1672 - Nicholas Denys, an early French settler on Cape Breton Island writes of "Mines of coal through the whole extent of my concessions near the seashore." Coal is "mined" by chipping it from cliffs.
1720 - French begin first real coal mines at Cow Bay (Port Morien).
1814 - British engineer, George Stephenson, constructs first practical steam locomotive at
Killingworth Colliery, near Newcastle, England.
1818 - In Pictou County, Nova Scotia, two miles of standard gauge train tracks are laid for use with horse-drawn coal cars.
1827 - British firm of Rundell, Bridge and Rundell is granted a monopoly on mining rights in Nova Scotia. They form the General Mining Association(GMA).Collieries open at Sydney Mines; first train tracks are laid shortly thereafter. Horses provide the motive power.
1839 - Nova Scotia claims the first steam locomotive in use east of Montreal, as the Samson to the rails on a halfmile track at Pictou.
1851 - A town meeting in Sydney calls on the government to consider Sydney and Louisbourg as termini for the newly proposed European and North American Railwayacross New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
1854 - The first two locomotives arrive at the GMA's Sydney Mines operations. They are named Sydney Halifax.
1858 - The monopoly of the General Mining Association is broken. A flurry of mining activity follows with more than 30 mines opening in the next 36 years, some with their own network of rails connecting them to tidewater.
1864 - A company called the Sydney and Louisbourgh [sic] Railway is incorporated but is not activated. Backers include John Jacob Astor III (1822-90) the great American railroad baron.
1865 - A number of short lines are built from the various collieries to ports in the Glace Bay and Port Caledonia areas. Their exposure to the open ocean makes them difficult and expensive to maintain, as are the loading piers with which they connect.
1870 - The International Coal and Railway Company begins to operate a standard gauge railway from Bridgeport to Sydney. This is the earliest attempt to bring a rail link to Sydney harbour and the international piers.
1871 - The Sydney and Louisburg Coal and Railway Company begins a narrow gauge rail line between the Reserve coalfield and Sydney Harbour.
1873 - The Cape Breton Company is formed with the amalgamation of the Glasgow and
Cape Breton Coal and Railway Co., the Lorway Coal Co., and the Schooner Pond Coal
Co. Frederick Gisborne is one of the driving forces behind the operation. It marks the first attempt to bring a rail terminus to the winter port of Louisburg.
1878 - The Cape Breton Company encounters financial difficulties, becomes bankrupt, and is sold at public auction. The assets are purchased by a group led by Captain David . . The operation is refinanced, re-organized, and renamed the Sydney and Louisburg Coal and Railway Company.
1883 - After only a few years of operation, a forest fire destroys a major section of the S&L line. There had been 32 wooden trestles and 35 large wooden culverts along its 32-mile length.
1884 - The Cape Breton Railway Extension Company is incorporated to build a southern line from the Canso Strait to the port of Louisbourg. By 1903, the line covers the 31-mile distance between Port Hawkesbury and St. Peters. It opens for traffic on September 8, but goes no further.
1885 - Sydney and North Sydney are incorporated.
1886 - Men of the General Mining Association's foundry and shops at Sydney Mines build the locomotive C. G. Swann. is barged across Sydney harbour and serves many years at the Victoria Mines operations.
1888 - A survey reveals that the roadway of the Sydney and Louisburg line has deteriorated to the point where it is unsafe and unusable.
1890 - After a year of political controversy, the trans-island portion of the Intercolonial Railway is completed. The inaugural train arrives in Sydney on October 18. Governor-General Lord Stanley is on board for the ceremony.
1892 - A federal subsidy of $89,000 is offered for the completion of a railway to link the collieries of eastern Cape Breton with the harbours at Sydney and Louisbourg.
1893 - Henry M. Whitney, a Boston-based industrialist, creates the Dominion Coal Company by amalgamating eight of the island's major coal companies. Collectively, their
railroad equipment, including 67 miles of roadway, become known as the Dominion Coal Company Railway.
1894 - Government officials and the Dominion Coal Company sign a contract to subsidize the construction of a railway from Sydney to Louisbourg. The cost is $3,200 per mile plus land concessions. Hiram Donkin oversees the construction. Work on the Sydney to Louisbourg line is completed with 39 miles of new tracks. The line links all the major collieries with both seaports. It is the most up-to-date railway in Canada. Its standards of construction are on a par with the newly-completed ICR. A 600-foot coal pier is built at Louisbourg.
1895 - The inaugural run of the S&L takes place on June 17. The date chosen coincides with the 150th anniversary of the 1745 siege of Fortress Louisbourg. The Society of Colonial Wars unveils a monument to honor the soldiers who died at Louisbourg. The two events are combined in a gala celebration. Hundreds ride two special trains to attend the ceremony.
