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50-447: The railway was originally incorporated as Gananoque & Rideau Railway on 15 February 1871, but construction did not begin until 1883 due to lack of money. The town provided tax breaks and $ 10,000 in debenture financing to Rathbun's Bay of Quinte Railway and Navigation Company to build the line; that company already operated steamship docks in the village. The original 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) line opened 1 January 1884. The company name

100-503: A BQR train derailed on a curve on the K&;P line five miles north of Kingston, sending the second car from the engine and four freight cars, the mail car and a passenger car down a 12–15 foot embankment, killing two passengers. The engine reached Kingston unharmed. The BQR is a ghost rail line and very little remains to mark its role as a connecting link in CNoR's ultimately failed ambition to build

150-469: A Canadian corporation. Following the successful IPO, CN has recorded impressive gains in its stock price, largely through an aggressive network rationalization and purchase of newer more fuel-efficient locomotives. Numerous branch lines were shed in the late 1990s across Canada, resulting in dozens of independent short line railway companies being established to operate former CN track that had been considered marginal. This network rationalization resulted in

200-668: A blue-plate tourist service, the Rocky Mountaineer , with fares well over double what the BCR coach fares had been. CN also announced in October 2003 an agreement to purchase Great Lakes Transportation (GLT), a holding company owned by Blackstone Group for US$ 380 million. GLT was the owner of Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad , Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway (DM&I), and the Pittsburgh & Conneaut Dock Company. The key instigator for

250-445: A contract in which that town raised $ 10,000 in debentures in return for a short line to be constructed from GTR's Gananoque railway station to the downtown waterfront. This Thousand Islands Railway is now defunct, but one locomotive has been preserved at the former station beside Gananoque's town hall. An 1892 McCord Museum archival photo depicts a head-on collision between two Bay of Quinte Railway engines. On October 2, 1912,

300-463: A core east–west freight railway stretching from Halifax to Chicago and Toronto to Vancouver and Prince Rupert . The railway also operated trains from Winnipeg to Chicago using trackage rights for part of the route south of Duluth. In addition to the rationalization in Canada, the company also expanded in a strategic north–south direction in the central United States . In 1998, in an era of mergers in

350-620: A great deal of public and political attention. Canada was one of many nations to engage in railway nationalization in order to safeguard critical transportation infrastructure during the First World War . In the early 20th century, many governments were taking a more interventionist role in the economy, foreshadowing the influence of economists like John Maynard Keynes . This political trend, combined with broader geo-political events, made nationalization an appealing choice for Canada. The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 and allied involvement in

400-594: A north–south NAFTA railway (in reference to the North American Free Trade Agreement ). CN was then feeding Canadian raw material exports into the U.S. heartland and beyond to Mexico through a strategic alliance with Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS). In 1999, CN and BNSF Railway , the second largest rail system in the U.S., announced their intent to merge, forming a new corporate entity North American Railways , headquartered in Montreal to conform to

450-522: A possible merger of the two companies. This was later rejected by the Government of Canada, whereupon CPR offered to purchase outright all of CN's lines from Ontario to Nova Scotia, while an unidentified U.S. railroad (rumoured to have been Burlington Northern Railroad ) would purchase CN's lines in western Canada. This too was rejected. In 1995, the entire company including its U.S. subsidiaries reverted to using CN exclusively. The CN Commercialization Act

500-514: A third viable national rail network. On most of the former Smiths Falls - Deseronto CNoR line, the tracks were removed in the 1980s. CNoR's Smiths Falls station became the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario ; a few BQR stations in small villages were converted to private residences. Canadian National Railways The Canadian National Railway Company ( French : Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada ) ( reporting mark CN )

550-602: A total of 134 kilometres (83 mi). The line was purchased by the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) in 1910, using its line from Napanee through Sydenham as the basis of a major expansion to Smiths Falls and onto Ottawa . CNoR's bankruptcy in 1918, followed by the Grand Trunk in 1923 led to the formation of the Canadian National Railways (CNR). Parts of the network were closed starting in 1935, and

