In the 1890s, the years of the mining boom in the Kootenay region of south eastern B.C., numerous rail lines were built to service the mines and boom towns of the region. In 1909 construction began on Canada's second transcontinental railway line, the Canadian Northern Railway.

The new CNR station,
Vancouver, 1925
G-04606

This line was a more northerly one that used the Yellowhead Pass through the Rocky Mountains. However, it ran parallel to the CPR from Kamloops to Vancouver. It was completed in 1915.

Construction of the Grand
Trunk Pacific railway bridge
at Prince George in 1914
B-00325
At the same time as the Canadian Northern Railway was being built, the Grand Trunk Pacific railway built their transcontinental line along the same route as the CNR, also using the Yellowhead Pass.

Moving earth for construction
of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
B-00320

However, instead of heading south to Vancouver, it went straight west to terminate at Prince Rupert, thus providing better access to the northern part of the province. For both of the new railways heavy machinery, not available when the CPR was built, was used in construction.

The harbour at Prince Rupert,
and the Grant Trunk
Pacific Railway station
Detail of B-02031
By the early 1920s the two major railways lines, the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern, were joined with numerous smaller companies to form the government owned Canadian National Railway.






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