1899 - A new freight pier, later known as the "steel pier" is built at Louisbourg. The Newfoundland ferry SSBruce on the winter port with freight and passengers.
1900 - The Dominion Iron and Steel Company steel plant at Sydney begins operations. The S&L gains an important new customer.
1901 - Louisbourg and Glace Bay are incorporated.
1903 - The S&L suffers its two worst disasters in the same year. In the first, a coal train plunges through the open swing bridge at Mira Gut. One man is killed. The second wreck at McAskill's occurs when a work train collides with a coal train. Three men die.
1908 - Special meetings are held in Glace Bay and Sydney with renewed calls for extension of the ICR to Louisbourg, or alternatively for the completion of the southern route from St. Peters to Louisbourg. In May, Cape Breton County Warden H.C.V. LeVatte and Dr. Freeman O'Neil join Cape Breton MPP Dr. Arthur Kendall as delegates to Ottawa in another attempt to get the project completed. It is an election year.
1910 - On September 10, under laws of the Province of Nova Scotia Companies Act, Dominion Coal creates a separate division for its rail operations and incorporates it as a wholly-owned subsidiary to be known as the Sydney and Louisburg Railway Company. It also acquires the Cumberland Coal and Railway Company on mainland Nova Scotia.
1914 - Cape Breton coal and steel production becomes important in the World War I effort. Sydney and Louisbourg play roles as bunkering ports and shippers of war materials.
1927 - The last of the aging wooden hopper cars are weeded out of the S&L system and removed from the line. Those still usable are sold to the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal
Company.
1929 - The North Sydney Herald renewed calls for a completion of the railway from St. Peters to Louisbourg.
1933 - Cape Breton feels the effects of a worldwide depression. Coal production is down and traffic on the S&L Railway is greatly reduced.
1942 – Because of the availability of coal, Cape Breton becomes a major assembly for ships of the World War II convoys. In a scramble to meet the almost insatiable demand for fuel, coal trains arrive at local shipping piers, sometimes one every 15 minutes. L.H. 's Louisbourg Ship Repair Plant employs 150 refitting warships and freighters including those of the Dominion Coal Company fleet. Many mines are at full production.
1949 - The last steam locomotive is built for domestic use in North America.
1951 - 100 new hopper cars are delivered to the S&L bringing the total fleet to 1050.
1957 - Hawker Siddley acquires DOSCO.
1959 - The S&L line covers 116.03 miles of tracks; yearly freight totals in the range of
4,000,000 tons; 400 people are employed, and there are 31 locomotives on the roster, including one which was built in 1891.
1960 - The first four diesel locomotives are brought on line by the S&L. Six more are expected to be in operation by the end of the year. The Mira Station is closed. Stationmaster Alex Ferguson ends a 50-year career with the S&L, 44 of those years as agent at the Mira landmark.
1961 - On September 29, Bill-S19 of the Senate of Canada merges the S&L with the Cumberland Railway Company, another division of the Dominion Steel and Coal Company. Engines No. 88 and 90 are the last steam locomotives on the S&L roster. On November 17 they make their last runs, and are then removed from service.
1962 - Coal shipments at Louisbourg decline to the point where the shipping pier becomes uneconomical to operate. It is dismantled and scrapped. The Dosco coal yard supplying domestic fuel to the town closed a year earlier.
1963 - Passenger service on the S&L is discontinued. The order becomes effective in March.
1967 - The Cumberland Railway makes application to the Board of Transport Commissioners of Canada for abandonment of the railway line from Broughton Junction to Louisbourg. It is a distance of about 12 miles. Hearings are held at Louisbourg. The Cape Breton coal industry is collapsing. The Government of Canada commissions Dr. J.R. Donald to write a report on the "Cape Breton Coal Problem." Hawker Siddley withdraws from the coal fields and announces closure of the Sydney steel plant.
1968 - The Donald Report results in government legislation: Bill C-135 (An Act to Incorporate the Cape Breton Development Corporation). There is no provision for the maintenance of the rail line to Louisbourg. It passes through Parliament, and in March, the Cape Breton Development Corporation (DEVCO) becomes a reality. The S&L is folded into the coal division of DEVCO. It is renamed the Devco Railway. The S&L exists no longer. Within months, the rails to Louisbourg are lifted and sold for their scrap value.
These selections originally appeared in Tracks Across the Landscape: the S&L Commemorative History by Brian Campbell, with A.J.B. Johnston, published in 1995 by the University College of Cape Breton Press.
© 1995 Sydney Louisbourg Railway Historical Society
1720 - French begin first real coal mines at Cow Bay (Port Morien).
