Grand Trunk Road

“ The Grand Trunk Railway is a British institution built to foster the interests of Great Britain's greatest colony, at the direct expense of its greatest commercial rival in the world's family of nations—the United States; why does not the Grand Trunk road make for itself commercial centers at Montreal or Toronto or Hamilton or Ottawa or Windsor? Why has it spent millions of good honest British gold in buying its way into Chicago at one end and Boston at the other? ”

“ Our route lay along that famous Grand Trunk Road leading to the North-West Provinces, and on its smooth metallic surface men and animals, fresh from the first cantonment, swung along at a smart pace, and reached the halting ground as the crowing of farm-yard tenantry proclaimed the commencement of dawn. ”

“ The new Dominion Government, being desirous of opening up the country purchased on the 17th of July, 1879, that portion of the Grand Trunk road which lies between Riviere du Loup and Point Levis, with the object of making it a portion of the new Government road, which subsequently became the Intercolonial Railway.
With the proceeds of this sale the Grand Trunk agreed to construct a line between Port Huron, Michigan, and Chicago. The International Bridge Company undertook another great engineering feat in 1857, in the building of the Niagara River Bridge, between Fort Erie and Buffalo. ”

“ Though crudely equipped, the road was nevertheless, a startling and welcome innovation for abbreviating space. The Grand Trunk Railway had not yet been built and the saddle horse and coach were the only substitutes for pedestrianism. Picture, if you can, a journey inside a two teamed springless stage, tediously winding westward past bear haunt, swamp and river; for instance, over the historic, old military road from Kingston. It must have been a hunter’s paradise. ”

“ Thus, in the notable instance of trunk line competition for the beef traffic some twenty years ago, the Grand Trunk, although much more roundabout, besides being handicapped in other ways, by securing all the business, could afford to make rates impossible under other circumstances.
Whether the business in question is natural or normal to a road, or is an extra, diverted from other more direct lines, is still another factor of importance affecting ability to compete successfully for any given traffic. ”

“ The road is eight miles in length, and by skillful engineering has been so built as to rise, on an average, only about one foot in eight, the steepest place being one foot in six, and that for a short distance only, rendering the ascent easy and comfortable. Passengers by way of Gorham, on the Grand Trunk, reach the summit by this method, and then have the privilege of descending by rail on the other side. ”

“ The Northern, running from Lake Ontario at Toronto to Georgian Bay at Collingwood, was a magnified portage road, shortening by hundreds of miles the distance from Chicago and the upper lakes to the St Lawrence ports. The Great Western, connecting Buffalo and Detroit, was the central link in the shortest route between New York and Chicago. Not only were these roads important in themselves, but the experience acquired in the endeavour to finance and construct them largely determined the policy of the great era of railway construction which began with the chartering of the Grand Trunk. ”

“ We must expect, therefore, any direct commercial way northward from the ford to make directly for Ponches. To strike the great Trunk Road higher up would be to go out of one’s way; to strike it lower down would be to strike the Authie Valley at an impassable point.
When an ancient way has disappeared, certain indications of its track, especially as that track may be presumed to be direct, survive, and among these are wayside tombs, parish boundaries, and mills or other places which, for the conveyance of heavy merchandise, are placed near such a road if possible. ”

“ Subdivision 143 Route No. 212. Beginning at a point on Route No. 3 at or near Robbinsdale, thence extending in a northeasterly and easterly direction to a point on Route No. 62 easterly of New Brighton, affording necessary and reasonable means of communication to industrial areas engaged in the manufacture of essential war materials, and bringing into the Trunk Highway System an important route a portion of which has been heretofore improved with federal aid, and all which has been approved for surveys and plans with federal funds by the Public Roads Administration. ”

“ In the west the rainfall is so scanty and in many parts wheeled traffic so rare that it is often wise to leave the roads unmetalled. There are in the Panjab over 2000 miles of metalled, and above 20,000 miles of unmetalled roads. The greatest highway in the world, the Grand Trunk, which starts from Calcutta and ends at Peshawar, passes through the province from Delhi in the south-east to Attock in the extreme north-west corner, and there crosses the Indus and enters the N.W.F. Province. ”

“ Trunk, "that, as the ladies had so much curiosity, they did not go and see him in his bath."
"Well, the fact is," replied Mr. Parrot, "that they did try, but the monster would only just show them the tip of his nose."
"He has become quite a nuisance to the neighbourhood," said Mr. Trunk.
"I wonder," observed the conveyancer, "if the Alderman could put him down?"
"Put him down!" growled Trunk again; "the fellow's too fat. You might as well try to put down a whale!" ”

“ The road along which we were travelling in this extraordinary manner was not, as might be expected, impassable for horses; on the contrary, it was an excellent macadamized and perfectly level road, denominated the Great Trunk Road of Bengal. ”

“ The Great Trunk from New York to San Francisco has more life in it! At least, the redskins do sometimes attack the trains, and the chance of a scalping on the road cannot but add to the charm of the voyage! ”

“ Type of Grand Trunk Locomotive in use 1853 ONTARIO’S TWIN SISTER IS THE GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY If a vivisectionist, adroit with scalpel and scissors, should dissect and remove the bone framework from the torso of any man, that man would collapse, and likewise, did Atlas or Sampson but lift the Grand Trunk Railway System from out the ballasted roadbed in the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec and contiguous territory, the extensive and most densely populated area of Older Canada would immediately become paralyzed and inert. ”

“ Where the Minister considers that it is expedient that any road across a trunk road should pass under or over the trunk road, he may for that purpose construct a bridge under or over the trunk road, and such connections between the trunk road and the other road as he considers desirable, and may also construct approaches to any such bridge or connection ”

