The Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad was completed about 1860, and was at once leased for a period of 999 years to the Grand Trunk Railway. This gave the Canadian people unbroken stretches of railroad from Portland, Maine, and from Riviere du Loup to Montreal, and on this foundation the present huge transportation business of this city has been erected. The people of Canada recognized the importance of this development by grants of cash and mail subsidies to the line.
In point of age, therefore, the Grand Trunk Railway claims priority over all the Canadian railways now existing, and the road may be said to be the pioneer railway of Canada.
THE GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY
The first meeting of the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada was held in the City of Quebec on Monday, July 11, 1853. The Hon. John Ross was appointed president of the road; Benjamin Holmes was made vice president, while Sir C.P. Roney became managing director and secretary-treasurer.
The following is a list of the presidents and general managers of the road, with their dates of service:
| Presidents. | Dates of Service. |
| Hon. Jno. Ross | 1852-1862 |
| Sir Edward Watkin, Bart | 1862-1869 |
| Richard Potter | 1869-1876 |
| Sir Henry W. Tyler | 1876-1895 |
| Sir Charles Rivers-Wilson | 1895-1910 |
| Chas. M. Hays | 1910-1912 |
| E.J. Chamberlin | 1912- |
| General Managers. | Dates of Service. |
| Sir C.P. Roney (Man. Dir.) | 1853- |
| T.E. Blackwell (Man. Dir.) | 1853-1862 |
| C.J. Brydges (Man. Dir.) | 1862-1874 |
| Sir Joseph Hickson | 1874-1890 |
| L.J. Seargeant | 1891-1896 |
| Chas. M. Hays | 1896-1901 |
| Geo. B. Reeve | 1901- |
| Chas. M. Hays (Vice Pres. and Gen. Mgr.) | 1902-1912 |
(Since January 1, 1910, Mr. Alfred W. Smithers has been Chairman of the Board of Directors in London, England—a new departure in the organization.)
In order to gain insight into the conditions under which the railway was operating, Sir Henry Tyler, who later became president of the road, paid an official visit to the Dominion in 1867 under instructions from the Board of Directors. Sir Henry’s report gives some interesting information about the road as it then existed.
He found that the Grand Trunk at that time comprised a total length of 1,377 miles. In addition to the water routes hereinbefore mentioned, the chief competitor in Canada of the company was the Great Western Railway Company, extending from Niagara Falls to Sarnia, Ontario, and to Detroit, Michigan. As a result of this competition Sir Henry reported (1867) that the rates for freight service averaged 0.92 of a cent per ton per mile—flour being carried between Montreal and Toronto as low as a cent per ton per mile. The average rate on the Grand Trunk System for the year 1910 was 0.69 of a cent per ton per mile.
The average number of freight cars to a train was then reported as 15.5; the average net load of each train as 150 tons.