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600-739: Is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec , which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States . CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue and the physical size of its rail network, spanning Canada from the Atlantic coast in Nova Scotia to the Pacific coast in British Columbia across approximately 20,000 route miles (32,000 km) of track. In

650-595: The CN Commercialization Act of 1995. The merger announcement by CN's Paul Tellier and BNSF's Robert Krebs was greeted with skepticism by the U.S. government's Surface Transportation Board (STB), and protested by other major North American rail companies, namely CPR and Union Pacific Railroad (UP). Rail customers also denounced the proposed merger, following the confusion and poor service sustained in southeastern Texas in 1998 following UP's purchase of Southern Pacific Railroad two years earlier. In response to

700-570: The Connecticut River valley from Quebec to Long Island Sound ; and the Berlin subdivision to Portland, Maine , known informally as the Grand Trunk Eastern , sold to a short-line operator in 1989. In 1992, a new management team led by ex-federal government bureaucrats, Paul Tellier and Michael Sabia , started preparing CN for privatization by emphasizing increased productivity. This

750-624: The Grand Trunk Railway mainline at Napanee. Construction on the NT&;QR out of Napanee through Yarkers to Tamworth started the same year, but was abandoned by the contractor and Rathbun had to pay the workers out of pocket. The line finally opened to Tamworth in 1884. In 1889 it was extended westward to Tweed while a branch eastward from Yarker to Harrowsmith connected to the Kingston and Pembroke Railway with running rights to Kingston . In 1890

800-573: The Russian Revolution seemed to validate the continuing process. The need for a viable rail system was paramount in a time of civil unrest and foreign military action. Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad The B&LE was acquired with the purchase of Great Lakes Transportation and the DM&;IR. British Columbia Railway In 2003, BCOL sold to Canadian National and leased the railroad to CN for 60 years. Central Vermont Railway Central Vermont

850-525: The 1880s, held a stake in three railways: the Bay of Quinte Railway, the Napanee and Tamworth Railway and Gananoque 's Thousand Islands Railway . He operated a 250-acre farm to provide horses for the logging operations and railway car shops to build rolling stock, along with general stores, a newspaper and various manufacturing works. At its 1895 peak, Deseronto's population reached 3338 people and Edward Wilkes Rathbun

900-549: The Montreal commuter trains are now operated by Montreal's EXO . On November 17, 1995, the Government of Canada privatized CN. Over the next decade, the company expanded significantly into the United States, purchasing Illinois Central Railroad and Wisconsin Central Transportation , among others. The excessive construction of railway lines in Canada led to significant financial difficulties striking many of them, in

950-495: The Pacific coast by 1915, but by 1918, it was bankrupt. Canadian National took over the CNoR network in 1923, embargoing the former BQR mainline in 1979 and removing the tracks in 1986. The BQR was constructed in multiple segments: CNoR incorporated the BQR line into its own mainline to Smiths Falls; CN abandoned the Tweed to Bannockburn line in 1935 and Tweed to Yarker in 1941, leaving just

1000-723: The Smiths Falls mainline. That line was embargoed in 1979, abandoned in 1984 and removed in 1986. The 104 kilometres (65 mi) right of way from Smiths Falls to Strathcona, near Napanee , is now the Cataraqui Trail , a multi-use recreational trail operated by the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority. The Bay of Quinte Navigation and Railway Company also owned the Rathbun dock in Gananoque, Ontario ; it entered

1050-500: The U.S. rail industry, CN bought the Illinois Central Railroad (IC), which connected the already existing lines from Vancouver , British Columbia, to Halifax , Nova Scotia, with a line running from Chicago, Illinois, to New Orleans , Louisiana. This single purchase of IC transformed CN's entire corporate focus from being an east–west uniting presence within Canada (sometimes to the detriment of logical business models) into

