Grand Railway Celebration.
A Trip on the Great Western to London.
My English readers might imagine from the heading, that I had been excursioning from Bath or Bristol to the Great Metropolis—but it is not so. We now possess in Canada, not only a London, but a Great Western Railway, which, though not quite so broad, is much longer than its English namewake. On section of the work was opened last month, an event duly chronicled in the Globe, and now another porition from Hamilton to London has been traversed by the trains. The formal opening of the section was fixed for last Thursday morning [December 15, 1853], and a large party of gentlemen, Directors of the Company, and friends of the road in Hamilton, as well as guests from a distance, was gathered for the occasion. The Hamilton station of the Great Western is situated at the west end of the bay, anout three quarters of a mile from the city proper. Abouyt 35 acres has been reclaimed from the waters, and the whole ground owned by the Company measures 70 acres. Upon this have already been erected a very large engine house and a machine shop of the most substantial and handsome kind—all of stone. The freight-house is also partly up, and will be even more stylish-looking than the other buildings in the mode finishing. The passenger house is frame, very neat and commodious. The station commands a very fine view of Burlington Bay, and as it is commanded by all the heights around, it is very favourably situated for both seeing and being seen. Four passenger, and one baggage car formed the train, which were not filled, however, when they started from Hamilton, room being allowed for accessions by the way.
Slowly and carefully we started, winding into the recesses of Burlington Bay and the low lands through which the Desjardins Canal has been constructed, the engine painfully breasting the 40 feet to the mile ascent by which the road reaches the level, of what the Hamiltonians fondly call "the Mountain." The cuttings at this part of the line are really stupendous; hills have been levelled, and yawning gilfs filled up, which appear almost too great for the power of man to reach. It is easily to be understood by any one who passes over the road, that the excavations here have added nearly a thousand pounds per mile to the whole cost of the road. A ride of five miles and a quarter brings us to the brow of the hill above the pretty town of Dundas. Perched on an eminence, we here overlook the whole valley in which the town lies; and though the day is by no means clear, the view is very fine.—In summer, and in good weather, this will be one of the finest scenes which can be ontained from a railway carruage. It is very rarely indeed that the rails are laid so high, or command so wide a prospect. He who travels by the Great Western must not forget to peer o'er the hill when the conductor calls D-u-n-das. Immediately after leaving the station we come upon one of those enormous pilings-up which I have mentioned. Down the mountain tumbles the little steam which turns Mr. Spence's mill, which make the paper upon which the Globe is sometimes printed. This rivulet is here spanned by a massive cluvert of capital masonwork, and above it is piled up the earth upon which the track is laid. There is a sherr fall here of some hundred feet, and though the train goes slowly and carefully over, one cannot help thinking what a fine summerset in might make, and the sensation it would create amoung the people below. There are two or three other spots which are also rather alarming in appearance. Some of the gaps have not been filed up with earth, but, in the meantime, trestle work of logs have been erected, over which the trains pass. There is no flooring to the bridges but only sleepers every few feet, and from the train we can see the men and horses, considerably diminished in view by the distance, filling up as fast possible to our level, but apparently with as little proportionateness in their size to the end desired, as the ant to the great carcass which they carry off. Taking a few passengers at Dundas we are off again, put pull at Flamboro', and only three miles and a quarter further on, amidst the firing of cannon and waving of flags. Here the station house has not yet been erected, but we find laid out under the open sjy a homemade table, covered with light fare and well supplied with champagne, an article which, by the way, has become very common in Canada since the railways came into fashion. The libations which the wheelbarrow men pour out to their god Plutus is always of this generous wine. Mr. Andrew Crooks took the head of the rustic table, and proposed the health of the President and Directors of the Great Western Railway, in fitting terms, to which Mr. Harris, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, (of Buchanan, Harris & Co.) briefly replied.
