My family had not yet purchased its first car, so public transport was used for longer sorties from our apartment in Lachine. Conveniently, the CPR station at Montreal West could be reached by boarding a single Montreal Transportation Commission bus. In 1961, my father had just started taking colour slides with a snapshot camera. Montreal West was a good location to photograph passenger trains as they all stopped here ... commuter, branch line routes, intercity trains, trans-continental trains.
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| from: Canadian Railway Atlas; 1991; Railway Association of Canada. |
Above, in 1991, you can still see the CPR lines (red) which radiated to the four points of the compass from Windsor Station via Montreal West. Montreal West was initially named Montreal Junction.
- South over the CPR Lachine Bridge to Delson.
- North, East and West through St Martin Junction.
- West via Lachine.
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| from: Lovell Arrow Map & Street Index; 1960; John Lovell & Son. Red = locations of Canadian Bank of Commerce. |
Above, looking at the infrastructure as it existed when these photos were taken, the station grounds (blue rectangle) ranged from Elmhurst Avenue to Westminster Avenue. A few of these photos show trains which have swung around to pass under the overpass at Westminster Avenue (blue square).
And you can see a little 'passenger intermodal transfer location' ... a little circle on Sherbrooke Street which is just over the word 'station'. This is the location of the last photo.
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March, 1961.
The Atlantic Limited makes its stop.
An interlocking tower (preserved at 10 Westminster Avenue) controlled train movements at the junction.
Given the frequent starting and stopping of passenger trains close to a public road,
another towerman worked in the small tower at the right to manually actuate the crossing protection on Elmhurst Avenue.
Except for emergencies, whistling was prohibited on the Island of Montreal.
Highball to the tailend.
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Train Number 1 makes its station stop in June 1961.
In the distance is the crossing protection tower ... and far beyond and down the hill is Windsor Station.
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The Delaware & Hudson train for New York City arrives in June 1961.
This train will swing left and cross the Lachine Bridge for the south shore.
You can see the train order signal of the station at the left margin.
During an evening visit when we were watching from the 'far' platform - beyond the D&H train - I remember the baggage wagons adding to the excitement. There were many people on both platforms. Some were travelling themselves, others were seeing off or meeting passengers from the trains.
As sometimes happened, an eastbound train would occupy the track nearest the station until a westbound was approaching the station. As the westbound rolled in with hot brake shoes, the baggage attendant had the perilous task of winning the race with 'his' train - across the two sets of crossing timbers in front of the station - as he pulled the wagon full of luggage.
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At the Westminster Avenue overpass in June 1961.
The centre tracks at the right travel due south.
The track coming down the grade comes from the junction.
Notice the presence of roofwalks on the freight cars and the required 'telltales' to alert trainmen
of the restricted overhead clearance of the Westminster Avenue overpass.
Looking from the other side of the Westminster Avenue overpass, these tracks are aligned due north.
There is an intriguing spur at the right.
Today, this area is quite overgrown - however, these distinctive signal bridges still exist.
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Above and below, the train for Quebec City passes.
The reinforced locomotive pilot comes in handy - particularly out west.
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The train above, in August 1961, is not documented in the my father's log.
The track assignment suggests it will be passing under the Westminster Avenue overpass.
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I am not an expert on any railway topics ... and I am far out of my league when describing the Montreal Transportation Commission's operations of the past.
The cobblestones and rails ghosting through the new pavement would probably have been the turning terminus for #3 St Catherine-NDG streetcar, which provided day & night service. All streetcar service in Montreal had come to an end by August 1959.
This photo was taken in June 1961, probably after we watched that exciting baggage wagon handling I mentioned above. You can see the 'far' platform's shingled 'umbrella shed' roof behind the brown bus.
Seeking to compete with General Motors buses, Canadian Car & Foundry redesigned its buses from the ubiquitous body design of that brown CD-52 built in 1957 ... to the ultimately less-common appearance of that silver TD-51 built in 1960. The 'family resemblance' between the models is quite clear when you look at the details of both.
... At the time, this new design was a novel and exciting development. However the familiar 'brown buses' seem more worthy of nostalgia today. They provided hours of entertainment and they allowed me to hear a lot of Quebec French. Happily, my ear would finally catch up with this 'fast Morse' 30 years later.
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After posting, Jim Christie reminded me of this video link he had previously sent showing a Canadian Car & Foundry 'brown bus' in absolutely beautiful, restored condition at a car show in Granby a few years ago.
... Elton McFall is the master of the 'one-take' video about Montreal transportation subjects. His narration is unconventional and he does not follow 'the style book', but he really knows his vehicles and it's really nice to have this remembrance of these buses.