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1100-503: The area to take over the running of the business under the Rathbun Company name. The growing village was incorporated in 1871 as Mill Point and was renamed Deseronto in 1881. Hugo's son, Edward Wilkes Rathbun expanded the company's enterprises, opening a cedar mill, a flour mill and a sash, door and blind factory; he operated tugboats and lake freighters to carry cargo to Oswego, New York . He later added four passenger ships and, by

1150-638: The deal was the fact that since the Wisconsin Central purchase, CN was required to use DM&I trackage rights for a short 18 km (11 mi) "gap" near Duluth, Minnesota , on the route between Chicago and Winnipeg. To purchase this short section, CN was told by GLT it would have to purchase the entire company. Also included in GLT's portfolio were eight Great Lakes vessels for transporting bulk commodities such as coal and iron ore as well as various port facilities. Following Surface Transportation Board approval for

1200-586: The government. Primarily a freight railway, CN also operated passenger services until 1978, when they were assumed by Via Rail . The only passenger services run by CN after 1978 were several mixed trains (freight and passenger) in Newfoundland , and several commuter trains both on CN's electrified routes and towards the South Shore in the Montreal area (the latter lasted without any public subsidy until 1986). The Newfoundland mixed trains lasted until 1988, while

1250-442: The largest single shareholder of CN stock, owning a 14.2% interest through Cascade Investment and his own Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation . From 1919 to 1978, the railway was known as "Canadian National Railways" (CNR). The Canadian National Railways (CNR) was incorporated on June 6, 1919, comprising several railways that had become bankrupt and fallen into Government of Canada hands, along with some railways already owned by

1300-543: The last BQR fragment, from Napanee's historic 1856 Grand Trunk station to a Goodyear tire factory, was disconnected from the CN mainline at Napanee station in 2010. In 1848, an American partnership purchased land near Culbertson's Wharf, building a sawmill to process logs from four million acres of timberland in the Trent River , Moira River , Salmon River and Napanee River watersheds. In 1855, Hugo Burghardt Rathbun moved to

1350-460: The late 20th century, CN gained extensive capacity in the United States by taking over such railroads as the Illinois Central . CN is a public company with 22,600 employees and, as of July 2024 , a market cap of approximately US$ 75 billion. CN was government-owned, as a Canadian Crown corporation , from its founding in 1919 until being privatized in 1995. As of 2019 , Bill Gates was

1400-523: The line was renamed the Kingston, Napanee & Western Railway , and the next year it was leased to the BQR&;NC. The eastern branch was extended from Harrowsmith to Sydenham in 1893. In 1897, the two sections were legally merged into the newly formed Bay of Quinte Railway. In 1903 the final expansion was made northwestward from Tweed to connect to the Central Ontario Railway at Bannockburn, with

1450-751: The northernmost trackage of the contiguous North American railway network. Since being purchased by CN in 2006, it has been officially known as the Meander River Subdivision. Newfoundland Railway On 31 March 1949, CNR acquired the assets of the Newfoundland Railway , which in 1979 were reorganized into Terra Transport . CN officially abandoned its rail network in Newfoundland on 1 October 1988. Savage Alberta Railway On December 1, 2006, CN announced that it had purchased Savage Alberta Railway for $ 25 million and that it had begun operating

1500-494: The owner of EWS , the principal freight train operator in the United Kingdom. On May 13, 2003, the provincial government of British Columbia announced the provincial Crown corporation , BC Rail (BCR), would be sold with the winning bidder receiving BCR's surface operating assets (locomotives, cars, and service facilities). The provincial government is retaining ownership of the tracks and right-of-way. On November 25, 2003, it

