CPR Glen Yard in Archived Journals 1906-1967

Inspired by Jim Christie's researching skills over the years, and his generosity in sharing what he found, I decided to see what I could find in the archive.org journals on CPR's Glen Yard. 

*  *  *

Between 1935 and the early 1950s, LC Gagnon's family home was half a mile from the CPR's Westmount station and Glen Yard. Although many extended-family photos survive from that era, there are relatively few showing Glen Yard. 

... In the 1930s there probably wasn't a lot of spare money for train 'hobby' photography. 

... Between 1939 and 1945 - World War 2 - there were prohibitions on photographing trains, essential services or anything of military value. This also included railway facilities such as bridges, stations and yards. 

*  *  *

While the yard would have been less exciting after the end of steam in 1960, we can imagine how much activity went on there during the time my father lived nearby as steam locomotives were reaching their highest level of development.

Most CPR long distance passenger trains used the Windsor (Street) Station. In the first 1.5 miles of their journeys, they climbed the length of a boxcar of that era (about 40 feet) and then made a station stop at Westmount. 

... While this is certainly not a continental divide 'Big Hill' gradient, this trip segment began from a dead stop at Windsor. 

With some pride, engineers would accelerate smartly from the World's Greatest Transportation System's headquarters. The passenger equipment of those days was 'overbuilt by 200%' - as an acquaintance once described it. This sturdiness was mainly the result of government regulations which were reactive to decades of horrific passenger train tragedies in North America.

So the weight of the train and the need to maintain momentum up the hill (just imagine traction problems on wet rail or in snow!) created quite a show as these prestigious trains began their trips.

There were also well-patronized commuter services which ran all the way out to, and beyond ... the west end of Montreal Island. Originally these reached as far west as Pointe Fortune, Quebec. 

Finally, international trains from Windsor Station ran through Westmount. 

The 'Central Station' trains shown below were Pool Trains - government-mandated 'code sharing' and equipment sharing between the CN and CP to help the railways avoid pointless competition and financial losses in their operation of regulated passenger services. CN steam power found its way into Glen Yard because of this arrangement.

*  *  *

Visible from Westmount station was all the activity of Glen Yard. Here the rolling stock was switched and serviced, the motive power was maintained, and intercity trains were often looped around the perimeter of the yard to keep their consists in the desired order. 

... First came the baggage, express and mail cars at the headend ... then the day coaches ... then dining or food service cars, separating the basic-fare passengers from the extra-fare passengers ... and finally came the premium-priced accommodation on the tailend - away from the smoke, cinders and noise of the locomotives.

Adding to the entertainment value of all this traffic, and doubling the number of moves watched by a young spectator ... 

Each train passing Westmount station either started or ended its trip at Glen Yard. 

First, the empty passenger equipment was backed into Windsor. Then the train made its passenger run to its destination ... and subsequently returned to Montreal as a passenger train via the same route. After its return, the empty equipment was backed up the hill to end its trip at Glen Yard.

Here, in the 1940s and early 1950s, most of the motive power work was performed by steam locomotives. Each of the many types of engine had its own unique extroverted personality. The elaborate displays of steam and smoke, and their fascinating exposed running gear graphically showed exactly how they were accomplishing their work. 

Whether they were confidently taking their important work in stride ... or whether they were unfairly being forced to struggle against tons of inert steel ... their circumstances were obvious to a young observer. 

*  *  *

All of the activity described can be pictured as you look at the Windsor Station 'arrivals and departures board' printed on one page of a pocket-sized timetable folder. 

from: Montreal Folder 'D'; 28 September 1947; Canadian Pacific Railway.

from: The Romantic History of the Canadian Pacific Railway; John Murray Gibbon; 1937; Tudor Publishing.

A passenger train departs Windsor Station. The number of tracks and signaling are discussed in some of the journal articles and news paragraphs.

*  *  *

All of the images of print, below, come from journals which had been bound and held in various libraries. They were digitized and I accessed the publications at archive.org .

