The Chignecto Ship Railway ran out of money at 75% built — no ship ever crossed

The Chignecto Ship Railway was a plan to move ships by rail across the Isthmus of Chignecto, which joins Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, from Baie Verte on the Northumberland Strait to the Bay of Fundy. Developed by railway builder Henry Ketchum, it would have lifted fully rigged wooden sailing ships from the water with a hoist and lock system and placed them on rail cars, sparing vessels the trip around Nova Scotia. Construction began in October 1888, according to the University of New Brunswick archives.

Historian James Upham told CBC the project cost more than anticipated and took longer, and that it was never completed because it ran out of money. According to the UNB archives, by the time the project went bust 75% of the work was done, including docks at Fort Lawrence and Tidnish Bridge, 16 of the 17 miles of rail-bed and 13 miles of track. No ship ever crossed it.

Upham says the failure 'ruined Henry Ketchum', who had built railways around the world and was buried at Tidnish within view of the terminus after his death in Amherst in 1896. The enormous stones of a bridge still stand at Tidnish Bridge.

75% of the work done, 13 miles of track laid, project bankrupt; no ship ever crossed and the venture 'ruined Henry Ketchum'

The project cost more money than anticipated and took longer than anticipated while it was being built, per historian James Upham.

The venture ran out of money before it could be finished, so no ship ever crossed.

The design depended on a hoist and lock system to lift fully rigged ships onto rail cars; Upham says other countries were attempting similar projects at the time.

The CBC piece gives no total budget or investor details, so the funding gap itself is not quantified.

A technically daring project needs funding that outlasts its overrun. Ketchum's design was admired worldwide, but cost and time overruns left a 75%-finished asset that earned nothing.

The engine houses' stones were later reused as the breakwater at the Cape Tormentine ferry terminal, so P.E.I. ferry passengers were sheltered by them. Nova Scotia's government bought the 27-kilometre Chignecto Ship Railway lands in 2012 and preserves them as a hiking trail and historic site, including granite locks on the Bay of Fundy end. Upham argues failures are recorded less than successes, which is why the project was largely forgotten.