Before the first of her sixty-six birthdays was registered in the family bible at Headquarters in Old London, the nucleii of the “G.T.R.” were conceived and the infant projects inaugurated in that expectant era of active railway promotion which followed George Stephenson’s practical application of steam for motive power in England in 1815–25–45. Although the earliest railroads constructed in Quebec did not bear its name, these pioneer highways were merged, ere long, into the Grand Trunk Railway which spread its lengthening branches in all directions like the gnarled arms of the famous green bay tree. [Illustration: CHARLES E. DEWEY Freight Traffic Manager, Grand Trunk Railway System, Montreal, Que.] The Grand Trunk Railway early became a definite medium in realizing the New World ambitions, spurring on hundreds of young English, Irish and Scotch men. Their methods of substantial construction and numerous ideas of system are yet extant with this great Canadian institution. It has also been a school of diverse experience and thorough training for thousands of graduates who gravitated to newer properties and to-day play their part in determining the policy or lubricating the clerical machinery of railroads in all regions enjoying the benefits of modern transportation. On the eve of these happenings and during the period when the “Right of way” lands were being purchased under the discriminating supervision of the late John Bell--first and life-long General Counsel of the “G.T.R.”--the voyageur who did not travel by stage coach over corduroy roadways hewn out of the wilderness, was confined to desultory sailings on lake and bay or river. The daily stage coach, which ran both ways between Kingston and Toronto at that time, charged per person, Belleville to Kingston, Ten shillings; and Belleville to Cobourg, Twelve Shillings, Six Pence. [Illustration: JOHN PULLEN President, Canadian Express Co.]