Grand Trunk Pacific Railway

The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a 4800 km system whose main line ran from Winnipeg via Melville and Edmonton to Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Incorporated in 1903, it was built between 1906 and 1914 to provide the GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY with western connections. It was to have assumed responsibility for the government-built National Transcontinental Railway, but financial difficulties prevented this from happening. The Grand Trunk Pacific faced severe competition from the CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY and the CANADIAN NORTHERN RAILWAY, both of which had excellent branch and feeder lines on the prairies. Construction costs, the exigencies of wartime financing, and the lack of a viable system of branch lines brought the Grand Trunk Pacific into receivership. The Grand Trunk, which had guaranteed Grand Trunk Pacific securities, tried to escape its obligations, but eventually the western road also dragged the Grand Trunk into default and NATIONALIZATION.

The federal government decided in 1919 to acquire both the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Grand Trunk at a price to be established by arbitration, and in 1923 the operations of the Grand Trunk, the Grand Trunk Pacific and the National Transcontinental merged with those of the recently nationalized Canadian Northern Railway to form the new CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAYS system.

Author T.D. REGEHR

Suggested Reading
A.W.Currie, The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada (1957); Frank Leonard, A Thousand Blunders: The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and Northern British Columbia (1996); G.R.Stevens, Canadian National Railways (1960-62).

Links to Other Sites
Collection Profile: Rail
An extensive overview of Canada's railway history from the Canada Science and Technology Museum.

Atlas of Alberta Railways
Climb aboard the "Atlas of Alberta Railways" website for a fascinating multimedia tour of Alberta history. This site will take you to a great collection of fascinating maps, old newspaper articles, scenic photographs, charts, graphs, and much more. From the University of Alberta Press.

Canadian Railway Hall of Fame
The Canadian Railway Hall of Fame honours Canadian achievement in the railway business. It fulfills a need to recognize various technology, communities and individuals that have been instrumental in the development of this vital Canadian transportation system.