Railways hurled the Maritimes into the steam age, transforming many of its work patterns along the way. By 1911 the region's ten thousand railway workers were so central to the operation of its economy that government could not permit shutdowns for any length of time. Various components of the "running trades" organized almost from the start of railroading. Engineers and firemen, like these posed at the Point Tupper, Nova Scotia, roundhouse, were some of the most mobile and highly skilled workers anywhere. They were among the earliest supporters of international unions. Employees not actually involved in operating the trains organized more slowly. But the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees which began among baggage handlers in Moncton, New Brunswick, in 1914 eventually became the most significant union of its kind in Canada. Railway disputes hold the dubious distinction of having given rise to some of the most vicious strike-breaking tactics in the history of Canadian labour relations.
