LC Gagnon clipped and filed this record of two CNR carferries operating in 1965. While a photo of the Huron does not appear in this article, he had previously saved a 1959 view of it carrying bi-level Pullman-Standard cars, and that photo follows this article.
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| from: Canadian Railways in Pictures; Robert F Legget; 1977; Douglas & McIntyre. |
Here is an earlier, undated photo of the Lansdowne.
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| from: The New World Atlas & Gazetteer; ed: Francis J Reynolds; 1923; PF Collier & Son. |
The map above shows the general routes of the various ferries and carferries circa 1923 and the local railway ecosystems on both sides of the Detroit River.
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| from: Canada, The Missing Years; Patricia Pierce; 1985; Stoddart. |
A view of the Detroit River in 1918 looking upriver, with Detroit on the left and Windsor on the right.
The waterfront features are clearly shown on the map above.
Finally, it is clear to me where this odd postcard view fits in ...
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| Unused, undated postcard. Perhaps given out as a grocery store's bonus in The Hague, Netherlands - Dutch-language printing over the correspondence space. Card manufactured for Stedman Brothers, Brantford and Winnipeg. Manufactured in Germany. |
Most foreign (i.e. German or British) colourizers of black and white Canadian postcard images never saw Canada.
Above, the Germans have added a few freight cars to make the image more compelling.
They are the ones with the buffers.
My speculation is that when the sophisticated German postcard printing industry was killed by World War I, this postcard could no longer be shipped to Canada. So ... during or after the war, a group of these cards made their way to the Netherlands where they were given away with store merchandise.
Perhaps through the tendency of postcards to migrate 'home' where they will find the highest prices ... the German card above, with its Dutch printed message ... took some time to reach Ontario. There, it was eventually scanned and posted - a century after the photo was taken.
... Actually, there are a few nice views of this station and its surroundings on the internet - if you are interested.
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| from: Railway Steamships of Ontario; Dana Ashdown; 1988; Boston Mills Press. |
There were more carferries on the Detroit River than you could shake a coal oil lantern at!
The Great Western was built in 1866, rebuilt in 1882 and sold in 1923.
It is shown on the Detroit River in 1915.