the second Baldwin–Lafontaine government that quickly removed many of the disabilities on French-Canadian political participation in
5781-565: The Canadas and for responsible government (a government accountable to an independent local legislature), only the first of the two recommendations was implemented in 1841. For the first seven years, the government was led by an appointed governor general accountable only to the British government . Responsible government was not achieved until the second LaFontaine–Baldwin ministry in 1849, when Governor General James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin , agreed that
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5922-595: The Canadian Pacific mainline in the south (in the form of the Galt Subdivision ), the line passes north through Galt and Preston, crossing the Speed River along approximately the same route as the original Grand River Railway. North of the river, there is an industrial spur to reach a Toyota automobile factory. The line then continues along its historic path, crossing the Grand River . It eventually deviates from
6063-579: The City of Berlin made a successful bid to take over the Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway and operate it as a public service, which was complete in 1906. This line, which operated primarily along King Street, largely served commercial areas, and was most suitable for passengers, but served a role similar to local bus services today, rather than a regional railway role similar to the Galt, Preston, and Hespeler Street Railway. In 1921, this separation of services increased as
6204-511: The Crown. It delegated authority to municipal governments so they could raise taxes and enact by-laws . It also established a hierarchy of types of municipal governments, starting at the top with cities and continued down past towns, villages and finally townships. This system was to prevail for the next 150 years. During the year-long constitutional crisis in 1843–44, when Metcalfe prorogued Parliament to demonstrate its irrelevance, Baldwin established
6345-478: The GP&H indirectly by buying up a controlling stake in the company through a proxy, its own General Superintendent J. W. Leonard, already laying the groundwork for the undermining of its agreement with the Grand Trunk. By the turn of the century, there was an explosion in plans for railway lines to serve Berlin, Preston, and Galt; the Hamilton Radial Electric Railway announced a plan to build
6486-470: The GTR, occurring on June 29, 1864, when a passenger train operating between Lévis and Montreal missed a signal for an open drawbridge on the Richelieu River near the present-day town of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec , plunging onto a passing barge and killing 99 German immigrants. Canadian Rail speculated in 1963 that an independent GTR might have survived had it always used standard gauge. The GTR
6627-727: The Grand River Railway and Lake Erie and Northern Railway rolling stock, the Grand River Railway used even numbers for its rolling stock, while the Lake Erie and Northern Railway used odd numbers . Most of the Grand River Railway's passenger rolling stock was built locally by the Preston Car Company . The Preston Car Company was a specialized small manufacturer which focused almost "exclusively [on] building passenger equipment." It manufactured cars for interurban railways throughout North America, as well as passenger coaches for some steam railways. The Preston plant closed in 1922, however, and
6768-450: The Grand River Railway re-routed its trains to more fully follow the north–south freight line as a part of its switch from 600 V DC to 1500 V DC electrification in order to match the Lake Erie and Northern Railway , a move which prefigured their consolidation ten years later. Throughout the rest of the 1920s, the Grand River Railway continued to shift to using shared freight track, a move which
6909-494: The Grand River Railway's Preston barn. During the same year, the Grand River Railway advertised hourly service on every day except Sunday between Galt, Hespeler, Preston, and Kitchener, from 5:50 a.m. to 11:45 p.m., and nine trains a day (except on Sundays) to Waterloo, reflecting Waterloo's lesser importance and smaller population at the time. The Lake Erie and Northern, with its longer line and lower ridership, advertised primarily for summer excursion trips to Port Dover from
7050-556: The Grand River Railway's infrastructure changed to reflect the priorities and prosperity of its owners. Its complex track network included the constituent railways it had been formed from, as well as related, but separate, railways such as the Kitchener and Waterloo Street Railway . As the system aged, its physical infrastructure came to reflect an increasing emphasis on freight, as well as the capacity to carry heavier trains. Lighter rails which were more suitable for single passenger cars than freight trains were gradually replaced. For example,
7191-579: The Grand Trunk Corporation as a Class I railroad . The Portland, Maine-Chicago, Illinois mainline of the Grand Trunk is or was known by the following names: The Montreal-Toronto segment had been known by the following names: The Grand Trunk Railway Building on Warwick House Street in London continues to stand. Built by Aston Webb , the 7 storey building was built in 1907 with the banner The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada on 4 Warwick House Street and Canadian National Railway on Cockspur Street. CN no longer owns
