The story of the Dorchester and Canada's first train OnJuly21,1836,our first train puff ed into history and began the process which would open up a continent and unite a new nation. Canada's passenger rail network From the painting owned by the Royal Bank of Canada, One of two well-known paintings, by Sherriff Scott, shows the inaugural run of Canada's first train in 1836. They helped to found a nation Planning for Canada's first railway began in the early 1830s. ULY 21, 1836. It's not a date that's real by ferryboat.) It was basically a began in the early 1830s. A hill entitled J been celebrated much recently. Yet it ' 'portage'' railway, following an old trail "Making a Rail Road from Lake Cham• turned out to be a most momentous day in used to transport freight from the St. plain to the River St. Lawrence" was Canada's history. On that date, 300 Lawrence to the Richelieu River and its tabled in the Lower Canada (Quebec) people set off from Montreal on an ex• connecting waterways, Lake Champlain Legislature in 1831 and it received royal cursion aboard the brand-new steam and the Hudson River. assent Fehmary 25, 1832. ferryboat Princess Victoria. They were However, seen in the context of its At that time in Canada's history, travel bound for Laprairie on the south shore of time, this railway was a giant step for• in British North America was inconven• the St. Lawrence River, the starting point ward in Canada's transportation industry, ient, uncomfortable and only undertaken of the inaugural run of Canada's first a step that would eventually lead to a if necessary. Modes of transport were the railway, to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, massive transcontinental passenger and horse, boat, sleigh and carriage. Roads Quebec, as shown above. freight railway system. This would bind between communities were virtually This little-known event will he cele• the separate parts of the new land into a non-existent. Severe winter conditions brated in 1986 as a central focus of the cohesive national force that would be• restricted water travel part of the year. sesquicentennial of passenger rail in come the Dominion of Canada with Con• And carriages of that era were to he rec• Canada. federation in 1867, 30 years later. ommended only if passengers enjoyed a The Champlain and St. Lawrence In fact, railways became such an inte• humpy ride and the prospect of bruises. Railroad Company, operator of this first gral part of the founding of the Canadian Qne-horse open sleighs weren't much train, was by modem standards a very nation that provision for the building of better. small railway indeed. Its rails stretched an Intercolonial Railway linking Halifax This lack of incentive to travel also only 14.5 miles from Laprairie to Saint- to Montreal was embedded in the British somewhat resulted in isolation from the Jean on the Richelieu river. (Passengers North America Act of 1867. rest of the world. Mails from Bytown travelled between Laprairie and Mont• Planning for Canada's first railway (modem-day Qttawa) reached Montreal 2 only three times a week. Transatlantic news came in hy ships arriving from Liverpool with English newspapers. How that first train may have looked Overseas items for local papers were copied from these joumals, and from New York newspapers when the English papers were delayed in transit. The railway, then, was hailed as a means of making travel more attractive and comfortable. It was a way of speed• ing and increasing passenger and freight traffic between Montreal and the Lake Champlain waterways to the United States. It was seen as a step towards re• ducing the harriers of time and distance. Montrealers were enthusiastic about the new project, but few shares were sold until Peter McGill, president of the Bank Canada's first locomotive, the Dorchester, shown in silhouette. -From Canadian National Railways byG.R. Stevens of Montreal, became the first of 754 suh- scrihers to the charter of the new railway. Second on the list was John Molson, founder of Molson's Brewery and pres• ident of the Bank of Montreal until 1832. He was an early supporter of the project, having realized, as far back as 1829, the advantages of replacing his stage line between Laprairie and the Richelieu River with a railway. (His son, John Junior, was first president of the railway and his son William was one of the founding directors.) Further down was Jason C. Pierce, a New Englander cap• tured in the War of 1812-15. He remained in Canada in Saint-Jean, Quebec, where he became a prominent citizen. Pierce was a prime mover in