What the Grand Trunk says.

It is not responsible for the poor railroad connections at Scotia Junction—The other railroad at fault.

The trouble with the railroad connections at Toronto Junction by which Toronto mail is left waiting there for almost twenty hours is claimed by the Grand Trunk to be the fault of that road. It claims that in comparison with its own train running the Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound is making slow time, and that by increasing the speed of its trains all difficulty would be avoided. The following letter was sent Mr. W. L. Haight, Secretary of the Parry Sound Board of Trade, by Mr. F. H. McGuigan, General Superintendent of the Grand Trunk Railway:—

Montréal, Jan. 24, 1898

My dear sir,—Replying to your esteemed favor of the 17th, relative to recent change in arriving time at Scotia Junction of our north-bound train No. 65.

Permit me to say that we regret very much the interruption of the connection but the setting of our track back 30 minutes was absolutely necessary in order to connect with our own train, No. 6, which reaches Toronto from the west a 1.55 p.m. No. 65, leaving at 1.20 p.m., makes the run to Scotia Junction, 161 miles, in 5 hours and 40 minutes, an average speed of about 28 1/2 miles an hour, including regular station stops and five minutes at Allandale to change engines and 15 minutes at Gravenhurst for supper. If the 20 minutes this consumed is deducted it will make the running time considerably over 30 miles an hour, or 1/2 faster than the O.A. & P.S. line, who use 2 hours and 33 minutes to cover the 51 miles from Scotia Junction to Parry Sound, an average speed of only 20 miles an hour.

These figures should convince you that is is not possible for us to maintain our own connections and reach Scotia Junction early that at present, and, furthermore, that if our friends of the O.A.& P.S. railway really desired to give Parry Sound the connection and meet the requirements of the situation they would have no trouble in leaving Scotia Junction after the arrival of our train and reaching Parry Sound at the same time as at present, as to do so they would required to run at a speed of only twenty miles an hour, or four miles an hour slower than our time, which is made through a much more densely populated country, with numerous large towns necessarily requiring much longer stops at stations.

(Signed) F.M. McGuigan
General Superintendent.

Railways: G.T.Ry., O.A. & P.S.Ry.

Stations: Scotia

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