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#17328478336937332-414: The Grand Trunk a decade earlier. In 1908, the GP&H and Preston and Berlin Street Railway were merged under the BWW&LH name, thereby giving Canadian Pacific a means to enter the Kitchener freight market, while ostensibly following the letter of its agreement with the Grand Trunk. In 1914, it was renamed to the Grand River Railway. As CP's consolidation of lines with freight potential had been ongoing,
7473-531: The Grand Trunk. Sir Joseph Hickson was a key executive from 1874 to 1890 based in Montreal who kept it afloat financially and formed an alliance with the Conservative party. Carlos and Lewis (1995) show that it managed to survive because its British investors accurately assessed the corporation's value and prospects, which included the likelihood that the Canadian government would bail out the railway should it ever default on its bonds. The government had guaranteed
7614-400: The Legislative Assembly would now become responsible for local administration and legislation. It also deprived the Governor of patronage appointments to the civil service, which had been the basis of Metcalfe's policy. The test of responsible government came in 1849, when the Baldwin–Lafontaine government passed the Rebellion Losses Bill, compensating French Canadians for losses suffered during
7755-533: The Legislature introduced the Gradual Civilization Act , putting into law the principle that Indigenous persons should become British subjects and discard their Indian status, in exchange for a grant of land. 45°30′N 75°30′W / 45.5°N 75.5°W / 45.5; -75.5 Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (( reporting mark GT ); French : Grand Tronc )
7896-457: 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
8037-544: The Province of Canada, initiating construction of Canada's first parliament buildings, on Parliament Hill . The first stage of this construction was completed in 1865, just in time to host the final session of the last parliament of the Province of Canada before Confederation in 1867. The Governor General remained the head of the civil administration of the colony, appointed by the British government, and responsible to it, not to
8178-487: The Province of Canada. It would become the province of Quebec after Confederation. Canada West was what became of the former colony of Upper Canada after being united into the Province of Canada. It would become the province of Ontario after Confederation. The location of the capital city of the Province of Canada changed six times in its 26-year history. The first capital was in Kingston (1841–1844). The capital moved to Montreal (1844–1849) until rioters, spurred by
8319-419: The Rebellion. The Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, also known as the Elgin– Marcy Treaty, was a trade treaty between the United Province of Canada and the United States. It covered raw materials and was in effect from 1854 to 1865. It represented a move toward free trade. Education in Canada West was regulated by the province through the General Board of Education from 1846 until 1850, when it
8460-407: The Reform Party won a decisive victory at the polls. Elgin invited LaFontaine to form the new government, the first time a Governor General requested cabinet formation on the basis of party. The party character of the ministry meant that the elected premier – and no longer the governor – would be the head of the government. The Governor General would become a more symbolic figure. The elected Premier in
8601-521: The Reformers. Sydenham was a Whig who believed in rational government, not "responsible government". To implement his plan, he used widespread electoral violence through the Orange Order . His efforts to prevent the election of Louis LaFontaine , the leader of the French reformers, were foiled by David Willson , the leader of the Children of Peace , who convinced the electors of the 4th Riding of York to transcend linguistic prejudice and elect LaFontaine in an English-speaking riding in Canada West. Bagot
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#17328478336938742-455: The U.S. are still in active use by Canadian National (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 and GTW branch lines in recent decades, including the former Portland–Montreal main line which had instigated
8883-399: The U.S. 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 1,371-kilometre (852 mi) Great Western Railway , running from Niagara Falls to Toronto, and connecting to London , Windsor , and communities in the Bruce Peninsula . The company sold
9024-517: The United States. Their platform was similar to that of the British Chartists . The Clear Grits and the Parti rouge evolved into the Liberal Party of Canada . The Parti bleu was a moderate political group in Canada East that emerged in 1854. It was based on the moderate reformist views of Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine. The Liberal-Conservative Party emerged from a coalition government in 1854 in which moderate Reformers and Conservatives from Canada West joined with bleus from Canada East under
