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ARCHIVED - The Kid's Site of Canadian Trains

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This archived Web page remains online for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. This page will not be altered or updated. Web pages that are archived on the Internet are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats of this page on the Contact Us page.

Famous Moments

First Trains

The Champlain and Saint Lawrence Railroad was the first public railway in Canada. It opened in 1836 and ran between La Prairie and St-Jean, Quebec on wooden rails with iron straps.

Souvenir brochure, OPENING OF THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN, JUNE 28TH, 1886

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Souvenir program of the first train to cross Canada

Photograph of the first train to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific, stopped at Port Arthur station

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The first train to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific, stopped at Port Arthur, June 30, 1886

The first train to cross Canada was a Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) train that departed from Montréal's Dalhousie Station on the evening of June 28, 1886. It had taken 12,000 men, 5,000 horses, and 300 dog-sled teams to build the railway.

Listen to This

Sound effect of a train whistle
(running time: 14 s)
[RM 178 KB] / Source

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I Was There

"For more than a mile outside of Winnipeg, we passed crowds of people who had gathered along the line to see the first through train, and I began to feel myself quite an historical character: the event seemed one of such marked importance to this section of the country."

From Ontario to the Pacific by the C.P.R., by Mrs. Arthur Spragge. Toronto: C. Blackett Robinson, 1887, p. 27-28

Photograph of the first all-passenger train to leave Prince Rupert and many passengers standing on the platform

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First all-passenger train to leave Prince Rupert, British Columbia

Photograph of the first steam locomotive built in Canada

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The first steam locomotive built in Canada (in 1853) was the "Toronto", Northern Railway of Canada's Locomotive No. 2

Field Trip

The oldest surviving locomotive built in Canada, similar to the ones that pulled the first train across Canada in 1886, is in the Canadian Railway Museum at Delson/St-Constant, Quebec.

www.exporail.org/public/index.asp

Visit the website ARCHIVED - Canada, by Train