uction of the Nova Scotia Railway, and a beginning made at last.
The road was to run from Halifax to Truro, with a branch to Windsor.
Progress was slow, but by 1858 the ninety-three miles planned had been
completed. Then came a halt, when reality succeeded the glowing
visions of the prospectus, the service proved poor, and the returns
low. Nine years later an extension from Truro to Pictou was
constructed. This gave Nova Scotia at Confederation in 1867 145 miles
of railroad in all, built at a cost of $44,000 a mile, and connecting
Halifax with the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of St Lawrence. The gauge
adopted was five feet six, and the Nova Scotia road led the way in
Canada in using coal for fuel.

New Brunswick had a more chequered experience. After the collapse of
the Halifax and Quebec project, her efforts were confined {68} to the
road running north from St Andrews and to the European and North
American.

The possibilities of St Andrews as an ocean terminus had been severely
hampered by the thrusting in of the Maine-wedge between New Brunswick
and Quebec, but still the town struggled on. In 1847 shares in the
railway had been placed both in England and in the province, and the
legislature guaranteed the interest on debentures and also granted a
land subsidy. Still, the money came in slowly. Operations were time
and again suspended, contract after contract was made, and
reorganizations were effected. In 1858 the road had reached
Canterbury, and four years later its temporary terminus at Richmond; in
1866 a branch to St Stephen was opened, and in 1868 an extension to
Woodstock, making 126 miles all told, costing about $20,000 a mile. At
Confederation only a third of the distance between St Andrews and
Riviere du Loup on the St Lawrence had been completed, and the road was
in a receiver's hands.

The European and North American also had its troubles. Maine proved
unable to build its section. In 1852 the New Brunswick government made
a contract with the English {69} firm already referred to, under the
style of Peto, Betts, Jackson and Brassey, for the construction of a
line from Maine to Nova Scotia, at $32,500 a mile. The province agreed
to subscribe $6000 stock and lend $9400 in bonds per mile; the
contractors were to find the rest of the money in England. This they
failed to do. The firm was dissolved in 1856, and the government took
over the road, completing it from St John to Shediac, 108 miles, in