Submitted by Brian Roulston
In the early 1830s, Canadians still bitter from the War of 1812, watched as the Americans slowly built, expanded, and benefited from their rail infrastructure while Canada lagged behind, using horses and buggies or canoes. Britain’s rail service was also getting underway at the time. There were rumblings among towns and industries around natural resources, such as forestry or mining, that a much faster and more efficient way to move these materials and people was needed. In short, Canadians were demanding their own rail service.
The concept of this southern Ontario regional railroad was patterned after both the American and British rail networks. They intended to link one of the ports on Lake Ontario with Goderich on Lake Huron, then Detroit and Chicago. There was also optimism that Americans would pay to use Canadian railroads instead of taking the longer distance around the Great Lakes.
Most of the money that was needed came from Samuel Zimmerman, a former American thought to be Canada’s richest person at the time. However, there would be no railroad without Allan McNab’s political clout. He not only convinced the Government of Upper Canada that a railroad was needed, but he also pushed for it to go through Hamilton. Peter Buchanan, a mercantilist, helped him get the line set up.
On March 6, 1834, the London & Gore Railroad Company was formed. Still, even with Zimmerman’s money, they didn’t have enough capital to start the project, and because of the 368-kilometer distance the railroad had to travel, the rail project was put on the back burner for 10 years.
The London & Gore Railroad Company established its headquarters in Hamilton in 1845. Four more years would pass before amendments were made to the Municipal Act guaranteeing enough money for the new railroad. Also in 1845, the London & Gore Railroad Company was renamed after the Great Western Railway of Britain, which was founded in 1833 and ran its first locomotives in 1838. The name change was done to attract wealthy businessmen as riders. Back then, anything British was seen as a sign of wealth and success, as Gucci bags and Rolex watches are today.
On October 23, 1847, Colonel Thomas Talbot of Essex County and Allan McNab attended a ground-breaking ceremony in London, Ontario, to commemorate the start of the railroad’s construction.
Great Western used their own steamers to move most of the heavy rails, trusses, and other heavy equipment from Hamilton to ports like Grimsby and Port Dalhousie as the railroad progressed from Hamilton to the Niagara Falls area.
Construction was often excruciatingly slow due to Canadian weather and untrained workers. The Hamilton-to-Niagara Falls extension opened six months after the Northern Ontario Line beat out the Great Western Railway (GWR) to become the first steam locomotive railroad in the province.
The port of Hamilton, with its population of approximately fifteen thousand people, saw its first locomotive arrive on November 1, 1853. Regular service between the two towns would not officially begin for another ten days. The second stretch of the railroad from Hamilton to London was finished a month and a half later. GWR completed the final stretch of their main line from London to Windsor on January 17, 1854. A charter locomotive left Hamilton two days later, bound for Detroit to celebrate the completion of the line. It was met with a 21-gun salute, a march through Detroit, and a banquet for six hundred hungry souls.
Great Western built the first suspension bridge over the Niagara Gorge. Several years later this would the main way that slaves escaped the U.S using the Underground Railroad.
GWR established the first railway post office (RPO) in North America in 1854, transporting mail and packages 8 years before the American railroads. It was a great financial boon for them. The RPO was a concept which originated in the United Kingdom. Mail was sorted in specially built rail cars as they traveled up and down the tracks from Niagara Falls to Windsor; later, RPOs were used on all of GWR’s other routes.
The railway was an immediate success; Hamilton’s population had more than doubled, and Great Western embarked on a three-year project to construct Hamilton’s first train station and maintenance yard on 40 acres of land. This included the sites of today’s West Harbour Go Station and the Stuart Street railyard, part of which was built on man-made land in Burlington Bay. It was a big change for the Port of Hamilton. Thousands of workers and visitors from all over the world now arrived by steamboat or rail in the Stuart Street area. The workers would settle in
Hamilton’s north end with their families while the wealthy and visitors to the city headed up the hill to the Gore District.
Despite being the third-largest railway station on the GWR line, Hamilton’s original terminal was obsolete even before it opened because GWR officials miscalculated the number of people who would use the station. Several changes were made to the terminal before a new one was built behind the old one in 1875.
Life was great for the Great Western Railway. At its peak, it maintained over 2200 kilometers of track throughout Ontario and parts of the American Midwest. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The Grand Trunk Railway, an English-owned rail system, built a line across Hamilton’s mountain brow, and that made GWR nervous. The Great Western Railway started buying up smaller rail lines just to keep them out of the hands of the competition. Many of the Grand Trunk rail lines traveled through the same towns and cities that the Great Western did. A serious recession gripped Europe and North America. In the late 1870s competition between the two companies had heated up; a series of drastic cutbacks alienated both staff and passengers, followed by a brutal price war in the 1880s. All this did irreversible harm to the companies.
More competition arrived when the Canada Southern Railway constructed a route from Niagara Falls to Windsor.
