Snapped by his sister, photographer LC Gagnon contemplates the tracks at CNR Val Royal.
They have arrived here via the Mount Royal Tunnel.
It is probably a conical, paper railway drinking cup in his hand.
It seems too early in the day for an ice cream cone.
His trusty box camera is by his foot.
The Val Royal station is shown on the map at the end of this post.
It seems that the aircraft were photographed through the airfield fence.
LC Gagnon was spectacularly productive as a photographer in 1947.
This post is short because I have recently been spending a lot of time
making his work 'portable' for others.
I can only claim the aircraft identifications as 'probables'.
Republic RC-3 Seabee
Piper J-3 Cub
CNR 9105
Class Z-1-a, built by GE and Canadian General Electric in 1914 for the Canadian Northern Railway.
(CNR 1947 roster data)
I think the object near the locomotive's left pilot may be a crank ...
which is part of the interlocking which controls the switch in front of the locomotive.
I think the connecting rod may pass under the walkway between the tracks.
 |
| from: Lovell's Arrow Map, Island of Montreal, 1960. |
Cartierville Airport no longer exists.
Just a little to the west on this 1960 map is 'Montreal Airport (Dorval)'.
For locating purposes on today's maps,
the distinctive horseshoe of Chemin Laval remains, with its 'two ears'.
The two ears are worth looking at in today's 'Street View'!
They are pleasant crescents of modest wartime-style housing - with small green spaces (parks) in the middle.
[Perhaps copy, paste, copy, paste ... to dent the current affordable housing crisis ...]