In 1964, CNR 6218 was unique as a CNR excursion engine which had been backshopped (at Stratford, Ontario) after the end (in 1960) of steam.
The other recently-retired CNR mainline excursion engines (5107, 6153, 6167) had been carried over from their pre-1960 careers on the railway.
On a visit to Turcot Yard a few years earlier, we had seen 6218 - segregated on its own track near the roundhouse. We had arrived by MTC bus and 6218 was the first engine we encountered after descending the hill from Upper Lachine Road - so it was photographed. However, it seemed to be in no better shape than the other locomotives sitting on the Turcot dead line as they awaited scrapping.
A link to Ian Wilson's YouTube documentation of an earlier fantrip to these points, sent to me by Jim Christie, prompted this post about what was probably the shortest and most local steam fantrip we took out of Montreal. Preparing this post was also an incentive to verify that my 'new' laptop would be able to operate my older slide scanner.
In the lore of our family's fantrips over the years, there were a couple of interesting events which occurred before we even reached Coteau and you'll see them in this post.
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| from: CNR system map, no date (circa 1960) |
It was difficult to find a map which gave a good, detailed view of our route.
However, the key junctions for our counter-clockwise trip from Montreal are all shown above.
The day's program is outlined below.
As always, Central Station provided a good close-up view of the steam locomotive. Sometimes travellers with kids could 'reserve' their coach seats with hampers and items of clothing and beat the crowd to the headend. This was sometimes rewarded with an invitation to enter the cab - a huge, hot, dark, roaring, hissing, intimidating place to visit as a kid - which a person will always remember.
In the view below, the running boards back along the upper tender and the small light at the back of the coal bunker to illuminate watering activities at night are interesting details to observe.
To better understand the lines over which we'll travel, I'm including the employee timetables from just before the end of steam. Not all the footnotes are included here for the Cornwall Sub.
Notice the Forney-powered CNR suburban service is still operating to Dorval. There are also Pool Trains shown operating in conjunction with the CPR.
As well, the timetables below pre-date the relocation of the CNR mainline from the general alignment of today's Victoria Street in Lachine. We'll be following the current route along Autoroute 20 on the fantrip.
This was probably the first fantrip with which all five of us were involved in some way. Below, our train passes 40th Avenue in Lachine as the newest family member poses for a photo. The four-lane '2 and 20' can be seen between the carriage and the train. The films shot by our three point-and-shoot cameras on October 4 were sent for processing before the plant developing black and white prints had a chance to change the date to 'OCT'.
The photo above shows the location of family members as seen from the train.
(The shutter speed on Brownies must have be fixed at something like 1/60th of a second.)
In the foreground, some enthusiasts may have staked out the shoulder of the highway for photos.
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Family Lore, Part 2
The Great Race
I think my father selected the black and white Brownie for this photo because of its 'landscape' (versus square) images.
Not being burdened with knowledge of all the operating requirements which might affect train speed, I was quite impressed by this event. The excitement did build as we began to overtake the CPR power. I recall it being a dramatic seesaw battle - never a sure thing - until we finally 'won' and cheers were heard in our coach.
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| from: Trains; January 1965; Kalmbach. |
Before social media, it might take 2-3 months for earth-shattering news to be fully-documented in writing and published.
With today's technologies, imagine all the jiggly, unedited smartphone videos which could have been uploaded - even before our train left Montreal Island.
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Above: The Vaudreuil Hill runpast.
Part 1 of this trip account ends with our stop at Coteau.
'Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein.'
As we both reflect on our circumstances, you can see the Brownie loaded with black and white.
Photo-taking real estate is always at a premium at the front of the engine at stops.
The seven-year-old photographer had to work fast before the pops lifted.