1814 - British engineer, George Stephenson, constructs first practical steam locomotive at
Killingworth Colliery, near Newcastle, England.
1818 - In Pictou County, Nova Scotia, two miles of standard gauge train tracks are laid for use with horse-drawn coal cars.
1827 - British firm of Rundell, Bridge and Rundell is granted a monopoly on mining rights in Nova Scotia. They form the General Mining Association(GMA).Collieries open at Sydney Mines; first train tracks are laid shortly thereafter. Horses provide the motive power.
1839 - Nova Scotia claims the first steam locomotive in use east of Montreal, as the Samson to the rails on a halfmile track at Pictou.
1851 - A town meeting in Sydney calls on the government to consider Sydney and Louisbourg as termini for the newly proposed European and North American Railwayacross New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
1854 - The first two locomotives arrive at the GMA's Sydney Mines operations. They are named Sydney Halifax.
1858 - The monopoly of the General Mining Association is broken. A flurry of mining activity follows with more than 30 mines opening in the next 36 years, some with their own network of rails connecting them to tidewater.
1864 - A company called the Sydney and Louisbourgh [sic] Railway is incorporated but is not activated. Backers include John Jacob Astor III (1822-90) the great American railroad baron.
1865 - A number of short lines are built from the various collieries to ports in the Glace Bay and Port Caledonia areas. Their exposure to the open ocean makes them difficult and expensive to maintain, as are the loading piers with which they connect.
1870 - The International Coal and Railway Company begins to operate a standard gauge railway from Bridgeport to Sydney. This is the earliest attempt to bring a rail link to Sydney harbour and the international piers.
1871 - The Sydney and Louisburg Coal and Railway Company begins a narrow gauge rail line between the Reserve coalfield and Sydney Harbour.
1873 - The Cape Breton Company is formed with the amalgamation of the Glasgow and
Cape Breton Coal and Railway Co., the Lorway Coal Co., and the Schooner Pond Coal
Co. Frederick Gisborne is one of the driving forces behind the operation. It marks the first attempt to bring a rail terminus to the winter port of Louisburg.
1878 - The Cape Breton Company encounters financial difficulties, becomes bankrupt, and is sold at public auction. The assets are purchased by a group led by Captain David . . The operation is refinanced, re-organized, and renamed the Sydney and Louisburg Coal and Railway Company.
1883 - After only a few years of operation, a forest fire destroys a major section of the S&L line. There had been 32 wooden trestles and 35 large wooden culverts along its 32-mile length.
1884 - The Cape Breton Railway Extension Company is incorporated to build a southern line from the Canso Strait to the port of Louisbourg. By 1903, the line covers the 31-mile distance between Port Hawkesbury and St. Peters. It opens for traffic on September 8, but goes no further.
1885 - Sydney and North Sydney are incorporated.
1886 - Men of the General Mining Association's foundry and shops at Sydney Mines build the locomotive C. G. Swann. is barged across Sydney harbour and serves many years at the Victoria Mines operations.
1888 - A survey reveals that the roadway of the Sydney and Louisburg line has deteriorated to the point where it is unsafe and unusable.
1890 - After a year of political controversy, the trans-island portion of the Intercolonial Railway is completed. The inaugural train arrives in Sydney on October 18. Governor-General Lord Stanley is on board for the ceremony.
1892 - A federal subsidy of $89,000 is offered for the completion of a railway to link the collieries of eastern Cape Breton with the harbours at Sydney and Louisbourg.
1893 - Henry M. Whitney, a Boston-based industrialist, creates the Dominion Coal Company by amalgamating eight of the island's major coal companies. Collectively, their
railroad equipment, including 67 miles of roadway, become known as the Dominion Coal Company Railway.
1894 - Government officials and the Dominion Coal Company sign a contract to subsidize the construction of a railway from Sydney to Louisbourg. The cost is $3,200 per mile plus land concessions. Hiram Donkin oversees the construction. Work on the Sydney to Louisbourg line is completed with 39 miles of new tracks. The line links all the major collieries with both seaports. It is the most up-to-date railway in Canada. Its standards of construction are on a par with the newly-completed ICR. A 600-foot coal pier is built at Louisbourg.
1895 - The inaugural run of the S&L takes place on June 17. The date chosen coincides with the 150th anniversary of the 1745 siege of Fortress Louisbourg. The Society of Colonial Wars unveils a monument to honor the soldiers who died at Louisbourg. The two events are combined in a gala celebration. Hundreds ride two special trains to attend the ceremony.
1899 - A new freight pier, later known as the "steel pier" is built at Louisbourg. The Newfoundland ferry SSBruce on the winter port with freight and passengers.