9165-454: The University of Toronto and the school's ties with the Church of England were severed. The Grand Trunk Railway was incorporated by the Legislature in the 1850s. Exploration of Western Canada and Rupert's Land with a view to annexation and settlement was a priority of Canada West politicians in the 1850s leading to the Palliser Expedition and the Red River Expedition of Henry Youle Hind , George Gladman and Simon James Dawson . In 1857,
9306-434: The ability for electric locomotives to reverse without requiring a loop, as steam locomotives did. The G&P's charter, ostensibly mostly to provide Preston travellers with a connection to the Canadian Pacific via Galt, as well as to facilitate regional passenger transportation in general, provided Canadian Pacific an opportunity to "piggyback" and increase its freight operations. The Grand River area had long been dominated by
9447-418: The ability to use heavier locomotives were cited as major reasons for the mainline railways to use heavier rails. Despite its success during its heyday of the 1910s–20s , the Grand River Railway primarily represented a consolidation and modernization of existing railway infrastructure and trackage, and little expansion occurred. The most significant proposed expansion of trackage was a northwestern extension of
9588-456: The area occupied by the pre-1841 British colony of Lower Canada (which had included Labrador until 1809, when Labrador was transferred to the British colony of Newfoundland ). Upper Canada was primarily English-speaking, whereas Lower Canada was primarily French-speaking. The Province of Canada was divided into two parts: Canada East and Canada West . Canada East was what became of the former colony of Lower Canada after being united into
9729-449: The cabinet would be formed by the largest party in the Legislative Assembly, making the premier the head of the government and reducing the governor general to a more symbolic role. The Province of Canada ceased to exist at Canadian Confederation on 1 July 1867, when it was divided into the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec . Ontario included the area occupied by the pre-1841 British colony of Upper Canada, while Quebec included
9870-399: 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 Rivière-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
10011-417: The colony). He was promised a barony if he could successfully implement the union of the Canadas, and introduce a new form of municipal government, the District Council. The aim of both exercises in state-building was to strengthen the power of the Governor General, to minimise the effect of the numerically superior French vote, and to build a "middle party" that answered to him, rather than the Family Compact or
10152-570: The colony. Once the English population, rapidly growing through immigration, exceeded the French, the English demanded representation-by-population. In the end, the legislative deadlock between English and French led to a movement for a federal union which resulted in the broader Canadian Confederation in 1867. In "The Liberal Order Framework: A Prospectus for a Reconnaissance of Canadian History" McKay argues that "the category 'Canada' should henceforth denote
10293-416: The construction of Highway 8 as a separate-but-overlapping roadway (rather than simply a designation for King Street), obliterating much of the area's former rail infrastructure from Kitchener to Preston, and cementing the shift to an autocentric built environment. The seeds had been sown decades before, as municipal officials, who controlled the municipal right-of-way used for railway street running, began in
10434-573: The council and chair of the various committees. The first was Robert Baldwin Sullivan . Thomson also systematically organised the civil service into departments, the heads of which sat on the Executive Council. A further innovation was to demand that every Head of department seek election in the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Council of the Province of Canada was the upper house . The 24 legislative councillors were originally appointed. In 1856,
10575-594: The day-to-day government of the conservative ministry of William Draper, thereby indirectly emphasising the need for responsible government. His primary focus was on redrafting the Militia Act of 1846. The signing of the Oregon Boundary Treaty in 1846 made him dispensable. Elgin's second wife, Lady Mary Louisa Lambton, was the daughter of Lord Durham and niece of Lord Grey , making him an ideal compromise figure to introduce responsible government. On his arrival,
10716-645: The development of the system to a large degree. As well, a part of the original Toronto–Sarnia routing via St. Mary's Junction and Forest to Point Edward, Ontario , was sold or abandoned, using the Great Western Railway routing instead. CN continues to use the "Grand Trunk" name for its holding company the Grand Trunk Corporation . The corporation was created in 1971 to provide autonomy in operation for CN's US subsidiaries: Grand Trunk Western Railroad ; Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific Railway ; and
