{"id":201251,"date":"2021-01-08T17:50:02","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T22:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csce.dev\/en\/?post_type=historic_site&p=201251"},"modified":"2022-07-06T11:39:40","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T15:39:40","slug":"tracel-de-cap-rouge","status":"publish","type":"historic_site","link":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/historic-site\/tracel-de-cap-rouge\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracel de Cap-Rouge"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Tracel de Cap-Rouge. (Source: Wikimedia.org)<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Cap-Rouge Trestle on 1910 postcard. (Source: ledevoir.com)<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Site Location: Lat.: 46\u00b0 \u2013 44\u2019 \u2013 53\u201d N; Long.: 71\u00b0 \u2013 20\u2019 \u2013 59\u201d W. (GPS: 46.7480842, -71.3496766). Take Exit 302 of Autoroute F\u00e9lix Leclerc (40) to travel south on Route Jean-Gauvin: travelling eastbound, turn left (east) at the T-junction on Rue de l\u2019H\u00e9tri\u00e8re then take the first right (south) on Jean-Gauvin; travelling westbound, take the ramp to turn right (east) on Avenue Jules-Verne and the first right, again a ramp, on Jean-Gauvin. Continue 1.3 km, as Jean-Gauvin becomes Rue du Domaine, and turn right (south) midway through a left turn onto Rue de la Poterie. Continue 0.8 km to the T-junction at Boulevard de la Chaudi\u00e8re and turn right (south). Proceed 0.5 km, going under the trestle, and turn left (east) on Rue Saint-F\u00e9lix. Proceed 0.6 km and, just before passing under the trestle, turn right into a parking lot at the Parc Nautique de Cap-Rouge.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Plaque Location: The plaque is located on a concrete pedestal between the parking lot and the trestle, on the outside of the Rue Saint-F\u00e9lix turn.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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The plaque is located on a concrete pedestal seen just to the left of the blue sign in this image. (Source: Google Street View)<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Description: This train trestle was constructed across the Cap Rouge River valley between 1906 and 1913 to allow trains on the National Transcontinental Railway to approach the nearby high-level Quebec Bridge. It is 1017 m (3336 ft.) long and 52.4 m (172 ft.) high. The Dominion Bridge Company fabricated and erected the structural steel. Three of the foundations were founded on bedrock using pneumatic caissons, a procedure that markedly increased the final cost of the structure. The term \u201ctracel\u201d became popular with French-speaking locals who frequently heard the structure described using the English word \u201ctrestle\u201d.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Sketch of pneumatic caisson used at Cap-Rouge. (Source: J. D\u00e9ry).<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Construction, winter 1907-08. (Source: collections.mnbaq.org)<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Historic Significance: The Tracel Cap-Rouge is the first steel railway trestle, or \u201csaw-horse bridge\u201d built in Canada. The use of pneumatic caissons to construct the foundation is also historically significant. The Dominion Bridge Company (1883-1998) was Canada\u2019s most significant steel company in the 20th<\/sup> century, building iconic bridges and buildings across Canada. The National Transcontinental Railway merged with the Canadian Northern Railway in 1923 to become Canadian National, now CN. The Tracel is a symbol of pride for the residents of Cap-Rouge, particularly for the descendants of the workers who built it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Plaque detail. (Source: M. Frenette)<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Plaque Wording: National Historic Civil Engineering Site. CSCE. TRACEL DE CAP-ROUGE (CAP-ROUGE TRESTLE). A tribute to the engineers and constructors who designed and built the tracel de Cap-Rouge, the first railway trestle of its type in Canada, commenced in 1906. This steel structure was built for the National Transcontinental Railway by the Lachine based Dominion Bridge Company and fully commissioned in 1913. It is 1017 metres long with a height of 52.4 metres at low tide and is significant for its impressive steel spans and for the pneumatic caisson technique employed in the construction of the foundations in the bed of the river. Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. 2013.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

SCGC. Site Historique National de G\u00e9nie Civil. TRACEL DE CAP-ROUGE. Un hommage aux ing\u00e9nieurs et aux b\u00e2tisseurs que ont con\u00e7u et construit le tracel de Cap-Rouge, premier viaduct ferroviare \u00e0chevalets en importance au Canada, au tout d\u00e9but de sa construction en 1906. Ce viaduct fut autoris\u00e9 par la commission de Chemin de Fer National Transcontinental, construit par la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Dominion Bridge Company de Lachine et mis en service en 1913. D\u2019une longeur de 1017 metres et d\u2019une hauteur de 52,4 metres \u00e0 mar\u00e9e basse, cette oeuvre en acier se distinguee par ses poutres \u00e0 treillis, appel\u00e9e poutres Eiffel ou poutres rivet\u00e9es, ansi que par sa technique de fon\u00e7aga \u00e0 air comprim\u00e9 des fondations de b\u00e9ton jouxtant la rivi\u00e8re. 2013. Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 canadienne de genie civil.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Plaque Unveiling Ceremony (November 7, 2017):<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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The plaque was unveiled by Yolande Perron (centre), president of the Cap-Rouge Historical Society. The others are (left to right) Kim Lajoie and Gilles H\u00e9bert, from the CSCE, Olivier Quenneville, public affairs at CN and Qu\u00e9bec Mayor R\u00e9gis Labeaume. (Source: www.lappel.com)<\/em><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Links to Online Documentation:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Yolande Perron, \u201cLe Tracel de Cap-Rouge\u201d, Canadian Civil Engineer<\/em>, 2013.<\/a> (See page 12.)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cLe Tracel de Cap-Rouge\u201d, historicbridges.org.<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Jean-Marie Lebel, \u201cDans le ciel de Cap-Rouge, un TRACEL centenaire\u201d, La Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 historique du Cap-Rouge.<\/a><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Site Location: Lat.: 46\u00b0 \u2013 44\u2019 \u2013 53\u201d N; Long.: 71\u00b0 \u2013 20\u2019 \u2013 59\u201d W. (GPS: 46.7480842, -71.3496766). Take Exit 302 of Autoroute F\u00e9lix Leclerc (40) to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22598,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","classification":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/historic_site\/201251"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/historic_site"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/historic_site"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201251"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/historic_site\/201251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211002,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/historic_site\/201251\/revisions\/211002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"classification","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.csce.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/classification?post=201251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}