A Brief History of the Canada Pacific Railway

The Canada Pacific Railway was one of the train engineering marvels of its time in Canada for railway construction, and over the past 120 years has become both a national symbol in Canada and a testament to a railroad vision and determination on the scale of the Canadian nation itself.

Before the building of the Canada Pacific Railway, traveling by rail on a vacation between the Canada's Eastern and Western provinces was a difficult proposition – the vastness of the nation made travel for vacation across Canada challenging to say the least. However, by 1881 the ambitious railroad project of building a trans Canadian railway had begun in earnest.

The first spike in the Canada Pacific Railway was driven in Bonfield, Ontario; the site is a must-visit Canadian destination for railroad buffs on a Canada train tour. The westward train expansion of the railway met with several challenges along the way including the problem of finding a pass through the Canadian Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia, Canada a difficulty overcome by Canadian Major Albert B. Rogers, for whom the pass was named.

The railway route of the Canada Pacific Railway also happened to cross land owned by the Blackfoot tribe in Canada; a solution was found by a priest named Albert Lacombe, who offered the Blackfoot chief Crowfoot a lifetime rail pass on the Canada Pacific Railway in return for permission to cross the Canadian Blackfoot territory.

The difficulties faced by the railway builders of the Canada Pacific Railway were not solely of a diplomatic nature – the project called for some innovative feats of railway engineering. The Big Hill section of the Canadian route required negotiating a 350 meter drop along the Canadian Kicking Horse River, necessitating a 7 kilometer stretch of train track to be built at a gradient four times that considered safe at the time. Despite a number of safety measures being built into the railroad, the Canada Pacific Railway eventually built the Spiral Tunnels still in use today on the trans Canadian railroad and themselves an impressive feat of Canadian railway engineering.

Even through financial strain, the tragic deaths of many railroad workers and even a short-lived rebellion, work on the trans Canadian train Canada Pacific Railway continued, with the project's first phase of the railway nearing completion in 1886. The first trans Canadian rail trip in Canada began in Montreal, Quebec, Canada at Dalhousie Station (another important stop on any Canada train vacation) and terminated in Port Moody, BC, Canada.

Other railway lines were quickly added to the rail network, with train links being established which connected the fledgling Canadian railway to New York City, Detroit and eventually Chicago. The Canada Pacific Railway became an important vehicle for the settling of central Canada, now made accessible to the coastal regions due to the trans Canadian railway train.

The Canadian railway train also opened up new markets for Canadian goods which were now easier to ship to markets further afield on the train within Canada as well as in the United States; and of course, the railway made it possible for people from all over the world to experience Canada on trips, tours or a vacation from the unique perspective offered by Canada train vacations.

The Canada Pacific Railway and railroad tourism in Canada are as popular today as ever for Canadian vacation packages and tourists can enjoy all the natural beauty of Canada on vacation, visit its great cities and explore Canada from coast to coast at favorable prices with Canada train vacation package deals which provide all the best that Canada has to offer in a luxurious, comfortable way: by railway train.