Provincial Archives of New Brunswick  Archival Portfolio
Introduction | Table of Contents  New Brunswick's railways of
the past   The 1850s ushered in a grand era of railway building
in New Brunswick, as in the other Atlantic Provinces and
elsewhere in Canada. The need to forge commercial links was a
decisive factor in railway expansion. Disembarking from the
train during the inaugural trip from Truro, Nova Scotia, to
Lévis, Québec, Samuel L. Tilley, a former premier of New
Brunswick who had become lieutenant-governor of the province,
exclaimed that a barrel of flour would cost a dollar less in New
Brunswick! As one condition for its entry into Canadian
Confederation, the province had demanded construction of a
railroad to allow economic relations with the existing Canadian
provinces.  In the 19th century, the railroad was associated
with the prosperity of local communities and the province
overall. Its arrival on the scene marked the transition from the
days of sails and wood to the era of iron and coal. Th