Four Photos from a CPR Collection, Part 1

Here are 4 photos from part of a collection I bought a decade or so ago. Each is glued to a 5x8 inch card which includes any known details about the subject, its location, the date and photographer. The collector seemed to be quite organized: rubber stamping those field names ... a pen filled in the details (if they were known).

Before the internet, when people had to purchase railway images they wanted to collect, from a collector or photographer, in person or via the mail ... there would have been quite a commitment made, with money and time, to assemble a collection of good images. Unless the collector had a desire to self-publish a book to share the collection ... the images would just sit in a filing box somewhere ... with perhaps a 50% probability that they would be thrown out by someone else at a much later date.

As photos were generally printed exactly as they had been taken, there seem to be few railway photographs which are actually photographed 'straight' - as if a spirit level had been used to align the camera. Trespassing on railway tracks to get a perfectly level photo was neither a healthy pursuit, nor one encouraged by railway officials. Beyond that, the convexity of lenses used to get a 'wide angle' view of a piece of equipment often interferes with the straightness of details at the edges of many photographs.

... The challenge to retroactively level old photos is compounded by the fact that there has never been (it seems) a single wooden pole in all of Canadian history which spent most of its existence straight. However, signal masts are usually fairly reliable.

Often, one has only a few horizontal or vertical engineered 'lines' on the equipment itself - to use so the 'reworked internet reproduction' might achieve something approaching straightness. Rarely, a flat prairie horizon or a large body of water on the horizon can make this mission so much easier. 

After this effort, one must still look at the finished product and wonder if it actually looks properly straight to someone who has not sunk all that time into trying to 'fix' it.

In order that the reader does not feel the straightening and cropping has gone overboard, I sometimes leave the blank white edges of the photo in the image. The Dayliner image in the last photo shows as much detail as possible of the second car - and I have left those 'white triangles' to indicate that there was nothing more to preserve and show from my print.

So when 'photocopying' these photos for the internet, I at least try to get them straight. I also try to correct the exposure so that as many details as possible can be seen - who knows when a particular detail will be historically significant to someone who arrives from the future? While it would be easy to have the software correct the colouring of a photo to 'black and white', perhaps some of the experience of seeing an old image is the observation that it is really old. 

But sometimes ... one gets so deep into 'optimizing' the image that the result is arguably no better than the original flawed version. In some cases, the best option for posterity is to abandon the photo fiddling and to just post something very close to the original version.

With the sun at its back, the CPR engine 6869 has its tender topped up from the standpipe. The fireman is standing on one of the two headlights which probably still burn fuel - perhaps kerosene. Maybe the presence of class signal lamps suggest that this switcher sometimes leaves the yard on transfer service. The white, seasonal cab curtains are only moderately dirty, so perhaps the cold winter months are yet to come.

CPR 6869 was an 0-8-0 of the V2a class. It was built by the Canadian Locomotive Company at Kingston in February 1900 and scrapped in September 1930. The date and location of this photo are not recorded.

(I am using Canadian Pacific Steam Locomotives; Omer Lavallee; 1985; Railfare - as the source of roster data.)

Above: 

CPR engine 5913 is shown at Field, British Columbia in July 1950. With the plow pilot not removed in the middle of the summer, it is always ready for any kind of eventuality in this demanding segment of the railway. 

One interesting detail to consider is the 90-degree exhaust deflector at the smokestack. The latent energy of the steam leaving the pistons of a hard-working engine would exit the smokestack with considerable force. This force would loosen rocks in unlined tunnels, with the possibility of significant rockfalls taking place over time. I think I read that engine crews didn't like being force-fed their locomotives' exhaust over the whole course of a trip, with the smoke perhaps also getting in the way of signal identification. Consequently, the deflector was often unofficially set in its 'off' position - rotated 180 degrees back off the top of the stack, as you see in this photo.

CPR 5913 was a 2-10-4 Selkirk (T1a) built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in August 1929 and scrapped in April 1956.

Below:

CPR 5915 (another T1a) is shown at an unknown location on an unknown date. One reason for placing the photo here is to note the differences in the details of these magnificent plow pilots. Perhaps its class signals (if green) indicate it has just been running as a section of a passenger train - picking up some fresh snow along the way.

CPR 5915 was built by MLW in September 1929 and scrapped in May 1956.

CPR Dayliner 9102 was photographed at Woodstock, New Brunswick in June 1956. A mail hook can be seen on the next car. The removable Mars light and headlights are not lit. While it may actually be a Gyralite by Pyle National, this was a period of UFO fascination and fear, so please humour my embrace of the historical zeitgeist.

It was relatively late in Canadian railway history that headlights were required to be lit by day. Perhaps this was because a loudly percussive steam locomotive putting out a lot of coal smoke was hard to miss in the daytime. Similarly, someday people will notice with wonderment that autos didn't always have daytime running lights.

Table 13 below comes from the CPR public timetable 25 Sep 1955 to 28 Apr 1956. It seems likely that the photo above is of Train 153 or 154. 

I have about 2 shelf-feet of Canadian Trackside Guides. However, I do not have a complete set of this excellent publication.  As best I can determine from about 30 minutes of research:

RDC-2 (= combine layout as photographed) 9102 was built in 1951 (or a little later). 

It was rebuilt as an RDC-5 (= a CP designation for a full coach conversion from an RDC-2) and renumbered 9300 in 1955. 

VIA had it rebuilt as an RDC-1 (= full coach, the standard Budd designation) and numbered 6146. 

It was retired by VIA. 

... Entering RDC in the search box near the top banner will fill your heart with all the RDC lore and technical data you could ever desire.