10857-601: The dual prime-ministership of Allan MacNab and A.-N. Morin . The new ministry were committed to secularise the Clergy reserves in Canada West and to abolish seigneurial tenure in Canada East. Over time, the Liberal-Conservatives evolved into the Conservative party. No provision for responsible government was included in the Act of Union 1840. Early Governors of the province were closely involved in political affairs, maintaining
10998-647: The emphasis on stations increased. One of the most significant stations was Preston Junction , which sat near the middle of the line and which was located at the junction with the Hespeler branch that ran along the east side of the Speed River. Preston Junction had been an operations centre since the construction of the Preston and Berlin Street Railway in 1904, hosting the steam boilers that powered its electrification system, as well as its car barns, while also functioning as
11139-538: The factory via an industrial spur on Victoria Street became a point of conflict, as picketers tried to prevent Grand River Railway trains from entering the factory yard. Train crews refused to cross the United Rubber Workers ' picket line , so the coal train was driven by company officials, including William D. Thompson, the general manager of the railway, and escorted by the Kitchener Police . The picket line
11280-514: The federal government encouraged the GTR to purchase the Canada Atlantic Railway (CAR) with lines southeast from Ottawa to Vermont, and west from Ottawa to Georgian Bay . The GTR took effective control of the CAR in 1905, although the purchase was not ratified by Parliament until 1914. The routing of these systems was extremely speculative, as GTPR's main line was located farther north than
11421-570: 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
11562-501: The first real premiers of the Province of Canada. However, to take office as ministers, the two had to run for re-election. While LaFontaine was easily re-elected in 4th York, Baldwin lost his seat in Hastings as a result of Orange Order violence. It was now that the pact between the two men was completely solidified, as LaFontaine arranged for Baldwin to run in Rimouski , Canada East. This was
11703-814: The historic downtowns of Berlin (by then renamed to Kitchener), Galt, and Preston, and they began to fall victim to urban decay . In the years following the 1919 Canada Highways Act , which provided stimulus funding for highway development, it became more practical and desirable to travel intercity by car, and development and urban planning began to adjust to car-centric transportation with road widening, highway development, creation of low-density residential housing subdivisions, and demolition of many urban buildings to provide parking, creating an induced demand feedback loop that favoured further car-centric development, while many railway systems were discontinued or statically maintained, without significant expansion of track, upgrades to rolling stock, or sometimes even basic maintenance;
11844-571: The historic route at Centreville, curving to the west and following the 1963 rerouting through the Parkway industrial area. After curving to the north again, it terminates, joining with the CN Huron Park Spur at an interchange yard which is overlooked by the Block Line Ion light rail station. The Grand River is also referenced in the name of Grand River Transit , which was formed in 2000 through
11985-403: The hot and crowded urban centres to the north, and during other parts of the year was largely sustained by its freight business. Bus services became increasingly common throughout the 1920s and 1930s as more roadways were paved, fuel prices decreased, and bus manufacturing began to scale up. Canadian Pacific followed these trends with the founding of its Canadian Pacific Transport Company , which
12126-469: The individual. The Baldwin Act 1849 , also known as the Municipal Corporations Act, replaced the local government system based on district councils in Canada West by government at the county level. It also granted more autonomy to townships, villages, towns and cities. Despite the controversy, the government compensated landowners in the Rebellion Losses Bill of 1849 for the actions during
12267-661: The junction that joined the GRNR and LE&N at Main Street in downtown Galt was also removed along with the LE&;N track leading south to Paris , severing the original branch line laid down by the Great Western Railway in 1855, and ending rail traffic between the north and south halves of the Grand River valley. A remnant of the Grand River Railway mainline, designated as the CP Waterloo Subdivision , remains an active rail corridor. From
12408-552: The line along the St. Lawrence River between Rivière-du-Loup and Lévis in 1879 to the federal government-owned Intercolonial Railway (IRC), and granted running rights in 1889 to the IRC on trackage between Lévis and Montreal (via Richmond); however, the IRC's construction of a more direct line from Lévis to Saint-Hyacinthe in 1899 saw most of this traffic transferred to that line. As the dominant railway in British North America, GTR
12549-517: The local legislature. He was aided by the Executive Council and the Legislative Council. The Executive Council aided in administration, and the Legislative Council reviewed legislation produced by the elected Legislative Assembly. Sydenham came from a wealthy family of timber merchants, and was an expert in finance, having served on the English Board of Trade which regulated banking (including
