To Index
Map indicating the circuitous path taken by the P.E.I. Railway, January 1912. Due to a contract which paid the builders per mile of track laid and then specified no exact route, Schreiber and Burpee built as many miles of track as they could, and minimized their costs per mile by going around instead of over obstacles like hills and streams. Also, there was much influence-peddling behind decisions about where bends were taken, and the more bribes, the more curves which developed. The end result was one of the most meandering railways in Canada, where over a third of the line was comprised of curves! (Lowell Huestis)
To Text