The Book

"This is quite simply the most magnificent book ever published on the history of Toronto railways" – Derek Boles, Historian for the Toronto Railway History Association. Click here to read more testimonials from around the world.

Narrow Gauge Through the Bush is a large format book with each page measuring 11" high by 12" wide. The book has 392 pages of information and is 1 1/4" thick. It weighs six pounds. It is a hardcover limited edition printed on high quality paper. It includes over 300 photos, illustrations, maps, plans and drawings. Eight pages are in colour and there are thirty sets of scale drawings of locomotives, rolling stock, buildings and structures.

As befits a book containing so much well researched information about these railways it is fully indexed and referenced.

Here is what the author, Rod Clarke, shares with us about the coverage of the book's contents.

Prince Arthur Turning The First Sod for the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway – October 5th, 1869 - Library & Archives Canada

"The promotion of the railways is set in the context of the economic, social, and political history of Canada in the mid 1800's, and especially the Confederation of the North American colonies into the Dominion of Canada in 1867. Because I am an engineer who admires the immense contribution of Victorian engineers to our present society and infrastructure there is much information about the part played by Canadian, British, Norwegian, American and Australian engineers in the design and construction of these pioneering lines, through the Canadian forests (The Bush). Particular reference is made to the contributions of Sir Charles Fox, the engineer of the Crystal Palace exhibition building of 1851, and his sons who planned the lines; Carl Abraham Pihl of Christiania (Oslo) who was the principal technical consultant; Edmund Wragge of Stourbridge, Worcestershire who supervised the detailed design and construction; and Francis Shanly of Toronto who undertook a major portion of the construction of the lines. There are many new photographs, never before published, from British, Canadian, and US archives; and some interesting reminiscences of the navvies and immigrant labourers who did the work, some of them later rising to eminence in Canadian society." – Rod Clarke

Click on the links at the right to further understand the contents and coverage of this definitive book on these pioneering railways.