12690-490: The mainline from Waterloo. Had it been built, the extended line would have curved to the west through Erbsville , then north through Heidelberg , west again through St. Clements and Crosshill , and finally north again to Linwood to terminate at a junction with the CPR-owned Guelph and Goderich Railway , giving the Grand River Railway a second interchange point with the east–west Canadian Pacific lines in addition to
12831-587: The new provinces of 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 and 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
12972-590: The one with the mainline through Galt . The extended line would have run entirely to the west of the then-Grand Trunk-operated Waterloo Junction Railway to Elmira through St. Jacobs , and would have passed through a number of villages which did not have rail service. Emerging as it did from late-19th century street railways , the Grand River Railway system relied on simple trackside shelters for passengers and short industrial spurs for freight service, while also utilizing several purpose-built stations. As street running sections of track were gradually relocated,
13113-495: The original hubs for regional rail, and is instead centred on Kitchener-Waterloo. It does, however, use a similar right of way in some areas as the Grand River Railway, such as along Caroline Street in Waterloo. Ion Stage 2, which as of 2019 is still in the public consultation phase, would once again provide a passenger rail connection between Galt, Preston, and Berlin (Kitchener). Canada West The Province of Canada (or
13254-562: The power house, car barns, and machine shops. A year later, in 1895, it was extended to Hespeler and renamed the Galt, Preston and Hespeler Street Railway (GP&H), connecting the three largest settlements of what 80 years later would become the amalgamated city of Cambridge . In the same year, the Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway began to take steps to modernize its service by converting its horse cars to run on electric power. This proved unsuitable and
13395-629: 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 Hays was one of the victims on board RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912. His death
13536-547: The province." In the ensuing election, however, the Reformers did not win a majority and thus were not called to form another ministry. Responsible government would be delayed until after 1848. Cathcart had been a staff officer with Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars, and rose in rank to become commander of British forces in North America from June 1845 to May 1847. He was also appointed as Administrator then Governor General for
13677-543: The rail line's new location primarily served a new industrial park built on farm fields to the north of the former industrial village of German Mills, which had been served by the Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific's primary competitor. This industrial park would only later be joined by the residential and commercial area that grew up around Fairview Park Mall , which was built in 1965 as one of Kitchener's first suburban shopping malls. This shift allowed for
13818-714: The railway switched from whistles to horns at crossings, which were louder, leading to complaints from residents along the line and from the Waterloo town council. These incidents only continued after the end of the Great Depression and the Second World War , when automobile ownership and traffic volumes climbed steadily. More reliable personal cars, as well as improved highway and automobile service infrastructure, made it easier to drive to unfamiliar cities whose street geometry (and railway operations) could prove dangerous. Amidst these events, regular passenger service to Waterloo
13959-458: The railway turned to other manufacturers. In 1947, it commissioned Grand River Railway Car No. 626, a combination passenger and baggage motor car which seated eighteen passengers and was powered by four 125- hp Westinghouse motors, from National Steel Car of Hamilton, Ontario. This was the last interurban railway car ever manufactured in Canada. In its short service life, it became the regular car on
14100-401: 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 (1,277 mi) of track that connected locations between its ocean port at Portland, Maine , its river port at Rivière-du-Loup, the three northern New England states, and much of the southern areas of
14241-530: The requirement of a "double majority" to pass laws in the Legislative Assembly (i.e., a majority in both the Canada East and Canada West sections of the assembly). The removal of the deadlock resulted in three conferences that led to confederation. Thomson reformed the Executive Councils of Upper and Lower Canada by introducing a "President of the Committees of Council" to act as a chief executive officer for
14382-405: The run between Kitchener-Waterloo and the Galt intercity CPR station. It was used for at least one of the excursion trips by railway enthusiasts which occurred after the end of regular revenue service, and was planned to be converted into a maintenance of way car or to be sold. With neither of these possibilities materializing, it was scrapped at Preston on 21 May 1957. Throughout its existence,
