retired as a rich man. Instead he decided to expand his interests, initially in other European countries. His first venture in Spain was the Barcelona and Mataró Railway of in 1848. In 1850 he undertook his first contract in the Italian States, a short railway of , the Prato and Pistoia Railway. This was to lead to bigger contracts in Italy, the next being the Turin–Novara line of in 1853, followed by the Central Italian Railway of . In Norway, with Sir Morton Peto and Edward Betts, Brassey built the Oslo to Bergen Railway of which passes through inhospitable terrain and rises to nearly . In 1852 he resumed work in France with the Mantes and Caen Railway of and, in 1854, the Caen and Cherbourg Railway of . The Dutch were relatively slow to start building railways but in 1852 with Locke as engineer, Brassey built the Dutch Rhenish Railway of . Meanwhile, he continued to build lines in England, including the Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway of , the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway of , the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway of and the North Devon Railway from Minehead to Barnstaple of . The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada In 1852 Brassey took out the largest contract of his career, which was to build the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. This line passed from Quebec, along the valley of the Saint Lawrence River, and then to the north of Lake Ontario to Toronto. The line totalled in length. The consulting engineer for the project was Robert Stephenson and the company's engineer for the whole undertaking was Alexander Ross. Brassey worked in partnership with Peto, Betts and Sir William Jackson. The line crossed the river at Montreal by the Victoria Bridge. This was a tubular bridge designed by Robert Stephenson and was the longest bridge in the world at the time, measuring some . The bridge opened in 1859 and the formal opening ceremony was carried out the following year by the Prince of Wales. The construction of the line caused considerable problems. The main problem was the raising of the necessary finance and at one stage Brassey travelled to Canada to appeal personally for assistance. Other difficulties arose from the severity of the Canadian winter, the waterways being frozen for around six months each year, and resistance from Canadian businessmen. The line was an engineering success but a