Charlevoix Railway
standard gauge | |
Electrification | From 1900 to 1959 |
---|---|
Length | 144 kilometres (89 mi)[1] |
Other | |
Website | Train de Charlevoix |
The Charlevoix Railway (
The railway carried passengers at its start in the 19th century, for much of the early part of the 20th century, and as part of a
.History
The Quebec, Montmorency and Charlevoix Railway Company (QM&C) was incorporated by an act of the Legislature of Quebec in 1881.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Manoir_Richelieu_1895.jpg/220px-Manoir_Richelieu_1895.jpg)
The first part of the line between Limoilou and
The second part of the line, extending from Beaupré to Clermont in Charlevoix, was built between 1909 and 1919. Rodolphe Forget had built his large Manoir Richelieu at Pointe-au-Pic (now part of La Malbaie) in the 1890s. At first hotel guests would get to the hotel via Canada Steamship Lines steamships. Rodolphe Forget ran for the House of Commons in 1904 promising voters to extend the QM&C line, which was eventually done. This part of the line is very scenic because it is literally wedged between mountains and river. It required huge investments in time and money: there are two tunnels and 900 bridges and culverts, or an average of one every 165 metres (541 ft).
With the line extended Manoir Richelieu hotel customers could use the QRL&P trains instead of CSL vessels to get to the hotel. The hotel building burned down in the fall of 1928 but was rebuilt to designs by John Smith Archibald and reopened in June 1929.[7] CSL vessels continued to call on the hotel until 1966.[6]
In 1951 CN took over as owner of the railway. The line became known as the Murray Bay Subdivision of CN, Murray Bay being an English name for La Malbaie.[8] In 1959 CN terminated passenger service and dismantled the overhead lines used for electrification between Limoilou and Saint-Joachim.
In 1984 the line saw the reintroduction of passenger service when a
On 7 May 2007 Nancy Belley, who had spent more than 10 years managing the Chemin de fer Charlevoix subsidiary of the Quebec Rail Corporation, was hired by Le Massif to serve as the manager of their railway project.[10][11] In April 2009 Le Massif de Charlevoix organization purchased the line between Quebec and La Malbaie from the Quebec Railway Corporation. Track rehabilitation for a new tourist line began in October 2009.[1] Infrastructure Canada announced in November 2009 that the governments of Canada and Quebec will contribute CA$$5 million toward the railway line upgrade.[12] CN still uses the line to haul freight between Clermont and Quebec via
Beginning in September 2011, a new
Stations served
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Montmerency_falls_top.jpg/220px-Montmerency_falls_top.jpg)
There are several stations served by the railway from Quebec running east and north to Clermont:[15]
- Quebec City
- Limoilou
- Hedley (or Hedleyville) which has been part of La Cité-Limoilou since 1903
- Villeneuve
- Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
- Donohue (just east of AbitibiBowaterin 2007
- Saint-Joachim labelled "Les Caps" by CN
- Point D'Aulne (northeast of Petite-Rivière-Saint-François)
- Baie-Saint-Paul
- La Malbaie
- Wieland
- Clermont, Capitale-Nationale, Quebec line ends at a former Donohue paper mill along rue de la Donohue
Quebec Railway Light & Power Network
Q.R.L.& P.Co. route map prior to 1959 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Compiled from www.cermc.webs.com |
This route map shows stations served by Q.R.L.& P.Co. from 1889 to 1959, including car stops and Upper Line to Kenthouse (Manoir Montmorency).
The original stations were:
- Hedleyville (Limoilou)
- Giffard (Beauport)
- Village Montmorency
- L'Ange-Gardien
- Château-Richer
- Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
- Beaupré
- Saint-Joachim
See also
References
- ^ a b c Vallée, Isabelle (6 October 2009). "Charlevoix Touring Train: TRACK REHABILITATION BEGINS - Le Massif de Charlevoix". Retrieved 2010-05-25.
- ^ "Le Massif de Charlevoix". Archived from the original on 2010-01-23. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
- ^ "RAC - Member Railways - Profile". Archived from the original on 2004-12-14. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
- 4th Legislative Assembly of Quebec.
- ^ ISBN 9780665122712. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
- ^ a b c Lavallée, Omer S.-A. (1958). Chemin de Fer de la Bonne Sainte-Anne: Une histoire des soixante-dix années de service ferroviaires sur la Côte de Beaupré (in French). Retrieved 2010-05-29.
- ^ "Hotels in Charlevoix: Le Manoir Richelieu Luxury Quebec Resort History". Fairmont Hotels. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
- ^ "Quebec Railways Chemin de fer du Quebec" (PDF). RAC and FCM. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
- ^ a b Morin, Annie (September 3, 2011). "Train touristique: une histoire mouvementée". Le Soleil (in French). Archived from the original on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
- ^ "NANCY BELLEY NAMED GENERAL MANAGER OF CHARLEVOIX TOURISM TRAIN". Le Massif de Charlevoix. 27 April 2007. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 2010-05-29.
- ^ "About us - Le Massif de Charlevoix". Archived from the original on 2010-11-25. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
- ^ "Building Canada - Governments of Canada and Quebec invest in future of Charlevoix tourist train". Infrastructure Canada. 26 November 2009. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
- ^ "Port de Québec - Why Choose the Port of Quebec ?". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2010-05-29.
- ^ "Charlevoix Ski Train Ready to Roll". First Tracks!! Online. 11 August 2011. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
- ^ "Chemin de fer Charlevoix - Context Map". 20 May 2008. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
Further reading
- Lavallée, Omer S.-A. (1958). Chemin de fer de la Bonne Sainte-Anne.
External links
- Vallée, Isabelle. "The Charlevoix Touring Train" (PDF). Le Massif. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-10. Retrieved 2010-05-26.