From the Archives of Canada CAIN No. 270712: Morley Donaldson was born near Edinburgh, Scotland and came to Canada as a young boy. In 1869 he joined the Montreal engineering firm of E.E. Gilbert & Sons. Between 1871 and 1876 Donaldson worked for Walter Shanly, the chief engineer and contractor for the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts. Following this, Donaldson became a mining engineer and assayer in Colorado for four years. Returning to Canada in 1881, he became chief draftsman for J.R. Booth's railway, the Canada Atlantic Railway, which connected Ottawa to New England. Donaldson also served as mechanical and general superintendent for the Canada Atlantic.
When the Canada Atlantic was bought by the Grand Trunk Railway in 1905, Donaldson became superintendent of the Ottawa Division of the GTR. He retained this position until 1913 when he became vice-president and general manager of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, then building a railway line to the Pacific Ocean. He resigned in 1917 due to ill health., Drawing originally purchased by G. R. L. Potter (donor's grandfather) and offered for copying to CHS--see paperwork in artifact and originals in HC reg file. 2003 originals offered to HC from donor Dore Dunne of Canada.