National Transcontinental Railway

The National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) was born out of a desire to create a second transcontinental line across Canada.

The Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) was one of the early contenders to build the original transcontinental line. After the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), issues arose regarding competition and the monopoly the company had on east-west traffic. The Canadian government continued to encourage Grand Trunk to expand their operations into western Canada, but GTR was unwilling to do so without considerable financial support. Eventually, after many years of negotiation, an agreement was hammered out between the company and the government. Grand Trunk would build the western portion of the line from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, BC under the name Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP/GTPR) while the government would build the eastern portion, from Winnipeg to Moncton, NB via Quebec City. The only anomaly in this arrangement was the branch line from the NTR east of Winnipeg to Fort William, ON which was a Grand Trunk Pacific line to be known as the Lake Superior Branch.

Construction began on 1905 and was mostly completed on the NTR by 1913 (the exception was the Quebec Bridge which took until 1919) and on the GTP by 1914 respectively. The cost of building the NTR was enormous, even by the standards of the time, as no expense was spared to build a line with minimal grades and curvature and massive permanent structures.

The original agreement called for Grand Trunk to operate the NTR; however, when the time came, the company balked, mostly due to a litany of financial issues. Bereft of anyone to operate the eastern portion of the line, the government rolled the NTR and several other lines into a new administrative umbrella called the Canadian Government Railways (CGR) in 1915 (this included the GTP owned and operated Lake Superior Branch). In 1918, the CGR took over the bankrupt Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) and on January 1, 1919, Canadian National Railways (CNR) was born.

Across northwestern Ontario, the NTR was divided into several subdivisions from Hearst to Winnipeg.

Hearst to Grant – Hearst Subdivision

Grant to Armstrong – Grant Subdivision

Armstrong to Graham (Sioux Lookout) – Armstrong Subdivision

Graham (Sioux Lookout) to Redditt – Graham Subdivision

Redditt to Winnipeg – Winnipeg Subdivision

A major change came when CNR was created. Confronted with a patchwork network of often duplicated lines, the newly nationalized company immediately began a consolidation and rationalization process. One of the most important was the construction of a short piece of line between Longuelac-Longlac on the former Canadian Northern line north to the NTR at Nakina which opened in 1924. The arrangement would shorten travel between Toronto and Winnipeg by 100 miles and provide for better grades and the new track became known as the “Nakina Cut-off.”

In response to this arrangement, several subdivisions were reorganized. The former Long Lake/Longlac Subdivision was renamed the Caramat Subdivision, with trains now running from Hornepayne to Nakina. The divisional point at Grant was abandoned and shifted to Nakina, which itself was moved several miles west. The Hearst Subdivision became the Pagwa Subdivision running from Hearst to Nakina. The Grant Sudivision became the Kowkash Subdivision, running from Nakina to Armstrong (eventually the Kowkash would disappear, absorbed into the Caramat which ran from Hornepayne to Armstrong). The Armstrong Subdivision became the Bucke and later Allanwater Subdivision. The Graham Subdivision became the Quibell and later Redditt Subdivision. The Winnipeg Subdivision became the Minaki Subdivision and was eventually merged into the Redditt Subdivision.

Today, all of the former lines from Hearst to Winnipeg are still in operation as part of the Canadian National mainline with one exception. The Pagwa Subdivision was relegated to secondary status with very little through traffic. It staggered on until 1986 when CN decided to abandon most of line, save for the 20 miles of track between Hearst and Calstock.