14523-417: The same number as the more populated Canada East, with 650,000 inhabitants. The Legislature's effectiveness was further hampered by the requirement of a "double majority" where a majority of votes for the passage of a bill had to be obtained from the members of both Canada East and West. Each administration was led by two men, one from each half of the province. Officially, one of them at any given time had
14664-462: The same period, uniting for the first time the highest Civil and military offices. The appointment of this military officer as Governor General was due to heightened tensions with the United States over the Oregon boundary dispute . Cathcart was deeply interested in the natural sciences, but ignorant of constitutional practice, and hence an unusual choice for Governor General. He refused to become involved in
14805-623: The same year it purchased the Toronto and Guelph Railroad , whose 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. In October of 1856, the section from Montreal to Toronto opened, while the line from Toronto to Sarnia was finished in November of 1859. Also in 1859,
14946-477: The southwest of the old Schneider family homestead . While a distance away from Kitchener's main corridor of King Street, it was located in a then-rapidly-growing suburban neighbourhood dominated by St. Mary's General Hospital , which opened in 1924. This created a direct passenger rail connection between the St. Mary's area and the Freeport Sanitorium , which opened in 1916. The Queen Street station building
15087-526: The suburbs. Manufacturing in Canada had begun to suffer due to numerous economic factors, and 19th century-style downtown factories, which were often rail-served, were declining and being phased out in favour of decentralized systems of suburban factories which were served by both trucks and rail, or in some cases wholly relied on the trucking industry . In a turbulent strike at the Kaufman Rubber Company in downtown Kitchener in 1960, coal deliveries to
15228-414: The suburbs. These systems were typically electrified rather than steam-powered, and used tram-style rolling stock to move a relatively small number of passengers at frequent headways within a region, rather than more traditional passenger trains pulled by dedicated locomotives, which were largely relegated to long-haul trips. Growing towns and cities sought the ideal hybrid system of streetcars and railways:
15369-404: The takeover of the GTR by CNR in 1923 and were operated by Canadian National Hotels : Grand Trunk Railway 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 mainlines in Canada and Grand Trunk Western routes in
15510-708: The title of Premier , while the other had the title of Deputy . Municipal government in Upper Canada was under the control of appointed magistrates who sat in Courts of Quarter Sessions to administer the law within a District. A few cities, such as Toronto, were incorporated by special acts of the legislature. Governor Thomson , 1st Baron Sydenham, spearheaded the passage of the District Councils Act which transferred municipal government to District Councils. His bill allowed for two elected councillors from each township, but
15651-589: The tracks, bridges, shops and rolling stock, but was best known for building huge grain elevators and elaborate tourist hotels such as the Château Laurier in Ottawa. Hays blundered in 1903 by building a subsidiary, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company some 4,800 kilometres (3,000 mi) long; it reached Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia in 1914. The government built and the Grand Trunk
15792-835: The union of the Canadas they sought, where LaFontaine overcame linguistic prejudice to gain a seat in English Canada, and Baldwin obtained his seat in French Canada. The Baldwin–LaFontaine ministry barely lasted six months before Governor Bagot also died in March 1843. He was replaced by Charles Metcalfe, whose instructions were to check the "radical" reform government. Metcalfe reverted to the Thomson system of strong central autocratic rule. Metcalfe began appointing his own supporters to patronage positions without Baldwin and LaFontaine's approval, as joint premiers. They resigned in November 1843, beginning
15933-448: The very light 56-lb. rails on the Hespeler branch line were replaced with 65-lb. rails in the early 1910s, and most of the mainline between Preston and Kitchener was relaid with 85-lb. rails in 1918. In comparison, Canadian Pacific began in 1921 to generally replace the 85-lb. rails on the lines it directly maintained with 100-lb. rails, and some American railways started using rails as heavy as 130 lbs. Maintenance cost savings, safety, and
16074-582: 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
16215-496: The warden, clerk and treasurer were to be appointed by the government. This thus allowed for strong administrative control and continued government patronage appointments. Sydenham's bill reflected his larger concerns to limit popular participation under the tutelage of a strong executive. The Councils were reformed by the Baldwin Act in 1849 which made municipal government truly democratic rather than an extension of central control of
