Prince Edward Island
When the 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) Prince Edward Island Railway was built starting in 1871, the contractors were promised a fixed price per mile but the colonial government failed to specify how many miles were to be built. As a result, the railway wandered all over the landscape. By 1872, construction debts threatened to bankrupt the colony. When Prince Edward Island joined Canada in 1873, it did so under the condition that the Canadian government take over the railway. It did so, and completed the conversion to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) during the 1920s and early 1930s after the island's rail system was linked to North America by a standard gauge railcar ferry beginning in 1917. The entire standard gauge system was abandoned by CN in 1989.
Read more about this topic: Narrow Gauge Railways In Canada
Famous quotes containing the words prince and/or island:
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“We approached the Indian Island through the narrow strait called “Cook.” He said, “I ‘xpect we take in some water there, river so high,—never see it so high at this season. Very rough water there, but short; swamp steamboat once. Don’t paddle till I tell you, then you paddle right along.” It was a very short rapid. When we were in the midst of it he shouted “paddle,” and we shot through without taking in a drop.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)