A Statutory History of Railways in Canada, 1836-1986
A Statutory History of Railways in Canada, 1836-1986

Author: D. E. Stoltz

Publisher: Kingston, Ont. : Canadian Institute of Guided Ground Transport, Queen's University

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 516

ISBN-13:

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The central role played by railways in the economic and political history of Canada is amply reflected in law books. In a century and a half of railway history several thousand companies have been chartered to build railways, and statutes depict the origins, growth, and vicissitudes of virtually all of them. The purpose of this document is to present a practical synopsis of this voluminous body of legislation and certain related documents and to serve as a finding aid that will enhance access to the original sources.

Tracks Across Continents, Paths Through History
Tracks Across Continents, Paths Through History

Author: Douglas J. Puffert

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2009-04

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 0226685098

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A standard track gauge—the distance between the two rails—enables connecting railway lines to exchange traffic. But despite the benefits of standardization, early North American railways used six different gauges extensively, and even today breaks of gauge at national borders and within such countries as India and Australia are expensive burdens on commerce. In Tracks across Continents, Paths through History, Douglas J. Puffert offers a global history of railway track gauge, examining early choices and the dynamic process of diversity and standardization that resulted. Drawing on the economic theory of path dependence, and grounded in economic, technical, and institutional realities, this innovative volume traces how early historical events, and even idiosyncratic personalities, have affected choices of gauge ever since, despite changing technology and understandings of what gauge is optimal. Puffert also uses this history to develop new insights in the theory of path dependence. Tracks across Continents, Paths through History will be essential reading for anyone interested in how history and economics inform each other.

On Track
On Track

Author: Canada. Railway Safety Act Review Committee

Publisher: Canadian Government Publishing

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13:

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Presents the report of a committee established to review the impact of the federal Railway Safety Act on the safety of: the construction or alteration of railway works; the operation and maintenance of railway works and equipment; non-railway operations affecting railway safety; and the administration and enforcement of rail regulation. In its review, the committee heard presentations and reviewed submissions from railway companies, unions, interest groups, and private citizens, with full consideration to work already carried out on the effect of the Act by Transport Canada and by previous review commissions. Sections of the report cover the evolution of railway regulation from 1867 to the current Act; the state of railway safety and safety trends; the roles and responsibilities of railways in safety management; the legislative framework governing railway safety; the roles and responsibilities of government regulators; issues related to grade crossing safety, environmental protection and safety, and substance use and abuse among railway workers; provincially regulated railways and provincial approaches to railway regulation; railway safety in the future, in view of advanced railway technologies; and recommendations for reform. Includes glossary.

A Thousand Blunders
A Thousand Blunders

Author: Frank Leonard

Publisher: UBC Press

Published: 2011-11-01

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 0774842598

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In A Thousand Blunders, Frank Leonard looks at why the 'Road of a Thousand Wonders' failed to live up to the expectations forecast by company president Charles M. Hays and other senior managers. Not only was the railway built through a sparsely settled region, which generated little immediate traffic, but its economic difficulties were also compounded by the numerous mistakes made by managers at all levels: for example, their failure to respond adequately to labour shortages caused serious delays and prevented the company from proving Prince Rupert as an effective alternative harbour before World War I broke out. For this book, Frank Leonard had access to a wealth of original documents, among them the GTP legal department files, providing him with insights into the decisions that formed the basis for policies in townsites and on Indian reserves. A Thousand Blunders is a provocative account of one of the greatest failures in Canadian entrepreneurial history. Richly detailed and thoroughly documented, it makes an important contribution to the fields of railway and business history, as well as to the study of the history of northern British Columbia.