“ Section 1: Transfer of trunk roads to Minister of Transport 1.— (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the principal roads in Great Britain constituting the national system of routes for through traffic which by virtue of this Act become trunk roads shall be known by that name and as from the date upon which any road becomes a trunk road the Minister of Transport (hereinafter referred to as "the Minister") shall be the highway authority for the road. ”

“ The Grand Trunk of 1914 was a much greater factor in the life of Canada than the Grand Trunk of 1894; it had become nation-wide in its interests, and had shaken off the unfortunate traditions of its earlier stagnant {219} days. Difficult tasks still faced it: the building up of the traffic of the far north would demand ceaseless effort, and when the wheel of time should bring round slackened business once more, it would call for all its powers to make ends meet in face of rising wages, taxes, outlays of every kind. ”

“ In Ontario, a branch from Toronto to Sudbury made the Canadian Pacific independent of the Grand Trunk's North Bay link, an extension from Guelph to Goderich tapped a fertile country, a line from Port M'Nicoll on Georgian Bay to Bethany near Peterborough gave a short through route for grain, a lake shore route eastward from Toronto provided access to the towns which the Grand Trunk, in its promoters' concern for through traffic or in its contractors' desire for low land charges, had side-tracked, while stock purchase and later a lease of the Kingston and Pembroke gave entrance into Kingston. ”

“ Freight Traffic Manager, Grand Trunk Railway System, Montreal, Que.
The Grand Trunk Railway early became a definite medium in realizing the New World ambitions, spurring on hundreds of young English, Irish and Scotch men. Their methods of substantial construction and numerous ideas of system are yet extant with this great Canadian institution. ”

“ During its sixty-six years of history it has continued adding to its system, and to-day when the railroads of the entire continent are laboring under immense handicaps, congestion, lack of fuel and labor, expense and scarcity of materials, the “old Grand Trunk” is holding up its end, and winning praise for its success. That recognition, so far as the people of Canada are concerned, does not seem to be commensurate with the deserts of the company. ”

“ General provisions as to functions with respect to trunk roads 3.— (1) Upon any road becoming a trunk road, then in relation to the road, all functions which immediately before the road became a trunk road were exercisable by highway authorities as respects county roads and county bridges, and any functions of construction, maintenance, repair or improvement exercisable as respects that road by a local authority under any Act, including any private or local Act, shall, except as otherwise expressly provided by this Act, be exercisable by the Minister to the exclusion of any other authority ”

“ The big car, with unchecked speed, swung down Broadway, slowed after a twenty-minutes' run to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, and, turning to the left, plunged once more at high speed into the narrower and less well-kept thoroughfares of the Brooklyn water front. Two minutes later it overtook a little electric coupé, bobbing excitedly down the sloping street. As they passed it, Trant caught sight of the illuminated number hanging at its rear, and shouted suddenly to the chauffeur, who brought the big motor to a stop a hundred feet beyond. ”

“ It was during this period that I was delivered from that enemy of mine, Prince Alexis.
Between Trun and Atar the road is of an intensely beautiful nature, presenting many different kinds of scenery, well wooded in places, with gentle slopes running down to small streams which feed the Loina, while always to the north rose the mountains. The road itself rises and falls with delightful frequency, from an artistic point of view, although I doubt if the farmers who live in the vicinity, or their horses, really appreciate it. ”

“ It seems that to the south from Genesee street there was a steep up-grade, so that a train of loaded cars must, in order to ascend the same, cross the street at a higher rate of speed than would, considering the situation of the crossing, be prudent to the safety of passers on the street, without warning of the train's approach. A train coming from the north could not be seen at all by those traveling on the street in the direction Grant was driving, until the traveler was within 40 feet of the track, and the train within from 150 to 175 feet of the center of the street ”

“ Similar arguments were urged not more than a century ago against the formation of new turnpike roads. The bittern, it was said, would be driven from his pool, the fox from his earth, the wild fowl would be frightened away from the marshes, and many a fine haunch of venison would be sent to London markets without the proper ceremonies of turning off and running down the buck. Merrie England could not exist without miry roads. In 1760 there was no turnpike road between the port of Lynn and the great corn and cattle market at Norwich. ”

“ Various industries along the line, from coal companies to flour mills, were helped forward for years. A loyal staff was built up, and by grace of efficiency the company pulled through until the lean days of the early nineties were over.
During this decade of extraordinary activity the Grand Trunk had been neither content nor passive. Offended by the incursions into its best paying territory, it fought its younger rival in parliament and on the stock exchange, {179} but with no lasting success in either quarter. It was more successful in its own constructive policy of expansion. ”

“ In these volumes we shall consistently keep to the Great North Road; starting, however, as the record-making cyclists of late years have done, from the General Post-office in St. Martin’s-le-Grand, to or from which, or the neighbouring old inns, the coaches of the historic past came and went.
We travel with a light heart: our forbears with dismal forebodings, leaving duly-executed and attested wills behind them. ”

“ Whenever there is a sudden rise in sugar or tobacco, Mr. Parrot immediately goes on 'Change to consult his great friend, Mr. Trunk, as to the course he should pursue; and the united wisdom of the two merchants generally produces a result favourable to Mr. Parrot's interests.
Mr. Trunk lives in a large house in the Regent's Park, where he entertains very many visitors, in a way peculiar to himself, his chief pleasure consisting in the offer of his carriage for a ride round his beautiful gardens; for which, by way of joke, he always demands a cake or a bun from each visitor. ”

“ In this respect, the Little River Turnpike was one of the best of Virginia’s rural roads, having been laid out and constructed by professional engineers and maintained by hired labor with even more care and regularity than the public roads. In Beattie’s day, as in Moss’s time, the turnpike was the main road between Alexandria and Fairfax, the county seat, and thence to the Valley. ”