Photo courtesy of
National Library/
Archives of Canada |
(1824-1890)
A wealthy businessman and politician from Londonderry, McLelan was appointed to the
first four-man board of commissioners of the Intercolonial Railway in 1869. He was one of
the most emphatic supporters of the line of railway known as the “Grecian Bend,”
which Sandford Fleming opposed, since it took the railway close to his home. He became the
areas first Member of Parliament, and later a Senator, providing him with significant
political clout with which to oppose Fleming on almost every aspect of the railway’s
construction. |
(1853-1949)
Born in Montreal and made wealthy by his family’s shares in Cape Breton coal
mines, MacLennan played a key role in the reconstruction of the Sydney & Louisburg
Railway, ushering it into what could be called its "Golden Age."
He took a keen interest in the preservation of the history of the fortress at
Louisburg, and for his service on the board of the commission charged with caring for the
wounded in the First World War, he was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Robert
Borden. |
|
(1844-1925)
The leading principal of the Midland Railway, McMullen was a wealthy Truro lumber
merchant, whose lands lay in the course that was to be followed by the railway from Truro
to Windsor, by way of Kennetcook. Shortly after the charter for his company passed through
the Legislature (1896) McMullen ran for political office, becoming MLA for Colchester
County in 1897 as a Liberal-Conservative. He left politics in 1901, shortly after an act
was passed by the Legislature enabling the Town of Truro to pay a bonus to the railway
company for building the line through town, and not passing through Stewiacke.
McMullen increased his fortune considerably when the Midland was purchased by the
Dominion Atlantic Railway in 1905. |
(1828-1908)
American steam locomotive engineer, born in Wallace, Cumberland Co., the son of the
area’s only doctor at the time. He was apprenticed to a Boston-area machine shop at
the age of 12, but by his mid-teens found work in Bordenton, NJ at the shops of the Camden
& Amboy Railroad. After brief stints in New Orleans, and as assistant superintendent
of the Trenton Locomotive Works, he became superintendent of the Beaver Meadow RR in
Pennsylvania. By 1866, he was engaged in the design of a locomotive powerful enough to
haul heavy loads of coal over the twisting lines of the Pennsylvania mountains. His 2-8-0
locomotive Consolidation, became the standard for that class, and was the most
widely-produced and successful steam locomotive in the history of North American
railroading. |
Photo courtesy of
Elmer Mills |
|