In all cases, the images are captioned with the link you can use to see the whole publication. To save labour and to avoid dead links in the future, I have not actually linked through the URLs - they are text only which can be copied and pasted to see the original. 

The articles are presented here in chronological order.

When interesting off-topic paragraphs were nearby, I sometimes succumbed to temptation and you'll see some unrelated bits of text which some may find interesting.

*  *  *

1906 May

from: Canadian Transportation, 1906 May
https://archive.org/details/canadiantransport1906/page/263/mode/1up?q=%22Glen+Yard%22

The St Phillippe paragraph, above, is an example of unrelated text.

Many extended family photos come from a dairy farm near here. 

*  *  *

1906 June

from: Canadian Transportation; 1906 June
https://archive.org/details/canadiantransport1906/page/327/mode/1up?q=%22Glen+Yard%22

*  *  *

1909 July

from: Railway Age Gazette; 1909 July
https://archive.org/details/sim_railway-age_1909-07-30_47_5/page/208/mode/1up?q=%22Glen+Yard%22

It is nice to have this comprehensive data presented in a compact form. Some may be interested in the status of the lines in New Brunswick on which engines 29, 136 and 144 operated throughout the 1950s. Light, vintage bridges dictated the necessity of using these light, vintage locomotives.

This chart appeared from my search because of the solitary Glen Yard reference pertaining to a Rutland engine's speed limit between Windsor and the Glen - which you can see in the footnotes under the chart. 

The date of the right-of-way fencing directive is interesting to find. Very early steam locomotives were relatively light and they were sometimes derailed by livestock standing on the track. DB Hanna noted that farmers' requests for railway compensation always identified the loss as their most prized animal. 

The first elaborate wooden cattle guards (wooden fencing sloping down to a grid of parallel boards which interfered with hooved feet) are often seen in old photos which show road crossings. 

... Before truck transport, herds of livestock were often driven down country roads. Some animals would be tempted to stray along the tracks when they spotted the luxuriant grasses growing from the standing water in the railway right-of-way ditches. The typical drover would not have access to enough labour to retrieve all of the insistently-straying animals before the passage of a train.

... In the modern era, these universal page-wire fences were the sturdy barriers which young steam excursion travellers of the 1960s learned to climb over at an early age in preparation for steam photo runpasts. Getting clear of the right-of-way was important for safety ... and for getting a good photo. 

*  *  *

1909 December

from: Electrical World; 1909 December
https://archive.org/details/electricalworld54newy/page/1386/mode/1up?q=Westmount

The amount of respiratory disease from tobacco smoking and coal smoke in cities must have been considerable. The CPR never electrified this section of track. 

Montreal Junction was later renamed Montreal West. 

'Junction': Using a highway system analogy, Montreal Junction is the interchange you use to reach Montreal. (map below!)

Originally purchased for use through the Canadian Northern's Mount Royal Tunnel, the CNR actually used electric locomotives with overhead catenary for passenger equipment and passenger train transfers to and from Central Station. 

These electrics were still in use for this purpose when coal-fired locomotives pulled railfan excursions which used Central Station in the 1960s. On the trip itinerary, these delays were often presented as photo opportunities and passengers were allowed to detrain and photograph the changing of power from electric to steam - although this was not permitted when safety could not be assured on the return trip because of evening darkness. 

And, in spite of some thrilling high-speed steam running on our return trips (with our coach windows open), some of these railfan trips ended up returning much later than the printed itinerary predicted.

*  *  *

1915

from: Canadian Engineer 1915 (reprint) 
https://archive.org/details/someimportanteng00cana/page/3/mode/1up?q=%22Glen+Yard%22

Blocked from entering the city of Montreal from the west by the pre-existing CPR and Grand Trunk lines, you can see the upstart Canadian Northern Railway is busy tunnelling its way into Montreal via its Mount Royal Tunnel. 

