The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
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 The Grand
Trunk Pacific Railway was a 4,800 km system whose main line ran from Winnipeg,
Manitoba to Prince Rupert, B.C.. Incorporated in 1903, it was built to allow
the Grand Trunk Railway to compete against the Canadian Pacific Railway
for the profitable traffic that was developing in western Canada.The Grand Trunk Railway proposed to the Federal Governement that the railway should build a line from North Bay, Ontario to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and be granted a charter to expand into the west between Winnipeg and the Pacific coast. The Government did not favour this proposal as it was feared that the Grand Trunk would ship its western traffic down its line to Portland, Maine, instead of to the Canadian ports of Saint John, New Brunswick or Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was finally agreed that the Government would build the National Transcontinental Railway between Moncton, New Brunswick and Winnipeg and the Pacific Ocean. Construction of both railways began in 1905. The Grand Trunk Pacific line was completed on April 9, 1914. Its route went westernly from Winnipeg to Edmonton, Alberta, through the Rocky Mountains using theYellowhead Pass, then followed the Fraser and Skeena Rivers to Prince Rupert.  Several branch lines were
built, including ones to Regina, Saskatchewan and Calgary, Alberta. A connection
was built between Sioux Lookout on the National transcontinenetal Railway
to Fort William (now Thunder Bay), Ontario to move grain traffic to the
Great Lakes.To encourage passenger traffic to and from the railway, the Grand Trunk Pacific purchased steamships and provided a service from the port of Prince Rupert along the Pacific Coast to Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, and Alaska. The company also built and operated the Fort Garry Hotel at Winnipeg and the Macdonald Hotel at Moncton. The high level of traffic that the railway expected never developed. The lack of revenue, along with the high cost of construction led the railway into bankruptcy shortly after the outbreak of Wolrd War I. The Federal Government assumed control of the railway in 1919. |
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Canadian National Railways | CN
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