Away then in a few minutes we go, the speed increasing as we attain level ground, wherfe the road is entirely finished. Fairchild's Creek is the next station, eighteen miles and three quarters from Hamilton. This is a mere stopping palce, the only village near it being Copetown, the residence of the navvies who tried to get up a riot not long ago. Paris is the next stopping place; the station is a mile from the town to the West and North, and lies so far away that the pretty situation cannot be observed from the road, which is a pity. A little to the left of the line, howevert, is the bank of the Grand River, and from it the view is very picturesque, the immediate shore of the stream being lined with trees and the valley being broad and deep. In the freight house, the people of Paris had provided champagne lunch No. 2 for the party of visitors. Mr. Whitlaw, Mayor of hte town, presided, aided by Mr. Nimmo, and the health of the President and Directors was drank will all honours. Obtaining here a large accession of number from Paris and Brantford, the train continued on to Princeton, where, as at the preceding stations, considerable numbers of people of the neighbourhood had assembled to wtiness the passage of the first train. It was at Woodstock, however, that the greatest demontration was made. The depot is situated a short distance to the south of the town, and the whole population appeared to have made it their resort, so great was the number who crowded the banks and the platforms. The train was received with the most enthusiastic cheering, joy and expectation lighted up every face, each man appeared to feel that great good had been conferred upon him, and was now within his grasp. The Warden of the County, Mr. Mathieson, presided over the lunch set out in the station, and in well set terms expressed the gratification of the people of Oxford at the opening of tghe railway, and their good wishes to the directors of the Company, who, without fee or reward, had pushed forward the work to a successful conclusion. Mr. Harris returned thanks for the directors, paying a neat compliment to the people of Woodstock, and more particularly to the ladies, a number of whom were grouped around a neighbouring window. A great many Woodstock people had been invited to Londong, and the cars becamse very much crowded. Hitherto we had been almost continually ascending, but having reached the highest level between the lakes, we were on more even ground, much better fitted for railroad work than that over which we had lately passed. The whole line has been very well constructed; although not yet ballasted, it was only in two or three places that inequalities were perceptible, but between Woodstock and Ingersoll, ten miles, the road is as good as any I ever travelled. We sped over it at a capital rate to stop at Ingersoll, at which thriving and pretty village there was another great turn out of people, and another lunchm provided, like the reset, with [illegible] champagne of the real Great Western brand. Eighteen miles and three quarters more, over a level and uninteresting country, brought us to the entrance of the town of London. Every fence and house top was covered with spectators, and the station was crowded with an anxious multitude awaiting the train. From the number of stoppages, we were almost an hour and a half behind the time anticipated. We started from Hamilton about half-past nine and arrived at London a little before three—the travelling time having been less than four hours. Of course, a greater speed might easily have been attained, since a train was run the whole distance on Tuesday [December 13, 1853], in considerable less than three hours, but every precaution was taken that there should be no possibility of an interruption to our progress. After the reception of the guests by the Mayor, a procession of firemen of the town was formed, and the visitors marched through the street to the Robinson Hall, where accommodations had been provided for them. Your readers may not be aware that the same road which they call Dundas street at Toronto, is continuedc all the way to London, and running through the centre of the town, has become the principal thoroughfare and the seat of business. It contains many great blocks of brick stores, large, handsome and apparently well filled—showing great life and business.
To be completed.
Mr. Dixon, M.P., proposed the health of Sir Allan McNab, expressing great regret at the absence, from ill-health, of the gallant knight.
[Other toasts followed in rapid succession, but we have no room for further details, and we must postpone the remainder of our correspondent's communication till to-morrow.]
The train of cars with the visitors returned to Hamilton on the following day (Friday) without accident of any kind to mar the joyousness of the occassion.
Ref: Dundas Subdivision.
Plutus: Personification of wealth.
Parliamentary Notice.
Notice is hereby given that application will be made at the next meeting of the Provincial Legislature for a Charter to Incorporate "The Thornhill Railroad Company," for the purpose of building a Railroad from the present Thornhill Station of the Ontario, Simcoe and Lake Huron Railroad Company, in the Village of Thornhill on Yonge Street, and for other purpose connected therewith.
Toronto, 8th Nov., 1853
Appears through Monday, January 9, 1854.
Ref: Concord.