*  *  *

1915 December

(article: Electric Car Lighting)

from: Railway Electrical Engineer; 1915 December.
https://archive.org/details/railwayelectrica07unse/page/211/mode/1up?q=%22Glen+Yard%22

*  *  *

1922 March

from: Canadian Transportation  archive.org
https://archive.org/details/canadiantransport1922/page/n272/mode/1up?q=%22Glen+Yard%22

from: Canadian Transportation; 1923 March
https://archive.org/details/canadiantransport1923/page/262/mode/1up?q=%22Glen+Yard%22

*  *  *

1923 March

from: Canadian Transportation; 1923 03.
https://archive.org/details/canadiantransport1923/page/262/mode/1up?q=%22Glen+Yard%22

*  *  *

1929 April

from: The Chronicle; Carbon, Alberta
https://archive.org/details/TCR_1929041801/page/n2/mode/1up?q=%22Glen+Yard%22

Glen Yard: Famous in Carbon! 

Carbon, Alberta is about 30 kilometres west of Drumheller.

*  *  *

1931

from: Transactions of the Engineering Institute of Canada  archive.org
https://archive.org/details/transactionsofen14engi/page/22/mode/1up?q=%22Glen+Yard%22

ABS used electrically-operated signals 'actuated by track occupancy' ... to protect the train on a defined section of track against collision. 

..... Point A ..... My Train ..... Point B .....

Signals at A and B automatically guard My Train.

An important function of ABS was preventing a following train from striking the rear of a train which had stopped unexpectedly. 

They also maintained a safe interval between moving trains. They provided automatic 'separation'. 

*  *  *

1932 January

from: Railway Engineering & Maintenance; 1932 January
https://archive.org/details/sim_railway-track-structures_1932-01_28_1/page/34/mode/1up?q=%22Glen+Yard%22

Always working on behalf of the shareholders, resourceful techniques were used do more with less - even if it meant laying off workers during the Depression.

*  *  *

1944 April

from: Railway Age; 1944 April.
https://archive.org/details/sim_railway-age_1944-04-15_116_16/page/754/mode/1up?q=%22Glen+Yard%22

*  *  *

1967 May

 Board of Transport Commissioners for Canada

Montreal to Rigaud Commutation Services

This last excerpt is rich in detail. Anyone who has been interested in the recent history of CPR Montreal commuter services might enjoy reading the whole investigation by the BTC. The text link appears just before the first page, below. 

This investigation also gives us interesting historical insights into how Glen Yard functioned, the equipment used and the staffing required.

This type of study was done in the era when transportation safety, freight rates, line abandonment, passenger ticket prices, the termination of passenger service, etc were all under government regulation. 

As suggested above, the previous safety hazards and abuses of unbridled 'free enterprise' resulted in these huge, critical, national transportation systems being supervised by a quasi-judicial body.

https://archive.org/details/judgmentsorders57cana/page/185/mode/1up?q=%22Glen+Yard%22

end

Diesel Fuel

A 40% premium on diesel fuel?! What happened?

A Volkswagen Rabbit which sounded like a farm tractor was never something I found attractive. However, during the oil price gyrations of the 1970s and 1980s, a number of people did choose diesel passenger vehicles because the fuel was 10-20% cheaper and diesel engines were significantly more fuel efficient than those powered by gasoline. 

Elsewhere, the 1970s and 1980s were characterized by the same old domestic North American products, showing little re-engineering or innovation. Tariff barriers often helped ensure they were made in this country or on this continent. They were relatively expensive. Electronics?: a cathode ray tube TV (maybe colour), a stereo for your 'records', a VCR. An audio cassette player in the car!

Welcome to the 2020s! 

Diesel is more of a globally-traded and -priced commodity today. With this blog's favourite Strait facing selective traffic attenuation, Persian Gulf crude oil is not getting to European refineries ... but our refined diesel fuel is. I saw a Sky News (UK) story today with a graph showing that Canada has the largest diesel fuel reserves in the world. I guess 'had' would be more accurate. 

Since 2000, there has been explosive innovation in new products. Twenty years ago, we could not have imagined all the changes which have taken place - both the new products and the changes they have caused in our societies. 