getting the railway project moving, persuading John Molson alone to subscribe £9.000. more than one quarter of the estimated £33.500 cost of the railway. (See page 5 for portraits of the founders of Canada's first railway.) They began to build The Champlain and St. Lawrence's coaches were built in Troy, New York and are thought to have resembled this one built for Construction of the new railway began the Mohawk and Hudson Railraod around the same period. in 1835. By December, the management committee was able to report that the {The American Railroad Passenger Car, John H. White, Jr.) grading, masonry, bridges and the ferry wharf at Laprairie had been completed. plates. The upper surface of the rail was were supported by longitudinal stringers. A locomotive to he named Dorchester in protected hy an iron strap three inches Ballast as we know it was not used. 1837, had been ordered from Robert wide and half an inch thick, fastened to On April 26, 1836, the new railway Stephenson in England, the son of the the rail hy countersunk spikes. The rail issued its first freight schedule. It con• great railway pioneer George Stephen• junctions were the main points of weak• sisted of rates for barrelled ashes, beef, son, builder of the famous "Rocket". ness. When sufficient play developed, pork, flour, meal, hoards and timber. First- and second-class passenger the iron strap often broke and its jagged Qn May 12, amid the cheers of "an coaches would come from the U.S. and ends curled upwards, striking the axles, immense concourse'', the steam ferry he- freight cars were being built in Montreal wheels and undersides of the rolling longing to the railway company was (See page 5.) stock as they passed over. Consequently, launched. Mrs Peter McGill, wife of the Railway infrastructure in those days these rails were sometimes known as Bank of Montreal president and the rail• was very different from today's steel rails "snakehead'' rails. The rails were laid to way's chairman, christened it Princess on a specially-built roadbed. The rails the standard or "Stephenson" gauge of Victoria (after the Heir Presumptive who then were wooden six-inch pine squares four feet, eight and a half inches. They would become Queen of England the fol• anchored to the ties hy triangular blocks rested on cross-ties, varying from nine to lowing year). After gliding gracefully and joined at the end hy iron splice ten feet in length. These ties, in turn. into the water, the boat was towed 3 From the painting owned by Confederation Life. In another painting of the 1836 inaugural run of the Dorchester, by J.D. Kelly, Saint-Jean is en fete... into port to receive its engines. The trial voyage was on July 9 - only 12 days The first railway timetable in Canada before the scheduled inaugural run of the fledgling railway. Inauguration Day, July 21, 1836 - al• most 150 years ago - was marked by a The Champlain &. Su JLawrence large gathering of noteworthy persons of Kailroad Company^ the time. This included the Governor- N connrction with the Steamer Princeu Vic in-Chief of British North America, the I tnria is now prepared to convey PaueDgert Earl of Gosford (who was currently head• between MONTREAL and ST. JOHNS as ing an inquiry commission into the polit• follows ical situation in Lower Canada). With STKAMKK. CAMS. him were bis fellow-commissioners, Sir Pr9fn tytontreal, vrteUdy From Laprairie. Charles Grey and Sir George Gipps. 8 o'clock, A. M. 9 o'clock, A. M. Members of the Legislative Council and 2 d'cluck, p. M. the House of Assembly of Lower B o'clock, P. M. 6 o'clock, P. M. Canada, soldiers, merchants and many CABS. STEAHXM. "respectable strangers" are said to have From St. Jdkno. From Laprairie. attended as well. 6 o'clock, A. M. Among the guests was Speaker of the 7 o'doch, A. M. 9 o'clock. A- M. 2 o'clock, P. M. ! 4 o'clock, P. M. Assembly Louis-Joseph Papineau. (In OlirsCKDSYS the following year, Papineau was des• The Steamer and Cars will leave as follows tined to flee from Canada with a price on his head as a result of his part in the 1837 BTMAMBM CARS From H7onlreal, vrtcitdy From SI John*. Patriotes' rebellion. He would pass into 10 o'clock, A. M. 7 o'clock, A M. Canada's history along with his counter• 54 d'clock, P. M. 3 o'clock, p. M. part rebel in Upper Canada, William And from Latrsirik, the Steamer will leave Lyon Mackenzie. He would reappear, on arrival of the Cars, and the Cars, On arrival of after exile, as an honoured guest on yet the Steamer. another inaugural run — that of the Mont• FARE. real and Lachine Railroad Company - in To and froni St.