16356-524: The west to Rivière-du-Loup in the east and Portland in the southeast. Colonists in the United Province of Canada, some of whom had experienced their territory being attacked by the United States fifty years earlier (in the War of 1812 ), were uncomfortably close to the giant Union Army and faced terrorist attacks during the mid-19th century in the form of Fenian raids . Such security concerns led to demands for
16497-626: Was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut , Maine , Michigan , Massachusetts , New Hampshire , and Vermont . The railway was operated from headquarters in Montreal , Quebec, with corporate headquarters in London , United Kingdom (4 Warwick House Street). It cost an estimated $ 160 million to build. The Grand Trunk system and
16638-485: Was a private company headquartered in England that received heavy Canadian government subsidies and was never profitable because of competition from shipping and American railways. (In 1880 40% of the Grand Trunk traffic was from one or another American city to and from Chicago, taking a shortcut across Ontario.) Inflated construction costs, overestimated revenues, and an inadequate initial capitalization threatened bankruptcy for
16779-629: Was appointed after the unexpected death of Thomson, with the explicit instructions to resist calls for responsible government. He arrived in the capital, Kingston, to find that Thomson's "middle party" had become polarised and he therefore could not form an executive. Even the Tories informed Bagot he could not form a cabinet without including LaFontaine and the French Party. LaFontaine demanded four cabinet seats, including one for Robert Baldwin. Bagot became severely ill thereafter, and Baldwin and Lafontaine became
16920-436: Was around this time that Canadian Pacific began to plan for total abandonment of passenger services along the line, even as freight carloads and profitability increased. In its first bid to discontinue service in 1950, Canadian Pacific's application was denied by Canada's Board of Transport Commissioners , but an allowance was made for Canadian Pacific to modify service as necessary to maintain profitability of passenger trips; as
17061-469: Was broken and three strikers were charged with violation of the Railway Act . Within several years, footwear production for the company had shifted to Quebec after the acquisition of several smaller companies, and in 2000, the company (by then rebranded to Kaufman Footwear) declared bankruptcy. This shift to the suburbs spurred the most extensive modification ever made to the railway's right of way . It
17202-459: Was completed in 1923. The Grand Trunk lines in the United States, however, kept their distinctive name. The Grand Trunk legacy seeped into late 20th century popular culture, when a hard rock trio from Flint, Michigan , called itself Grand Funk Railroad in 1969. Like the CPR and CNR, the GTR began building and operating hotels during the first two decades of the 20th century. Most of the hotels survived
17343-437: Was discontinued, after having previously been cut back to Allen Street from Erb Street. In early March 1938, it was reported that cars had only carried an average of five passengers per trip, with revenues to the company of $ 4.52 and expenses of $ 21.86 per day. The end of service was supported by the Waterloo town council, which deemed railway whistles and horns a nuisance. Interurban cars were replaced by bus service, necessitating
17484-574: Was discontinued, but significant sections were removed in the 1980s, including the Hespeler branch, of which some portions are now the Mill Run Trail . Urban sections in Kitchener-Waterloo were largely also dismantled in the 1980s and replaced by the Iron Horse Trail in 1997, which features a number of plaques commemorating Kitchener's railway and industrial heritage. Perhaps most decisively,
17625-474: Was during their ministry that the first organised moves toward Canadian Confederation took place. It was under Monck's governorship that the Great Coalition of all of the political parties of the two Canadas occurred in 1864. The Great Coalition was formed to end the political deadlock between predominantly French-speaking Canada East and predominantly English-speaking Canada West. The deadlock resulted from
17766-471: 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 (8,000 mi) in Canada and 1,873 kilometres (1,164 mi) in the United States. Canada's worst railway accident based on loss of life happened on
17907-422: Was half-hourly since the start of the Galt and Preston Street Railway, and the Hespeler branch also received half-hourly evening service in 1920. In the rail transport industry, the term rolling stock refers to easily moveable assets owned by railways, usually rail cars , which could be either self-propelled or hauled by a dedicated locomotive . In 1921, with the switch to 1500 V operation and integration of
18048-506: Was hastened by municipal politicians working to force trains off of King Street in favour of car traffic. In 1931, the Grand River Railway was consolidated with the Lake Erie and Northern Railway (LE&N), another Canadian Pacific Railway subsidiary, to form the Canadian Pacific Electric Lines (CPEL). Under unified CPEL management, the two services were advertised in tandem, and LE&N rolling stock received repairs at