And now, the whole economy of the "globalized world" runs on diesel - from the trucks moving the shipping containers to the docks of China, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan ... up to and including the wide assortment of courier trucks racing up and down our street every single weekday ... and now on weekends.

And the Europeans have perfected clean diesel automobiles! These are not your father's Volkswagens!

With the US military on the move in recent months, 'middle distillates' diesel and jet fuel are in greater demand than usual. 

Farmers are planting - creating the usual seasonal demand on diesel ... and they are not happy about the price changes.

And if your experience and knowledge-based hunch is that the higher diesel fuel demand will continue or increase ... petroleum financial derivatives, or a loaded petroleum tanker slow-steaming or loitering between here and Europe or Asia ... is even more of a sure thing than a White House insider pre-Tweet bet on a prediction market. 

*  *  *

Diesel - How It Began

https://archive.org/details/11650204bsb/page/n4/mode/1up

Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913)

If you were to copy and paste the link above, you could read Rudolf Diesel's original treatise. 

Warning: lots of German ... even more math!

*  *  *

screencap from: Rudolf Diesel, Pioneer of the Age of Power; Nitske & Wilson; 1965; U of Oklahoma Press. archive.org 

*  *  *

screencap from: Diesel, Technology and Society in Industrial Germany; Donald E Thomas Jr; 1987; U of Alabama Press. archive.org

Diesel's patent from the Kaiser. 

M-A-N is the abbreviation of Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg. 

It will appear again below.

*  *  *

from: Iron Horse to Diesel; Paul Snow; 1961; Whitman.

From a childhood storybook, came this image. I love the artist's flying cogwheels. I believe there were two motor explosions in different settings. One was fuelling with ammonia, the other was using a powdered coal/water slurry. 

During my research, I was reminded that General Electric was experimenting with a powdered coal fuel for a diesel-electric prototype in 1990 ... but there was a note that railroads would have to indicate an interest in the technology for the development to continue. 

*  *  *

screencap from: Rudolf Diesel, Pioneer of the Age of Power; Nitske & Wilson; 1965; U of Oklahoma Press. archive.org

*  *  *

The new fields of aviation and diesel power must have set records for the 'short elapsed time' between the invention of a technology, and its application in war-fighting. 

Elsewhere on this blog, you'll find that a recent Rudolf Diesel biographer speculated that his apparent English Channel ferry suicide was a cover orchestrated by the British to spirit him off to Montreal. This was on the evening of 29 September 1913, on the SS Dresden, steaming between Antwerp and Harwich, England. 

Overnight, on 1 January 1915, the Vickers shipyard at Montreal was turned into a high-security facility with a complete change of personnel. The British Admiralty oversaw the building of 10 H-Class submarines by a workforce of 2000 Americans. The biographer's theory is that the multi-lingual, well-travelled Diesel was 'an expert' brought in to apply Diesel's latest technologies there.

Meanwhile ...

from: Die Höllenmaschine Im U-Boot; Kapitän Herbert Sauer; 1928; August Scherl. archive.org

Top: In the oil engine room of a U-boat in front of the main switch and the engine telegraph.

Bottom: In the diving control center, forward port side. High-pressure compressed air distribution system. In the center of it, the base of the central periscope with eyepiece. Central control station with repeater gyrocompass. Top left, engine telegraph. On the right, under the clock, the quick-venting handwheels of the forward ballast tanks.

*  *  *

from: Geology of Petroleum; William Harvey Emmons; 1921; McGraw-Hill.

At one point, Ontario was Canada's premier petroleum producing province.

The tar/bitumen/oil ... sands are the source of the heavy oil which facilitates the production of large quantities of diesel fuel.

*  *  *

The 1930s, United States ...

There was enough interest in diesel engines in the late 1920s and all through the 1930s, that a magazine existed to write about all the different applications in which the technology could be used. The advertisements are particularly good at depicting this potential. 