1550-763: The rail industry, shippers, and political pressure, the STB placed a 15-month moratorium on all rail-industry mergers, effectively scuttling CN-BNSF plans. Both companies dropped their merger applications and have never refiled. After the STB moratorium expired, CN purchased Wisconsin Central (WC) in 2001, which allowed the company's rail network to encircle Lake Michigan and Lake Superior , permitting more efficient connections from Chicago to western Canada. The deal also included Canadian WC subsidiary Algoma Central Railway (ACR), giving access to Sault Ste. Marie and Michigan's Upper Peninsula . The purchase of Wisconsin Central also made CN

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1600-883: The railway the same day. TransX Group of Companies In 2018, CN acquired the Winnipeg-based TransX Group of Companies. Transx continues to operate independently. Wisconsin Central Railroad In January 2001, CN acquired the WC for $ 800 million. CN's railway network in the late 1980s consisted of the company's Canadian trackage, along with the following U.S. subsidiary lines: Grand Trunk Western Railroad (GTW) operating in Michigan , Indiana , and Illinois ; Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway (DWP) operating in Minnesota ; Central Vermont Railway (CV) operating down

1650-567: The sale of BC Rail. Also contested was the economic stimulus package the government gave cities along the BC Rail route. Some saw it as a buy-off to get the municipalities to cooperate with the lease, though the government asserted the package was intended to promote economic development along the corridor. Passenger service along the route had been ended by BC Rail a few years earlier due to ongoing losses resulting from deteriorating service. The cancelled passenger service has subsequently been replaced by

1700-423: The system was more or less finalized at that point. However, certain related lawsuits were not resolved until as late as 1936. Canadian National Railways was born out of both wartime and domestic urgency. Until the rise of the personal automobile and creation of taxpayer-funded all-weather highways, railways were the only viable long-distance land transportation available in Canada. As such, their operation consumed

1750-693: The tiny town as a vacation destination. The original junction between the Thousand Island Railway and the Grand Trunk Railway was moved 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) east in 1902 to a flatter location. A 1947 map of the Gananoque terminal shows a nine-switch track arrangement, a coal/wood yard, a coal dealer, a number company, a mill, the Cow and Gate dairy, a two-stall engine house, passenger station and freight/express building. The Thousand Islands Railway

1800-414: The transaction shortly thereafter. The EJ&E lines create a bypass around the western side of heavily congested Chicago-area rail hub and its conversion to use for mainline freight traffic is expected to alleviate substantial bottlenecks for both regional and intercontinental rail traffic subject to lengthy delays entering and exiting Chicago freight yards. The purchase of the lightly used EJ&E corridor

1850-456: The transaction, CN completed the purchase of GLT on May 10, 2004. On December 24, 2008, the STB approved CN's purchase for $ 300 million of the principal lines of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E) ( reporting mark EJE) from the U.S. Steel Corporation , originally announced on September 27, 2007. The STB's decision was to become effective on January 23, 2009, with a closure of

1900-554: The two railroads were formally amalgamated into the CN system. Iowa Northern Railway In 2023, CN acquired the Iowa Northern Railway , but the transaction is awaiting approval by the Surface Transportation Board (STB). Mackenzie Northern Railway In 2006, CN acquired Mackenzie Northern Railway , previously purchased by RailAmerica . This purchase allowed CN to increase their network footprint and hold

1950-549: The years leading up to 1920: The Canadian National Railway Company then evolved through the following steps: GTR management and shareholders opposed to nationalization took legal action, but after several years of arbitration, the GTR was finally absorbed into the CNR on January 30, 1923. Although several smaller independent railways would be added to the CNR in subsequent years as they went bankrupt or it became politically expedient to do so,

2000-444: Was a millionaire; an 1896 fire on the timber docks did a quarter-million dollars on damage, and the gradual depletion of natural resources (timber and minerals) on which the Rathbun business relied brought the company's activities to a halt by 1916. The Bay of Quinte railway, originally constructed to bring Rathbun's timber to market, was sold to Canadian Northern Railway in 1910 for inclusion in its Ottawa-Toronto mainline. CNoR reached

