Collection search - Records relating to education and early working career at Grand Trunk Railway Company [textual record, graphic material, architectural drawing]

Record information – Brief
1
Records relating to education and early working career at Grand Trunk Railway Company [textual record, graphic material, architectural drawing]

Hierarchical level:

Series

Date:

1856-1920.

Reference:

R15475-9-8-E

Type of material:

Architectural and technical drawings, Textual material, Photographs

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

4741117

Context of this record:

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Roy Fairbairn Walker fonds

Records relating to education and early working career at Grand Trunk Railway Company
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Record information – Details
Series includes:

2 lower level description(s)
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Date(s):

1856-1920.

Place of creation:

Ontario

Extent:

0.006 m of textual records.
43 technical drawings:
24 photographs : b&w.

Language of material:

English

Scope and content:

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This series consists of records relating to Roy Fairbairn Walker's early career and education (1902-1910). In particular, this series consists of material from his time working for the Grand Trunk Railway Company, in Toronto, Ottawa, Stratford, Belleville, and Mimico Ontario. He worked as a mechanical apprentice, an improver, a mechanic, and fireman at these locations.

Series consists of working scrapbooks, rule books, blueprints, technical Drawings, and diagrams relating to locomotives. There is also one file that contains a University of Toronto class and prize list.
Additional name(s):

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University of Toronto

Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada
Biography/Administrative history:

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University of Toronto : On 15 March 1827 a university of the province of Upper Canada was founded by Royal Charter under the name of King's College. By an act of the legislature, King's College was secularized in 1850, and its name changed to the University of Toronto (U of T). Today, the University has campuses in downtown Toronto, Mississauga and Scarborough, over 9,000 faculty and staff, and more than 50,000 graduate and undergraduate students. It is also one of the top research universities in the world. University of Toronto website. 7 June 2002. . 1408

Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada : The Grand Trunk Railway was formally incorporated in 1852, under the sponsorship of Sir Francis Hincks, to build a railway from Toronto to Montréal. In 1853 it amalgamated with 5 other railway companies. Work proceeded vigorously from town to town - at one time 14,000 men and 2000 horses were employed in Canada West alone. Despite financial difficulties, the GTR expanded steadily, often leasing existing railways as a means of expansion. It eliminated its main competitor and added another 1450 km of track with the takeover of the Great Western Railway in 1882. Additional links to the US rail system were established with the International Bridge across the Niagara River, and the tunnel beneath the St Clair River. At Confederation the GTR was the largest railway system in the world. By the late 1880s the GTR ran unbroken from Sarnia to Portland, Maine.

Cost of construction, absentee management (the head office was in London, England) and failure to generate anticipated levels of traffic left the company debt ridden and unable to upgrade its equipment. From the mid-1890s until WWI the GTR undertook a massive betterment program on its property. This included double-tracking of the main line from Montréal to Sarnia, reducing curves and grades to improve operating efficiency, and reconstruction of bridges, buildings andmyards.

To compete with the CPR's thrust into the West, the GTR set up a subsidiary, the Grand Trunk Pacific, to build a transcontinental line. Completed in 1914, the railway was a financial disaster and was largely responsible for the bankruptcy of the GTR in 1919. The federal government, which had already given the GTR some 8 million in subsidies and loans, took over the railway on 10 October 1919. It was placed under the management of the Canadian National Railways on 30 Jan 1923. Canadian Encylcopedia.

Source:

Private

Related control no.:

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1976/0360
MG30-B98
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Conditions of access:

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Architectural: technical drawings

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [R15475]

[Consultation 90 Open]

13;

[Consultation 90 Open]

24;

[Consultation 90 Open]

Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [R15475] 13

[Consultation 90 Open]

Graphic (photo)

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [R15475] 13

[Consultation 90 Open]

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Date modified:: 2024-05-10