15 Pence; 30 Sous The Champlain and St Lawrence Rail Road

Canadian railways issuing their own scrip was a practical response to the chronic small-change shortage that plagued Upper and Lower Canada throughout the 1830s. The Champlain & St. Lawrence, incorporated in 1832 and operational by 1836 as the first steam railway in Canada, had immediate commercial reasons to keep transactions moving smoothly at its terminus and along its route — waiting for adequate government coinage was not an option.

Rawdon, Wright & Hatch were among the most technically accomplished security printers operating in North America at this period, later becoming a founding constituent of the American Bank Note Company in 1858.