Notice the United Fruit Company motive power, pulling what looks like sugar cane. There is a good chance this operation was in Cuba. Unlike the many steam locomotives already present on Cuban railways, these light diesels were able to operate with less maintenance. They didn't have the thirst for water of the steam engines. They were also less likely to emit sparks which could set fire to the dried cane as it stood in the fields.

from: Diesel Progress magazine; June 1935; Diesel Engines Inc. archive.org

*  *  *

The gimmicky, art-deco, streamlined trainsets rode like maintenance-of-way speeder trailers but they spurred on many technological changes.

from: Diesel Progress magazine; June 1935; Diesel Engines Inc. archive.org

*  *  *

Coming to German Cinemas in 1942 ...

from: https://archive.org/details/diesel0000illu/mode/1up

The text-heavy side of this November 1942 German leaflet concludes: 

"A man and a fighter triumphed. And with him, his idea, his work, which changed the face of the global economy."

... Probably the 'Reichsminister für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda' did not subscribe to the theory 

that Rudolf Diesel disappeared in order to build Royal Navy submarines in Montreal. 

I've watched parts of this movie - it's on YouTube.

The directing is a little heavy-handed ...

*  *  *

1950 - General Motors Booklet

from: Diesel the Modern Power; Ralph A Richardson; 1950; General Motors. 

from: Diesel the Modern Power; Ralph A Richardson; 1950; General Motors.

from: Diesel the Modern Power; Ralph A Richardson; 1950; General Motors.

To make interpretation a little easier ... the three little rocker arms above the cylinder show you when the valves and the injector are doing something. 

The two-cycle innovation is 'scavenging'. Instead of using a piston cycle just to push the exhaust gases out ... an attached blower clears them and replaces them with fresh air at the same time. Consequently, every 'downward' piston movement is a power stroke. 

These opposed-piston engines were even more efficient ...

Canadian Locomotive Co, CPR DRS-16 Operator's Manual 1957

but, as adapted space-saving marine/submarine engines, 

they were more complicated, too different, and too troublesome in the long run.

*  *  *

From a 1957 Textbook on Petroleum ...

from: Petroleum, Prehistoric to Petrochemicals; GA Purdy; 1957; Copp Clark. 

*  *  *

A Transport Canada Railway Locomotive Document from 2001

(a quarter of a century ago)

This material will not be on the proverbial test. 

Perhaps some readers may be interested in how some of these older units compare.

This publication says this data comes from AAR testing.

IG is Imperial Gallon

MM is millions

NOx and SOx are oxides of nitrogen and sulphur.

HC - hydrocarbons, unburned 'oil'

PM is probably PM 2.5, the nasty little bits of soot that can pass from the lungs into the bloodstream.

from: Diesel Fuel Quality and Locomotive Emissions in Canada; Robert Dunn; 2001; Transport Canada. archive.org

I believe that Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (bsfc) is a way of expressing fuel efficiency. It is more complicated that the 'best' fuel efficiency ... because it factors in cycles of performance under different conditions. The lower bsfc numbers indicate a more efficient engine.

A 'brake dynamometer' attaches to a crankshaft and applies different measured braking (i.e. resistance) forces on it to simulate the various loads under which the engine works.

While the newer units don't seem to offer significantly better efficiency on a 1:1 basis ... the text reminds us that they provide more power per unit and that they burn the fuel with less pollution.

from: Diesel Fuel Quality and Locomotive Emissions in Canada; Robert Dunn; 2001; Transport Canada.

*  *  *

Diesel Engines in Ships

When we get to the use of 'diesel' in large modern ocean ships such as tankers and containerships, there is not one single type of fuel which is burned. Ships carry multiple fuel tanks to allow for cost-effective operation or for low-pollution operation.

Since 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has required that all ships (unless using scrubbers) must carry fuel oil with no more than 0.50% sulphur content (mass/mass). In specific Emission Control Areas (ECA) fuel with no greater than 0.10% sulphur content can be used. Effective March 2027, the Canadian Arctic and Norwegian Sea become ECAs with the 0.10% sulphur regulation becoming effective.