In August 1884, the GWR formally merged with the Grand Trunk Railway. The GWR train station in Hamilton functioned until 1923, when the CN Rail Terminal, now known as Liuna Station, opened at James and Murray Streets. In 1888, the maintenance facility was permanently shut down. On a related issue, the GWR heavy maintenance facility in Toronto was transformed into a food shed before becoming the Toronto Wholesale Food Terminal. Canadian National started buying up local rail lines in the same manner that Great Western Railway had done years before in order to compete with Grand Trunk. Until it was too late, Grand Trunk did not take CP Rail seriously. In 1923, CN Rail and Grand Trunk Railway amalgamated as well.
Katika miaka ya 1830, Wakanada waliendelea kuvutiwa na vita vya 1812 na waliona Wamarekani wakijenga, kupanua, na kufaidika na miundombinu yao ya reli, wakati Kanada ilibaki nyuma, ikitumia farasi na magari au mitumbwi. Huduma ya reli ya Uingereza pia ilikuwa ikianza wakati huo. Kulikuwa na ghasia kati ya miji na viwanda kuhusu rasilimali za asili, kama vile misitu au madini, kwamba njia ya haraka zaidi na ufanisi zaidi ya kusafirisha vifaa hivi na watu ilihitajika. Kwa ufupi, Wakanada walikuwa wakidai huduma yao wenyewe ya reli. Wazo la reli hii ya mkoa wa kusini mwa Ontario lilitokana na mitandao ya reli ya Marekani na Uingereza. Walikuwa na nia ya kuunganisha mojawapo ya bandari za Ziwa Ontario na Goderich kwenye Ziwa Huron, kisha Detroit na Chicago. Pia kulikuwa na matumaini kwamba Wamarekani wangelipa kutumia reli za Kanada badala ya kutumia njia ndefu kuzunguka Maziwa Makuu. Pesa nyingi zilizohitajika zilitoka kwa Samuel Zimmerman, Mmarekani wa zamani aliyedhaniwa kuwa mtu tajiri zaidi wa Kanada wakati huo. Hata hivyo, hakungekuwa na reli bila uvutano wa kisiasa wa Allan McNab. Hata hivyo, hakutaka kuimarisha serikali ya Upper Canada, lakini pia aliamua kuanzisha reli ya reli ya reli ya reli ya reli ya reli ya reli ya reli ya reli ya reli ya reli ya reli ya reli ya reli ya reli ya reli. Peter Buchanan, mfanyabiashara, alimsaidia kuanzisha mstari huo. Tarehe 6 Machi 1834, kampuni ya reli ya London & Gore ilianzishwa. Hata hivyo, hata kwa fedha za Zimmerman, hawakuwa na mtaji wa kutosha kuanza mradi huo, na kwa sababu ya umbali wa kilomita 368 ambao reli ililazimika kusafiri, mradi wa reli uliwekwa nyuma kwa miaka 10. Kampuni ya Reli ya London & Gore ilianzisha makao yake makuu huko Hamilton mnamo 1845. Miaka mingine minne ilipita kabla ya marekebisho kufanywa kwenye Sheria ya Manispaa kuhakikisha pesa za kutosha kwa ajili ya reli mpya. London & Gore Railroad Company ilianzishwa mwaka 1833 na kuanzishwa mwaka 1838. Badiliko la jina lilifanywa ili kuvutia wafanyabiashara matajiri kuwa wapanda farasi. Wakati huo, kila kitu cha Uingereza kilionwa kuwa ishara ya utajiri na mafanikio, kama vile mifuko ya Gucci na saa za Rolex ilivyo leo. Mnamo Oktoba 23, 1847, Kanali Thomas Talbot wa Essex County na Allan McNabb walihudhuria sherehe ya kuanzisha reli hiyo huko London, Ontario, ili kuadhimisha mwanzo wa ujenzi wa reli hiyo. "Mashirika ya ""Great Western"" yalitumia meli zao za kuhamisha reli, reli, na vifaa vingine vya mizigo kutoka Hamilton hadi bandari kama vile Grimsby na Port Dalhousie, wakati reli ilipokuwa ikisafiri kutoka Hamilton hadi eneo la maporomoko ya Niagara." Mara nyingi ujenzi ulikuwa polepole sana kwa sababu ya hali ya hewa ya Kanada na wafanyakazi wasio na mafunzo. Hamilton-Niagara Falls Extension ilifunguliwa miezi sita baada ya Northern Ontario Line kushinda Great Western Railway (GWR) kuwa reli ya kwanza ya mvuke katika mkoa huo. Bandari ya Hamilton, yenye idadi ya watu wapatao elfu kumi na tano, iliona gari-moshi lake la kwanza kufika Novemba 1, 1853. Huduma ya kawaida kati ya miji hiyo miwili haingeanza rasmi kwa siku kumi zaidi. Sehemu ya pili ya reli kutoka Hamilton hadi