Intercolonial Railway

Intercolonial Railway's North Street Station, Halifax
1878-1917

Intercolonial Railway's North Street Station, Halifax, c. 1900

ICR North Street Station, location

Intercolonial Railway
Between Quebec and the Maritime Provinces

1891

The favourite route from Quebec to the Maritime Provinces is by the Intercolonial Railway, which runs down the south shore of the St. Lawrence River as far as Rimouski, and then turns south ... The three Maritime Provinces of Canada are Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, and the Intercolonial Railway traverses them all. It is a government road, admirably built and equipped, and most moderate in its charges ... The cars on through express passenger trains are lighted by electricity and heated by steam from the locomotive. The head offices of the railway are at Moncton ... The fare by rail between Quebec and Halifax is $14.00 one way, $21.00 return...
From "The Canadian Guide Book: The Tourist's and Sportsman's Guide to Eastern Canada..." (page 111)
1891, by Charles G.D. Roberts, Professor of English Literature at King's College, Windsor, Nova Scotia

from page 111 of "The Canadian Guide Book..." by Charles G.D. Roberts, 1891
Source: Early Canadiana Online http://www.canadiana.org/
page 111   http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/mtq?id=bb2b4c9564&display=56228+0161

New Passenger Train Put Into Operation
Halifax to/from Montreal

1 March 1891

     Date of
    first run

    1 Mar 1898    The Maritime Express   Montreal - Halifax
    3 Jul 1904    Ocean Limited          Montreal - Halifax
   26 Jun 1927    The Acadian            Montreal - Halifax
   28 Jun 1929    Down Easter            New York - Halifax
   28 Jun 1929    Pine Tree Acadian      Boston - Halifax
    2 Mar 1930    The Gull               Boston - Maritime Provinces
   16 Mar 1941    The Scotian            Montreal - Halifax
   14 Jul 1956    The Bluenose           Edmonton - Halifax
    1 Jun 1967    The Cabot              Montreal - Sydney

The Maritime Express
by J.B. King

Members of the Scotian Railroad Society are to be commended on their choice of a name for the newsletter which will record their proceedings and the progress of their efforts to keep alive the legends and traditions of the old steam railways of the Atlantic Region. Nothing could be more typical of this part of Canada than The Maritime Express, the first name train to operate in Canada east of Montreal.

When the Intercolonial Railway opened for traffic between the Maritimes and Quebec on June 30 - July 2, 1876, the passenger train which was to become The Maritime operated over the ICR proper only from Moncton to Riviere du Loup, thence over Grand Trunk iron to the Quebec city ferry wharf at Levis.

Northbound passengers came up from Halifax on old No. 1 express of the original Halifax - Saint John main line to Moncton, where they were joined by Saint John passengers ex No. 2, and all transferred to the North Shore train. On the return trip the procedure was reversed.

Some years later when sleeping cars were introduced, they started on alternate days from Halifax and Saint John. That is, on a Halifax night the passengers from Saint John rode the day coaches to Moncton and there took up reservations on the sleeping car from Halifax. Next day, the Haligonians rode the day coaches and boarded the sleeper from Saint John at Moncton.

Just when the whole train began to run east of Moncton no one I have consulted seems to know, or when the Maritime Express officially replaced Halifax Express (eastbound) and Quebec Express (westbound). There is nothing about it in the federal papers I have examined, but a search of old newspapers and timetables might turn it up, and this would make a worthy assignment for our historically minded members.

I am not sure that the names were ever officially adopted by the road, but the eastbound train was popularly known as the Halifax Express and the westbound as the Quebec Express. In time these names also came to be applied loosely to Nos. 1 and 2 on the old main line, although only the sleeper actually ran through.

The locomotives were small eight wheelers and the passenger cars were of the open platform type, with link and pin couplers and "Armstrong" (hand) brakes. Closed vestibule cars were not provided until late in the 1890s, although air brakes had been installed in 1886. The train was a pioneer in the electric lighting of passenger cars. At first this was a clumsy system worked by storage batteries, which eventually gave way to pintsch gas lights, which in turn was superseded first by steam-driven dynamos on the locomotives, and later by individual car generators operated by belts from an axle...

The Maritime of necessity did much local work which greatly slowed her average speed, and in 1904 Hon. Henry R. Emmerson, of pious and immortal memory, supplemented her with a faster through summer train which a public voting contest named the Ocean Limited, and which eventually operated the year round...

Through the 1950s The Maritime Express slowly declined. After working in various combinations with other name trains, in the mid-1960s she finally wound up as she had started in 1872 — handling local traffic between Moncton and Montreal. In 1967 she vanished from the schedule.
The above is excerpted from The Maritime Express, volume 1 number 1, June 1968, (the first issue).
This newsletter was published quarterly by the Scotian Railroad Society, Halifax.

