{"id":10262,"date":"2014-12-20T06:00:25","date_gmt":"2014-12-20T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.royalmontrealregiment.com\/?p=10262"},"modified":"2014-12-20T06:00:25","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T11:00:25","slug":"rmr-helps-build-railroad-in-1914","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/rmr-helps-build-railroad-in-1914\/","title":{"rendered":"RMR Helps Build Railroad in 1914"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday, December 20, 1914<\/em><\/p>\n

In Camp, West Down South, Salisbury Plains<\/em><\/p>\n

The Battalion War Diarist wrote for this day: \u201cRain.\u00a0 Church Parade.\u201d\u00a0[1]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY: \u201cSalisbury, Eng., Dec. 10 \u2013 Well, how do you like being a common wop?\u201d asked a private in the Canadian contingent.\u00a0 \u201cNot so bad,\u201d replied his pal.\u00a0 \u201cNever thought I would hit such a low level. \u00a0But being a navvy puts you in good shape.\u00a0 My legs are so sore I can hardly walk, my arms and shoulders ache like fury, but I should worry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three months ago no man in this contingent figured that he would be a railroad-builder.\u00a0 Such a suggestion would have been received as a joke.\u00a0 Nevertheless the Canadians have assumed the role of navvies, track-layers, rod and chain-men, surveyors and engineers in connection with the construction of an eleven mile strip of road from the present camp to Bulford, where several battalions are stationed in huts.\u00a0 Every man is having a taste of railroading, but of course such a job is accepted with a smile.\u00a0 The Canadian soldier is ready for anything.\u00a0 Handling a pick and shovel is not looked upon as a hardship.\u00a0 It is just part of a day\u2019s work.\u00a0 The lawyers, bankers, clerks, farmers, mechanics, students \u2013 they\u2019re all combined to build a short railway on the Plain. This line will stand as a monument to the labour of Canadians.<\/p>\n

How the men from Canada happen to build a railway came about in this way, the highways of England are solid as a result of centuries of traffic and constant repair. There are none better.\u00a0 But when this war broke out there was not the same demand made upon them.\u00a0 Huge motor lorries and transports, hundreds of horses and thousands of troops have broken them up considerably, creating ruts and quagmires.\u00a0 In some places they have been made almost impassable.\u00a0 When it was decided to move the Canadians into huts, supplies had to be transferred over the road.\u00a0 This was well-nigh impossible, so the military authorities came to the conclusion that a railroad should be laid.\u00a0 So Salisbury is to have its first railway line and Canadians are doing most of the work.<\/p>\n

The Canadian engineers have had very little to do.\u00a0 There are no pontoons to build, because there are no streams or rivers.\u00a0 The engineers have been practically idle.\u00a0 It was figured that the new railroad would give them plenty of training, so the engineers are all working on the railway every day.\u00a0 Every day what is known as engineer\u2019s fatigue, consisting of one battalion, plows through the mud to the scene of the building operations.\u00a0 A different battalion goes on the job every day.\u00a0 They are all having a chance to unload ties and lay them, unload rails and place them, and so forth.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [2]<\/a><\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0 War Diary, 14th<\/sup> Canadian Battalion, The Royal Montreal Regiment<\/em>, Dec 20, 1914.\u00a0 Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa,\u00a0http:\/\/data2.collectionscanada.ca\/e\/e044\/e001089681.jpg<\/a><\/pre>\n
[2]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWork Of Navvies Done Cheerfully By Canadians,\u201d Ottawa Citizen<\/em>, December 24, 1914, pg. 5, col. 1.<\/pre>\n
 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sunday, December 20, 1914 In Camp, West Down South, Salisbury Plains The Battalion War Diarist wrote for this day: \u201cRain.\u00a0 Church Parade.\u201d\u00a0[1] THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY: \u201cSalisbury, Eng., Dec.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-day-in-rmr-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}