The Grand Valley Railway.
The present Grand Valley Railway is a road with 26 miles of track extending from Brantford, Ont., north through the town of Paris and the village of Glen Morris to Galt, Ont., a town of approximately 10,000 population, where it connects with the Galt Preston & Hespeler Street Railway, an electric line reaching the towns comprising Its name and Berlin. Until recently It has been controlled by the same interests as the Brantford Street Railway and the Woodstock Thames Valley & Ingersoll Electric Railway, the former a city line exclusively with about eight miles of track, and the latter an interurban line, 12 miles long, connecting Woodstock and Ingersoll, Ont. Woodstock is located about 25 miles west of Brantford.
Within the past four months new interests, headed by Murray A. Verner, president, have acquired the three proper ties and propose to rehabilitate the three existing lines and create a system aggregating 132 miles of track. The Dominion charter of the Grand Valley Railway gives them broad powers to build and operate steamship lines on the Great Lakes, as well as telegraph and telephone lines and other utilities.
Map of operating and proposed lines of the Grand Valley Railway.
The principal extension will be from Brantford south to Port Dover, a town of 1,800 inhabitants, on Lake Erie, and will pass through the villages of Mt. Pleasant, Boston and Bloomsburg and the towns of Waterford and Simcoe, located in a rich fruit belt. Port Dover, though not a large port of entry, is said to have one of the few harbors on Lake Erie which can be entered by a vessel in a storm and it is believed that its location will result in material development of the surrounding country and a large freight and express business when the new line, 34.6 miles long, is completed.
The other extensions comprise links connecting Brantford and Woodstock, and Ingersoll and London, Ont., thus completing a line 55 miles long from Brantford to London, and a 6-mlle spur from the Galt—Brantford line to St. George. The extensions are shown in detail in an accompanying map, the existing properties appearing as solid lines and the extensions as dotted lines. The existing steam lines of the Grand Trunk, Michigan Central, Canadian Pacific and Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo railroads are also shown, together with the population, according to the latest census, of the villages on the lines and in the nearby surrounding country.
The existing properties, which, under the previous management, in addition to being poorly constructed, were allowed to become badly run-down, it is proposed to entirely rebuild and relay with new 80-pound steel. The Colborne street line of the Brantford Street Railway is to be double-tracked and seven additional miles of track laid in Brantford, giving a loop through the city for interurban cars and several new city lines. The interurban line from Brantford to Port Dover is to be built with a maximum grade of 1.3 per cent and the line from Brantford to Woodstock, as well as the St. George extension, will have grades not exceeding 2 per cent. Contracts for grading, masonry and timber work have been awarded to Joseph Gianini, Pittsburg, Pa., and it is expected that contracts for rails, bridge work and electrical equipment will be let In the spring, when construction work will be commenced.
The decision as to the electrical system to be adopted and as to whether the company will build Its own power house or purchase power depends much upon the elections now being held in Ontario to determine whether the government shall have the right to construct power transmission lines from Niagara Falls and sell power for lighting and other purposes to municipalities and corporations. Should the government obtain the necessary approval of the people power will doubt less be obtained from the line which will be built In lower Ontario. On the other band a transmission line from Niagara Falls for the exclusive use of the Grand Valley Railway Company or a power plant built by the company at Brantford or some other point would be considered. The single-phase system is favorably looked upon for the electrical equipment because of the mileage of the projected lines.
A tabular statement of the projected work is as follows:
- Brantford Street Railway8.0
- Grand Valley Railway22.0
- Woodstock, Thames Valley & Ingersoll Railway12.0
- 42.0
- Brantford Street Railway7.0
- St. George extension6.0
- Brantford to Port Dover34.5
- Brantford to Woodstock25 .0
- Ingersoll to London18.0
- 90.5
- Total132.5
Lines to be Rebuilt.
New Lines.
The interurban lines, as at present laid out, will be practically all upon private right of way. Crossings with steam lines, of which seven are shown, are to be below the grade of the steam line, with the exception of one on the outskirts of Brantford. A steel trestle about 1,200 feet long will be required on the Port Dover extension and at the Simcoe crossing of the Grand Trunk 45,000 yards of earth will have to be moved and the Grand Trunk tracks raised to obtain the crossing by the steam road overhead.
The chief engineer of the Grand Valley Railway is William P. Kellett, to whom we are indebted for the accompanying map and for information in regard to the company's plans.