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Waterloo Region Generations
A record of the people of Waterloo Region, Ontario. |
Charles Robbins
1880 - Yes, date unknown-
Name Charles Robbins Born CA 1880 Gender Male Eby ID Number Waterloo-188349 Died Yes, date unknown Person ID I188349 Generations Last Modified 25 Apr 2024
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Notes - ...In Stratford, brothers N.R. and W.A. Bugg conceived "The People's Railway" linking Woodstock, Stratford, Berlin and Guelph with stops in Tavistock, New Hamburg, Ayr, Bloomingdale, New Germany (Maryhill), Puslinch, Elora and Arthur. Huge bonuses were voted by communities along the route: Berlin, $60,000; New Hamburg, $20,000; Wellesley Township, $15,000; and Tavistock, $10,000, are just some of the local debentures issued in 1909 to support the company. Near Bridgeport, in July 1910, workers began building embankments across the Kraft farm toward Bloomingdale, and contractor Charles Robbins of Galt erected caissons in the Grand River. Within these he constructed concrete piers to support a 400-foot-long bridge that would carry the railway from Berlin to Bloomingdale.
Surveying and embankment work paused for the winter. By spring 1911, disquieting signs indicated financial peril; workers went unpaid and suppliers demanded cash. Even a bond issue failed to pump life back into The People's Railway. By fall 1911, the Bugg brothers were out. Several attempts to re-organize failed. For years, a large pile of steel rails sat rusting near Bridgeport.
The First World War halted all rail expansion plans and, when peace returned, changing transportation patterns doomed most of the might-have-been electric railway networks across southern Ontario.
A pilot friend says he can still trace the earthen embankments from Bridgeport to Bloomingdale to Maryhill, but that's about all that remains of The People's Railway a century later ... except for that quintet of concrete piers stepping across the Grand River.
rych mills
Historical bits and pieces along the Grand River. (2017). Therecord.com. Retrieved 24 March 2017, from https://www.therecord.com/living-story/7205681-historical-bits-and-pieces-along-the-grand-river/
- ...In Stratford, brothers N.R. and W.A. Bugg conceived "The People's Railway" linking Woodstock, Stratford, Berlin and Guelph with stops in Tavistock, New Hamburg, Ayr, Bloomingdale, New Germany (Maryhill), Puslinch, Elora and Arthur. Huge bonuses were voted by communities along the route: Berlin, $60,000; New Hamburg, $20,000; Wellesley Township, $15,000; and Tavistock, $10,000, are just some of the local debentures issued in 1909 to support the company. Near Bridgeport, in July 1910, workers began building embankments across the Kraft farm toward Bloomingdale, and contractor Charles Robbins of Galt erected caissons in the Grand River. Within these he constructed concrete piers to support a 400-foot-long bridge that would carry the railway from Berlin to Bloomingdale.
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