a Grand Trunk story...

 a little history...

The Grand Trunk Railway, an early Canadian railway line, incorporated in 1852 to build a railway connecting the key cities of now Ontario and Quebec with Portland, Maine. By completing its final link in July, 1853, between Montreal and Portland, the Grand Trunk became North America’s first international railway.  The main line between  Montreal and Toronto opened in 1856 and became the main railway system of Quebec and Ontario.

During the period from 1867 to 1905 the Grand Trunk concentrated on taking over smaller, competing lines and on building rail connections to the rail system of the northern United States. The Grand Trunk was also in competition with the Great Western Railway until the two merged in 1882. Eventually, a western branch, the Grand Trunk Pacific, was constructed, but this new rail network proved so unprofitable that it passed into government receivership in 1919. As a result of the liabilities incurred by its Pacific subsidiary, the Grand Trunk Railway was nationalized and became part of the Canadian National Railways in 1923.

When I was growing up on my parents’ 360 acre farm just outside what was then Port Arthur, Ontario, the abandoned Grand Trunk rail bed ran through our property.  My many siblings and I heard varying stories about Grandpa Rorke, my mother’s  father, being an engineer on that old Grand Trunk Railway. I remember thinking (he had passed away when I was three and a half, in 1955) that must have been a long, long time ago because other than a nice, wide trail through the bush, there was nothing else to indicate the history. 

The other day, my son Rory (his birth certificate name is Rorke) sent me a nice photo of his girlfriend  and her friend, in front of what appeared to be a tunnel or cave in a lovely fall setting. I asked, what, where? And he sent me a link to the Flett Tunnel from the superiorhiking website and said it was part of the Grand Trunk.  I asked if he told the girls that his Grandpa Rorke was an engineer on that railway? Correcting me, saying it would be his great grandfather, he said he didn’t know that and asked if I had any photos or more info. 

I dug out the old boxes, found a few and a news clipping of grandpa’s retirement. He was born in 1879, in Picton, Ontario and his birth record states his father was a cabinetmaker. I know he and my grandma were married in 1906. I think he was with the railroad at that time and the news clipping, although not mentioning the Grand Trunk, says that he went to Sioux Lookout in ‘07 and retired with 37 years service which works in with his retirement at age 65, in1944. 

For Downton Abbey fans, you may recall the Earl of Grantham, Robert Crawley, lost the family fortune when he invested in the Canadian Grand Trunk Railway. How’s that for six degrees of separation?

Packing a quick picnic, Danny and I drove out today, it’s about a 45 minute drive west of town and we had a fabulous fall hike/walk - of course, it totally flat - an old rail bed, what did you expect? But we did about 9 km in an hour and a half and I certainly enjoyed it and made Danny listen to all my blah, blah, blahs! We are already planning to take our bikes next time because there’s a lot of trail out there and almost no traffic to worry about!

Anyway, I wanted to relate this part of my family’s saga and issue an invite to all siblings, offspring, and friends, come to Thunder Bay and I’ll take you Grand Trunk hiking!