18189-404: Was highly unpopular with some English-speaking Loyalists who favoured imperial over majority rule. As Canada East and Canada West each held 42 seats in the Legislative Assembly , there was a legislative deadlock between English (mainly from Canada West) and French (mainly from Canada East). The majority of the province was French, which demanded "rep-by-pop" (representation by population), which
18330-518: Was internally referred to as Plan No. 1251, which called for the southwest Kitchener portion of the line to be relocated from King Street to the newly built Industrial Park (today's Parkway and Trillium Industrial Park areas), cementing the shift from passengers to freight, and coinciding with the dieselization of its freight operations. The previous right-of-way along King Street had served early 20th century suburban residential areas like Kingsdale, and villages-turned-suburbs like Centreville; in contrast,
18471-458: Was near bankruptcy because it lacked stable tax revenues, and needed the resources of the more populous Lower Canada to fund its internal transportation improvements. Secondly, unification was an attempt to swamp the French vote by giving each of the former provinces the same number of parliamentary seats, despite the larger population of Lower Canada. Although Durham's report had called for the Union of
18612-468: Was replaced by a "new and attractive" brick building in November 1943, corresponding to a heavy increase in passenger traffic during the Second World War, and coming several years after the discontinuance of service to Waterloo, which turned Kitchener Queen Street into a terminal station . Much of the Grand River Railway's track continued to function as freight track for decades after passenger service
18753-475: Was replaced by bus service under the Canadian Pacific Transport Company . Bus service operations for Preston were sold to Canada Coach Lines Limited later that year, but Galt-to-Kitchener operations continued under the Canadian Pacific umbrella until 1 October 1961, when freight service was dieselized and assumed by the parent CPR. By the 1960s, Kitchener's industrial base began to shift to
18894-515: Was replaced by the Department of Public Instruction, which lasted until 1876. The province improved the educational system in Canada West under Egerton Ryerson . French was reinstated as an official language of the legislature and the courts. The Legislature also codified the Civil Code of Lower Canada in 1866, and abolished the seigneurial system in Canada East. In 1849, King's College was renamed
19035-578: Was reportedly asked by the federal government soon after Confederation to consider building a rail line to the Pacific coast at British Columbia but refused, forcing the government to enact legislation creating the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to meet British Columbia's conditions for joining Confederation. By the early 20th century, GTR desired to operate in Western Canada , particularly given
19176-403: Was short-lived, however, as the bridge was damaged by ice flows in January 1858, and the railway was operational for less than three months. The surviving sections of the line were sold to the Grand Trunk Railway, which instead chose to extend the line south to Galt through the village of Blair in 1872, bypassing Preston entirely. The Berlin and Waterloo Street Railway began operation in 1888 as
19317-460: Was soon extended east to Portland, Maine and west to Sarnia, Canada West . In 1853 the GTR purchased the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad from Montreal to the Canada East – Vermont border, and the parent company Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad 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
19458-532: Was the never-completed Southern New England Railway , chartered in 1910, which would have run from a connection with the Central Vermont at Palmer, Massachusetts , to the deep-water, all-weather port of Providence, Rhode Island . 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
19599-486: Was then under construction, and extended this line to Sarnia through Berlin (today's Kitchener). Once complete, this made Guelph a major three-way rail junction. In this climate of rapid rail development, ambitious town boosters sought to have their town or village also become a railway junction in the hopes that it would transform it into a city overnight. The merchants of Preston, who saw themselves as being in direct competition with those of Galt, quickly worked to establish
19740-425: Was to operate the National Transcontinental to link the main Grand Trunk with its Pacific subsidiary. The very expensive subsidiary was far north of major population centres and had too little traffic. Nearing bankruptcy in 1919, the entire system was nationalized: the government merged the Grand Trunk, the Grand Trunk Pacific, and the National Transcontinental lines into the new Canadian National Railways. The process
19881-410: Was used to supplement and/or replace some train journeys. Throughout the 1930s, collisions between interurban cars and private automobiles became increasingly common in urban parts of Kitchener-Waterloo, which was covered in detail by local newspapers like the Waterloo Chronicle alongside coverage of car-on-car collisions and pedestrians being struck and killed by automobiles. Around November 1937,
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