The Callander extension
The last rail spiked down yesterday.
History of the undertaking.
How the business of Toronto and Western Ontario will be affected—Toronto eight hours nearer than Montreal to Winnipeg—The passenger equipment.
Yesterday morning the tracks on the Northern & Pacific Junction Railway were joined on the big viaduct eighty miles north of Gravenhurst. The rails had been laid to each end of the viaduct for some weeks past. Some considerable delay had been caused in the building of this bridge by sever cold and by wet weather, and a mistake made in the shipment of the iron from Hamilton, but all difficulties have been overcome, and the line is now joined through from Toronto to the junction at La Vase. Mr. J. C. Bailey, Chief Engineer of the road, returned to the city a few days ago from a tour of inspection, and reports that the whole road has received one or two lifts of ballast, and some portions have received nearly the full amount.
The station buildings
at Bracebridge and Huntsville are up, and nearly finished, but not yet painted. These buildings are on the same plans as those on the Great Western (now called the Southern Division) of the Grand Trunk Railway. New buildings have been completed at Utterson for the use of section men at the point, and these are neat, comfortable cottages. The engine-sheds and turntable at Huntsville are being built very rapidly, and will shortly be read for occupation. A considerable force of men is being employed in framing and preparing other station buildings, and a very short time only will be required before the whole line will be in working order. Ballast trains are constantly at work completing the work, and it will be quite practicable to commence freight traffic now that the last spike is driven, though it is more than probable that
the opening of the road
for business of any kind will be delayed for a few weeks longer. It is not yet decided when passenger traffic will be commenced, but it will not be delayed longer than April 1st. The contract with the Government calls for the completion of the road by the first of May this year, but this will certainly be anticipated by some weeks. The Government Inspector has been over nearly the whole of the road and pronounced it one of the best constructed in Canada.
The distance from Toronto to North Bay, Port Arthur, and Winnipeg is now shortened by 213 miles, and Toronto is alos brought 135 nearer to those places than Montreal. Hamilton is also nearer to them than Montreal by 103 miles, and other important places in Ontario are brought proportionately nearer. The saving in mileage from Toronto to Winnipeg by this route is about one hundred miles as compared with the shortest line through the States, and the time saved, when opened, about nine or ten hours, with no transfers to be made at intermediate points.
History of the road.
This railway was chartered some years ago by the Ontario Government under the name of the Northern and North-western and Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company. The name was changed at a meeting held in April, 1884, to the Northern & Pacific Junction Railway Company. By the Acts of 1882-84 the road was subsidized by the Dominion Government to the extent of $12,000 per mile for a distance of 110 miles, or a total of $1,320,000. Under the authority of an Order in Council dated April 10th, 1884, a contract was entered into between the Northern & North-western and the Norther & Pacific Junction Railway Companies for the construction by and lease of the road to the former company, the work to be completed by May 1st, 1886. No work, however, was done until October, 1884, and practically but little till the opening of the spring of 1885. The contractors for the road were Messrs. J. S. Hendrie, H. C. Summes, Robert Mitchell, J. W. Hendrie, and George Dawson, under the name of Hendrie, Symmes & Co. The Howe truss bridges have all been built for them at Huntsville by their own men, under the supervision of Mr. H. Haney. The iron bridges and viaducts have all been built by the Hamilton Bridge and Tool Co. Mr. John [illegible—Eason], of Toronto, had the contract for all the masonry, and finished to
the entire satification
of the Government engineer. The principal sub-contractors for grading the road were Messrs. Malcolm & Ross; Breen, Connelly, & Dawson; A. Little; A. A. McDonald & Co.; Booth & Cosgrove; Ross, Long, & Co.; G. H. Morse; T. O'Neil; D. D. McDonald & Co.; T. & J. Robinson; McGlashan & Isaacs; Kirkey, McKay, & Co.; D. B. McDonald & Co., and J. W. Hendrie. Some idea of the amount of work performed may be gathered when it is stated that up to October 21st last year, there had been 3,101,315 cubic yards of earth moved, 188,765 cubic yards of rock excavated, and 1,100 acres of clearing done. There had also been 8,200 cubic yards of first-class masonry built and 14,200 cubic yards of culvert masonry. Mr. Chas. S. Murray had been during the whole progress of the work the paymaster and auditor, and Mr. G. H. Umphray superintendent of the train service, a task requiring no ordinary talent when it is considered that there were
seven trains constantly employed
on the work with no telegraph system with which to help him during the time of the heaviest work. This latter difficulty was overcome in November when the Great North-western Telegraph Compnay had constructed the permanent telegraph system along the whole line. Before the road is completed it will have twleve inches of excellent gravel ballast along the whole track, and there is material enough at hand to always keep the line up to the highest standard of efficiency. The road is the most heavily tied railway in Canada, if not in America, and has 2,800 ties to the mile, or one every two feet. The ties are all either hemlock, tamrack, or cedar, with the former largely in the majority. The greatest care has been taken to avoid heavy grades and sharp curves, and the greatest curves along the line are of five degrees, and there are only two or three as sharp as that. The steepest grade is one in a hundred, or fifty-two feet to the mile, and the grades have all been made to suit the traffic coming south.
When work was commenced.
The work on the souther division from Gravenburst to Cypress was only started at the end of October, 1884, and the greater part of that not till November. The work on the northern porition was not commenced until January, and but little work was done there till May. The station building at Sundridge and Huntsville when completed will be 100 feet 6 inches long and 25 feet 6 inches wide, and will include
comfortable waiting rooms
and offices, a large freight house, and a suite of six rooms for the station agent over the passenger portion of the station. Those at Burk's Falls and Bracebridge will be on the same plans, but a little smaller, being 83 feet 9 inches long and 24 feet wide. Those at Utterson and Emsdale will be only one storey high and will not include a house for the agent. They will be 62 feet long and 20 feet wide. A number of trackmen's cottages are also being built one storey high, and three will contain six rooms each, comfortably and conveniently arranged. The specifications for the passenger equipment are now ready. The coaches will conform in all respects to the models of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and that Company will provide the sleeping cars. It is intended when the line is opened to run a train from Toronto to North Bay daily to meet and join the Canadian Pacific train from Montreal to Winnipeg. The train will be able to start from Toronto about eight hours after the train has left Montreal, and then easily make close connection at North Bay. These arrangement will doubtless meet with the approval of the travelling public, who will be delighted with their trips over the long-contemplated Northern & Pacific Junction Railway.