Canada's First Railway : The Champlain & St. Lawrence
by Mika, Nick and Helma & Wilson, Donald M
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 0919303986
- ISBN 13
- 9780919303980
- Seller
-
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Belleville, Ontario, Canada: Mika Publishing Co, 1985. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 64 pages b/w photos drawings - the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad (C&SL) was a historic railway in Lower Canada and one of the first railways built in British North America. The C&SL was financed by Montreal entrepreneur and brewery owner, John Molson. It was intended as a portage road to connect the St. Lawrence River valley with Lake Champlain, cutting time from the trip between Montreal and New York. Construction began in January, 1835 when surveyors determined the line would run from St. John on the Richelieu River to the nearest point on the St. Lawrence at La Prairie, 14 miles (23 km) upriver from Montreal. Throughout 1835 the grading, fencing, masonry and bridge work were completed, as well as stations and wharves at Laprairie and St. John. Orders were also placed for a locomotive, which was to be built in Newcastle upon Tyne, as well as four passenger cars, which were to be built in the United States. Several freight cars were also built in Montreal. The 16-mile (26 km) line was built as a 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) (Indian gauge) railway, with rails consisting of 6-inch (152 mm) pine logs (squared off) which were joined by iron splice plates and bolts laid across wood cross-ties. The pine rails were protected by iron straps spiked to the upper surface. These rails remained the same until being replaced by completely iron rails in the 1850s. British North America's first locomotive arrived at Molson's wharf in Montreal in June 1836. It was named Dorchester and had been constructed by Robert Stephenson, son of George Stephenson who was the manufacturer of The Rocket. A wood burning 0-4-0 design, it was the 127th locomotive built by Stephenson and was nicknamed "Kitten" by those who observed its uneven "skittish" ride - a result of the short wheel base. Trial runs took place at night to avoid frightening the public; maximum speed was approximately 30 mph (48 km/h). The C&SL opened to great fanfare on July 21, 1836 with several distinguished guests in attendance besides Molson, including Lord Gosford, the Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada, as well as Louis-Joseph Papineau, the rebel politician. Over 300 guests crowded the passenger cars in Laprairie station for the first run. The Dorchester was unable to handle such a load, therefore the two first-class coaches carrying 32 of the distinguished guests were uncoupled and hauled by the locomotive while the remaining cars were hauled by teams of horses. Two hours later, everyone was at the station in St. John where the ceremonies continued. Regular operations commenced on July 25 and while freight traffic was stagnant on the line for many years, passenger traffic and excursions proved extremely popular early on, with many extra passenger trains being hauled by horses until additional locomotives arrived in 1837. The line was extended south along the Richelieu River valley in 1851 to Rouses Point, New York and the following year saw a more direct routing built from the St. John-Laprairie line to St. Lambert, directly opposite Montreal to avoid the indirect journey up and down the St. Lawrence River from Laprairie. This latter line effectively reduced the line into Laprairie to branch line status and it would be later abandoned. The C&SL merged with the Montreal and New York Railroad in 1857, formerly known as the Montreal and Lachine Railroad, with the new company being named the Montreal and Champlain Railroad. The Grand Trunk Railway leased the M&C in 1864 and purchased it outright in 1872. Although it is unknown when the track gauge was converted from broad gauge to standard gauge, this likely took place in 1873 when GTR was doing a system-wide conversion.In 1923 the GTR was nationalized and the ex-M&C, nee-C&SL trackage was incorporated into the Canadian National Railways (CNR). CN (post-1960) continues to operate the majority of this historic route, running from an interchange connection with the Delaware and Hudson Railway (now owned by Canadian Pacific Railway) at Rous
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Details
- Bookseller
- Train World Pty Ltd (AU)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- UB-014788
- Title
- Canada's First Railway : The Champlain & St. Lawrence
- Author
- Mika, Nick and Helma & Wilson, Donald M
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- ISBN 10
- 0919303986
- ISBN 13
- 9780919303980
- Publisher
- Mika Publishing Co
- Place of Publication
- Belleville, Ontario, Canada
- Date Published
- 1985
- Keywords
- USED-North America
- Bookseller catalogs
- USED-North America;
- X weight
- 0 g
Terms of Sale
Train World Pty Ltd
Payment in Advance before posting, and your postage cost is the same cost charged us by Australia Post.
About the Seller
Train World Pty Ltd
Biblio member since 2008
Melbourne, Victoria
About Train World Pty Ltd
Train World commenced business at 615 Hawthorn road East Brighton in 1973. From a cabinet in a haberdashery store, Train World grew to take over half the shop in 1974 to take over the entire store and by 1977 it had taken over the shop and the rear residence. In 1981 the shop moved across the road to 624 Hawthorn Road East Brighton. Here too the shop grew and grew. So that by 1995 it had taken over the shop, the storage room area, the staff area, the garage, the rear warehouse and finally filling the entire building. Finally on 1st July 2012 Train world moved again to 290 Bay Street Brighton - Since the 1980s the focus of Train World has been trains and model trains, nothing but trains and everything to do with trains. Making it the largest pure train shop in Australia. Train World is a store of some 2,000 square feet. Open seven (7) days a week, that specialise not only in train models but new and used books and magazines of British, American and Australian titles. We usually have 7,000-8,000 titles in stock at any time. Plus we are the Australasian/Pacific Rim distributor for Irwell Press. We have a large holding of current and past new Irwell Press Books. On our home web site Irwell Press and our new / secondhand / used books are listed seperately. and can also be searched by clicking on the search link. We are displaying the covers and details for all our new Australian books and Irwell Press books on library thing. try this link http://www.librarything.com/catalog/TrainWorldand then click on TrainWorld has a suggested style for viewing this library (use it)
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