A further request for rails and fittings was granted on May 18, 1917 (Order-in-Council P.C. 1395). In response, approximately 200 miles of rail from the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP, the western division of the NTR) between Imrie, Alberta, and Resplendent, British Columbia were lifted. Those parts of the GTP roadbed that were retained for the consolidated line were relaid with rail from the adjacent Canadian Northern Railway line, the latter’s roadbed being abandoned.
In retrospect, Mr. K.C. Biggar, President of the GTP, in a letter to the Minister of Railways and Canals, dated January 2, 1919, asserted “that very little rail, if any, went to France, but remained in Canada and was disposed of by the government of Canada."
Public Archives of Canada, RG 2.1, Vols. 1157, 1168; RG 43, Files 18648BT, 3323.