Note 3:   This railway line, between Oxford Junction in Cumberland County and Brown's Point in Pictou County, was known as the "Short Line" from the earliest days of construction in the 1880s until the last train ran in October 1994.  The reason for this name was simple: the line was promoted and surveyed, and the initial construction contracts were let, by the Montreal & European Short Line Railway Company, later the Great European and North American Short Line Railway Company.

Order in Council 1867-0007
Subject: Surveying the Intercolonial Railway main line
between Truro and Amherst in Nova Scotia.
OIC 1867-0007, page 1
OIC 1867-0007, page 2
OIC 1867-0007, page 3
On a memorandum dated July 3rd, 1867, from the Hon. the Minister of Public Works stating that the government of Nova Scotia caused a detailed exploration of the Country lying between Truro and the Nova Scotia boundary near Amherst to be made – with a view of selecting the best site for the proposed Intercolonial Railway. That in May 1866 W. Sandford Fleming, the Engineer employed to make this Survey, reported that he had examined all the practicable Railway lines between these two points, and recommended one of the explored lines as preferable in its main features to the others...
Approved:   3 July 1867
— Source:   Ottawa, Federal Government Orders in Council
      http://www.collectionscanada.ca/02/020157_e.html

Order in Council 1870-0019
Subject: Purchase of 400 tons of rails to lay the new Intercolonial Railway line from Missisquash to Amherst...
OIC 1870-0019, page 1
OIC 1870-0019, page 2
OIC 1870-0019, page 3
OIC 1870-0019, page 4
Approved:   7 July 1870
— Source:   Ottawa, Federal Government Orders in Council
      http://www.collectionscanada.ca/02/020157_e.html

Order in Council 1872-0170
Subject: Accepting tenders for Intercolonial Railway
Station Buildings, Tank Houses and Platforms in Nova Scotia:
OIC 1872-0170, page 1
OIC 1872-0170, page 2
OIC 1872-0170, page 3
Tenders accepted:
Flag Station and Platform at Napan   $195.00
Flag Station and Platform at Minudie   $195.00
Flag Station and Platform at Salt Springs   $200.00
Flag Station and Platform at Greenville   $200.00
Flag Station and Platform at Purdy's   $200.00
Flag Station and Platform at Folly Lake   $200.00
Flag Station and Platform at Ishgonish   $200.00
Tank House and Fuel Shed at Greenville   $1470.00
Tank House and Fuel Shed at Tony Lake   $1600.00
Tank House and Fuel Shed at Iron Mines   $1600.00
Tank House and Fuel Shed at Debert   $1600.00
Station Building and Platform at Little Forks   $3650.00
Tank House and Fuel Shed at Little Forks   $1315.00
Tank House and Fuel Shed at Salt Springs   $1397.00
Station and Platform, Tank House and Fuel Shed at River Philip   $4519.00
Station Buildings and Platforms at Iron Mines   $3390.00
Station Buildings and Platforms at Debert   $3260.00
— Signed: Charles Tupper
— Approved:   26 February 1872
OIC 1872-0170, page 4
OIC 1872-0170, page 5
OIC 1872-0170, page 6 (Tenders: Nappan, flag station and platform)
OIC 1872-0170, page 7 (Tenders: Minudie, flag station and platform)
OIC 1872-0170, page 8 (Tenders: Little Forks, station building 90×30 feet, and platform)
OIC 1872-0170, page 9 (Tenders: Little Forks, tank house and fuel shed)
OIC 1872-0170, page 10 (Tenders: Salt Springs, flag station and platform)
OIC 1872-0170, page 11 (Tenders: Salt Springs, tank house and fuel shed)
OIC 1872-0170, page 12 (Tenders: River Philip, station building 90×30 feet, and platforms)
OIC 1872-0170, page 13 (Tenders: River Philip, tank house and fuel shed)
OIC 1872-0170, page 14 (Tenders: Greenville, flag station and platform)
OIC 1872-0170, page 15 (Tenders: Greenville, tank house and fuel shed)
OIC 1872-0170, page 16 (Tenders: Purdy's, flag station and platform)
OIC 1872-0170, page 17 (Tenders: Folly Lake, flag station and platform)
OIC 1872-0170, page 18 (Tenders: Folly Lake, tank house and fuel shed)
OIC 1872-0170, page 19 (Tenders: Iron Mines, station building 90×30 feet, and platforms)
OIC 1872-0170, page 20 (Tenders: Iron Mines, tank house and fuel shed)
OIC 1872-0170, page 21 (Tenders: Debert, station building 90×30 feet, and platforms)
OIC 1872-0170, page 22 (Tenders: Ishgonish, flag station and platform)
OIC 1872-0170, page 23 (Tenders: Debert, tank house and fuel shed)
— Source:   Ottawa, Federal Government Orders in Council
      http://www.collectionscanada.ca/02/020157_e.html

1901 December 29

Dartmouth Locomotive Shed Burns

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First uploaded to the WWW:   2001 November 29
Latest content revision:   2005 March 28

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