2050-435: Was achieved largely through aggressive cuts to the company's management structure, widescale layoffs in its workforce and continued abandonment or sale of its branch lines. In 1993 and 1994, the company experimented with a rebranding that saw the names CN , Grand Trunk Western , and Duluth, Winnipeg, and Pacific replaced under a collective CN North America moniker. In this time, CPR and CN entered into negotiations regarding

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2100-488: Was announced CN's bid of CA$ 1   billion would be accepted over those of CPR and several U.S. companies. The transaction was closed effective July 15, 2004. Many opponents – including CPR – accused the government and CN of rigging the bidding process, though this has been denied by the government. Documents relating to the case are under court seal, as they are connected to a parallel marijuana grow-op investigation connected with two senior government aides also involved in

2150-407: Was built on the site. The former right-of-way is readily visible on satellite imagery, and is now a hiking trail. The Gananoque Junction station remains on Station Road which is 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) west of Hiscocks Road. Bay of Quinte Railway and Navigation Company The Bay of Quinte Railway ( reporting mark BQ ) was a short-line railway in eastern Ontario, Canada . It

2200-509: Was changed to Thousand Islands Railway four months later. A swing bridge over the mouth of the Gananoque River was constructed in 1894 to provide service to businesses on the east side of the river. The line originally served to carry timber and freight to Gananoque's docks, where it could be loaded onto ships. While available timber stocks soon diminished, passenger traffic increased as the Grand Trunk under Charles Melville Hays promoted

2250-409: Was enacted into law on July 13, 1995, and by November 28, 1995, the Government of Canada had completed an initial public offering (IPO) and transferred all of its shares to private investors. Two key prohibitions in this legislation include, 1) that no individual or corporate shareholder may own more than 15% of CN, and 2) that the company's headquarters must remain in Montreal , thus maintaining CN as

2300-631: Was formed as the Napanee, Tamworth and Quebec Railway ( NT&QR ), chartered in 1878 by Edward Rathbun and Alexander Campbell , with plans to run from Napanee through Renfrew County and on to the Ottawa Valley . Lacking funding from the governments, development never began. Rathburn took over the charter in 1881. He started construction with the shorter Bay of Quinte Railway and Navigation Company ( BQR&NC ) that ran from his factories in Deseronto to

2350-527: Was merged into the Canadian National Railway in 1958. Passenger service ended in 1962; freight service ended in 1995. The line was dismantled in 1997. The unique locomotive #500 is preserved at Sculpture Park, where King Street crosses the Gananoque River. The waterfront station became a restaurant after passenger service ended, but was destroyed by fire in 1990; the 1000 Islands History Museum

2400-587: Was merged with Central Vermont in 1971 with the creation of the Grand Trunk Corporation. In 1991 the GTW was merged with CN under the "North America" consolidation program. Many of GTWs locomotives and rolling stock would be repainted and the motive power would get the new CN scheme. Illinois Central Railroad In 1998, IC was purchased by CN, which also acquired the Chicago Central in the deal. A year later,

2450-623: Was nationalized in 1918 and consolidated into the Grand Trunk Western in 1971 with the creation of the Grand Trunk Corporation. Duluth Missabe & Iron Range Railroad The DM&IR was purchased by Great Lakes Transportation and in 2011 the DM&IR was merged into CN's Wisconsin Central Subsidiary. The DM&IR was acquired at the same time as the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad. Duluth Winnipeg & Pacific Railroad The DWP

2500-562: Was nationalized with CN in 1918 and became a part of CN's Grand Trunk Corporation in 1971. In 2011 the DWP was merged into the larger Wisconsin Central Subsidiary of CN. Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway In 2009, CN acquired the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway to assist with traffic congestion in Chicago and the surrounding area. In 2013 EJ&E was merged into the greater Wisconsin Central Subsidiary of CN. Grand Trunk Western Railroad The GTW

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