London ilikamilishwa mwezi mmoja na nusu baadaye. GWR ilimaliza sehemu ya mwisho ya reli yao kuu kutoka London hadi Windsor mnamo Januari 17, 1854. Gari-moshi la mkataba liliondoka Hamilton siku mbili baadaye, likielekea Detroit kusherehekea kukamilika kwa mstari huo. Maandamano hayo yaliandaliwa kwa risasi 21, maandamano kupitia Detroit, na karamu kwa ajili ya watu mia sita wenye njaa. Kampuni ya Great Western ilijenga daraja la kwanza la kusimamishwa juu ya Bonde la Niagara. Katika miaka ya baadaye, njia ya kwanza ya kutoroka kwa watumwa kutoka Marekani ilikuwa njia ya chini ya ardhi. Mwaka 1854 kampuni ya G.W.R. ilianzisha ofisi ya kwanza ya posta ya reli (RPO) katika Amerika ya Kaskazini, ikiendesha usafirishaji wa barua na vifurushi miaka minane kabla ya reli za Marekani. Ilikuwa baraka kubwa ya kifedha kwao. RPO ilikuwa dhana ambayo ilitokana na Uingereza. Barua ilitengenezwa katika magari ya reli yaliyotengenezwa kwa ajili ya kusafiri kutoka Niagara Falls hadi Windsor; baadaye, RPO zilitumiwa kwenye njia nyingine zote za GWR. Wakati wa ujenzi wa reli hiyo, idadi ya watu wa Hamilton iliongezeka mara mbili, na kampuni ya Great Western ilianza mradi wa miaka mitatu wa kujenga kituo cha kwanza cha reli ya Hamilton na uwanja wa matengenezo kwenye ardhi ya ekari 40. Hii ni pamoja na maeneo ya leo ya Magharibi Harbour Go Station na Stuart Street railyard, sehemu ambayo ilijengwa juu ya ardhi ya binadamu katika Burlington Bay. Ilikuwa badiliko kubwa kwa Bandari ya Hamilton. Maelfu ya wafanyakazi na wageni kutoka sehemu zote za ulimwengu sasa waliwasili kwa mashua ya mvuke au reli katika eneo la Stuart Street. Wafanyakazi waliishi katika sehemu ya kaskazini ya Hamilton pamoja na familia zao huku matajiri na wageni wa jiji wakipanda mlima kuelekea Wilaya ya Gore. Licha ya kuwa kituo cha tatu kwa ukubwa kwenye mstari wa GWR, kituo cha awali cha Hamilton kilikuwa kimepitwa na wakati hata kabla ya kufunguliwa kwa sababu maafisa wa GWR walihesabu vibaya idadi ya watu ambao wangetumia kituo hicho. Mabadiliko kadhaa yalifanywa kwenye kituo hicho kabla ya jengo jipya kujengwa nyuma ya lile la zamani mwaka 1875. Maisha yalikuwa mazuri kwa Reli Kuu ya Magharibi. Wakati wa kilele chake, ilidumisha zaidi ya kilomita 2200 za reli katika Ontario na sehemu za Amerika ya Magharibi. Kwa kusikitisha, mambo yote mazuri lazima yafikie mwisho. Grand Trunk Railway, mfumo wa reli uliomilikiwa na Waingereza, ulijenga mstari kupitia mlima wa Hamilton, na hilo lilifanya GWR kuwa na wasiwasi. Reli ya Magharibi Kuu ilianza kununua reli ndogo tu ili kuziweka mbali na ushindani. Njia nyingi za reli za Grand Trunk zilipita katika miji na miji ileile ambayo Great Western ilipita. Mshuko mkubwa wa kiuchumi ulishika Ulaya na Amerika Kaskazini. Katika miaka ya 1870, ushindani kati ya makampuni hayo mawili ulikuwa umekua; mfululizo wa kupunguzwa kwa gharama ulifanya wafanyakazi na abiria waondoke, ikifuatiwa na vita vya bei katika miaka ya 1880. Yote hayo yaliwaumiza sana makampuni hayo. Ushindani zaidi ulikuja wakati Reli ya Kusini ya Kanada ilipojenga njia kutoka Niagara Falls hadi Windsor. Mnamo Agosti 1884, GWR iliunganishwa rasmi na Reli ya Grand Trunk. Kituo cha gari moshi cha GDR huko Hamilton kilifanya kazi hadi 1923, wakati Kituo cha Reli cha CN, sasa kinachojulikana kama Kituo cha Liuna, kilifunguliwa katika Barabara za James na Murray. Mnamo mwaka wa 1888, kituo hicho kilikuwa kimefungwa kabisa. Kituo cha matengenezo mazito cha GWR huko Toronto kilibadilishwa kuwa kibanda cha chakula kabla ya kuwa Kituo cha Chakula cha Toronto. Kampuni ya reli ya Canada ilianza kununua reli za mitaa kwa njia ileile ambayo Reli ya Magharibi Kuu ilikuwa imefanya miaka kadhaa kabla ili kushindana na Grand Trunk. Mpaka ilipokuwa kuchelewa mno, Grand Trunk haikuchukua CP Rail kwa uzito. Mwaka 1923 CN Rail na Grand Trunk Railway ziliunganishwa pia.