1900 - The Dominion Iron and Steel Company steel plant at Sydney begins operations. The S&L gains an important new customer.
1901 - Louisbourg and Glace Bay are incorporated.
1903 - The S&L suffers its two worst disasters in the same year. In the first, a coal train plunges through the open swing bridge at Mira Gut. One man is killed. The second wreck at McAskill's occurs when a work train collides with a coal train. Three men die.
1908 - Special meetings are held in Glace Bay and Sydney with renewed calls for extension of the ICR to Louisbourg, or alternatively for the completion of the southern route from St. Peters to Louisbourg. In May, Cape Breton County Warden H.C.V. LeVatte and Dr. Freeman O'Neil join Cape Breton MPP Dr. Arthur Kendall as delegates to Ottawa in another attempt to get the project completed. It is an election year.
1910 - On September 10, under laws of the Province of Nova Scotia Companies Act, Dominion Coal creates a separate division for its rail operations and incorporates it as a wholly-owned subsidiary to be known as the Sydney and Louisburg Railway Company. It also acquires the Cumberland Coal and Railway Company on mainland Nova Scotia.
1914 - Cape Breton coal and steel production becomes important in the World War I effort. Sydney and Louisbourg play roles as bunkering ports and shippers of war materials.
1927 - The last of the aging wooden hopper cars are weeded out of the S&L system and removed from the line. Those still usable are sold to the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal
Company.
1929 - The North Sydney Herald renewed calls for a completion of the railway from St. Peters to Louisbourg.
1933 - Cape Breton feels the effects of a worldwide depression. Coal production is down and traffic on the S&L Railway is greatly reduced.
1942 – Because of the availability of coal, Cape Breton becomes a major assembly for ships of the World War II convoys. In a scramble to meet the almost insatiable demand for fuel, coal trains arrive at local shipping piers, sometimes one every 15 minutes. L.H. 's Louisbourg Ship Repair Plant employs 150 refitting warships and freighters including those of the Dominion Coal Company fleet. Many mines are at full production.
1949 - The last steam locomotive is built for domestic use in North America.
1951 - 100 new hopper cars are delivered to the S&L bringing the total fleet to 1050.
1957 - Hawker Siddley acquires DOSCO.
1959 - The S&L line covers 116.03 miles of tracks; yearly freight totals in the range of
4,000,000 tons; 400 people are employed, and there are 31 locomotives on the roster, including one which was built in 1891.
1960 - The first four diesel locomotives are brought on line by the S&L. Six more are expected to be in operation by the end of the year. The Mira Station is closed. Stationmaster Alex Ferguson ends a 50-year career with the S&L, 44 of those years as agent at the Mira landmark.
1961 - On September 29, Bill-S19 of the Senate of Canada merges the S&L with the Cumberland Railway Company, another division of the Dominion Steel and Coal Company. Engines No. 88 and 90 are the last steam locomotives on the S&L roster. On November 17 they make their last runs, and are then removed from service.
1962 - Coal shipments at Louisbourg decline to the point where the shipping pier becomes uneconomical to operate. It is dismantled and scrapped. The Dosco coal yard supplying domestic fuel to the town closed a year earlier.
1963 - Passenger service on the S&L is discontinued. The order becomes effective in March.
1967 - The Cumberland Railway makes application to the Board of Transport Commissioners of Canada for abandonment of the railway line from Broughton Junction to Louisbourg. It is a distance of about 12 miles. Hearings are held at Louisbourg. The Cape Breton coal industry is collapsing. The Government of Canada commissions Dr. J.R. Donald to write a report on the "Cape Breton Coal Problem." Hawker Siddley withdraws from the coal fields and announces closure of the Sydney steel plant.
1968 - The Donald Report results in government legislation: Bill C-135 (An Act to Incorporate the Cape Breton Development Corporation). There is no provision for the maintenance of the rail line to Louisbourg. It passes through Parliament, and in March, the Cape Breton Development Corporation (DEVCO) becomes a reality. The S&L is folded into the coal division of DEVCO. It is renamed the Devco Railway. The S&L exists no longer. Within months, the rails to Louisbourg are lifted and sold for their scrap value.
These selections originally appeared in Tracks Across the Landscape: the S&L Commemorative History by Brian Campbell, with A.J.B. Johnston, published in 1995 by the University College of Cape Breton Press.
© 1995 Sydney Louisbourg Railway Historical Society
About Me
- Louisbourg Town
- The community of Louisbourg with a population of 1265 is located on the southeast coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. It is easily accessible by road and air. Louisbourg's major attraction is the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site. It has a facinating history and the site of 2 of Canada's major Battles,Friendly folk and Beautiful scenery raging surf and sandy beaches also await you in Louisbourg.