The text below revisits my 1957 petroleum textbook. The unrefined petroleum is still the same today. The processes for refining it are more complex, so I sometimes like to start with the basic explanation of what they did 75 years ago in simpler times. 

The last paragraph is still applicable. The ship owner is not going to allow the ship's engineers to put just any kind of fuel in a marine diesel engine that costs millions of dollars. 

from: Petroleum, Prehistoric to Petrochemicals; GA Purdy; 1957; Copp Clark.

In reading about future 'alternative fuels' to be used instead of diesel fuel for shipping ... e.g. biodiesel, hydrogen, ammonia*, methanol*, LNG*, etc ... I get the impression they all have some characteristic which makes them impractical outside of those ECAs which require low sulphur fuel. (*Currently used in Emission Control Areas.)

For example: fuels may be scarce and expensive; or, they may consist of the smallest molecule which is always escaping and its supercooled liquid form damages the metal it interacts with; or, potentially extremely toxic to the crew if not handled with great care; or, not containing enough energy per unit and/or requiring more specialized handling than diesel oil. 

Exception: On ships designed to carry LNG ... the ship can be designed to use the 'boiled off' vapour exclusively as fuel.

As with the previously-presented locomotive fleet (and our current automobile fleet) ... owners are unlikely to scrap a piece of equipment which has only been in service for 5 years. Tankers and containerships generally have a service life of 20-30 years. The main engine usually works for the whole lifespan of the hull. 

... So if a miracle like cheap solar-powered electric containerships suddenly descended down upon the earth, the ship owners would probably continue to use their old ships, burning their old fuels, until the end of their normal service lives.

*  *  *

Another interesting thing about modern ocean ships such as tankers and containerships ... 

We have all seen that they are 'welded together' in China or South Korea using cheap labour and/or very intensive automation. You should see some of the plate steel cutting/handling/welding automation videos! ...

However, these mass-produced ships are a 'global trade product'. Sure, the steel is made, the 'unfair subsidies' given, and the brute force assembly is done in Asia. However, the complete engines generally come from Europe. The electronic control systems may come from somewhere else, etc. 

*  *  *

A Ship Built in 2025

from: CGTN news website.

Recently completed in China, this Greek-owned tanker will carry 850-900,000 barrels of oil - depending on the oil's density. 

If you can imagine about 115 of these ships fully-loaded ... it would represent the world's petroleum use on a single day.

The Seascout is powered by a MAN B&W 6G60ME-C Mk9.5 engine - a low-speed, six-cylinder, two-stroke marine diesel. It puts out approximately 22,850 horsepower or 17,040 kW. Its engine drives the propeller directly with no transmission between the engine and the prop. It generally operates at 60-85 RPM (range 20-95 RPM), travelling at about 14 knots. 

You may have noticed the 'MAN' (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg) which takes us right back to one of Rudolf Diesel's first engine builders. Just like General Electric, the name endures but the corporate structures have changed over the decades. I believe MAN is now owned by Volkswagen's parent. 

* * *

People may remember that during the first oil crisis, top highway speeds were reduced, to decrease the fuel burned by highway vehicles ... because of the exponential resistance of air as a car's speed increases ...

The Danish shipping line Maersk first came up with the idea of 'slow steaming'. As with the highway speed reduction, the idea was to decrease the exponential resistance of the water at higher speeds to save on fuel costs. They ran a trial involving 110 ships in 2007. Adjustments were required to the ship engines to avoid damaging them by running them at speeds for which they weren't designed. By dropping the speed from 24 knots to 14-18 knots they found they could reduce fuel consumption by 30% or more. 

Obviously, containerships in high demand and operating on a schedule will operate at higher speeds when necessary.

However, for bulk commodities, ship fuel economy is often more important for profitability than speed. This is particularly the case when petroleum is going to remain 'at sea' for a period of time. There, it waits for the shipowner or product consignor to determine that a given market will provide an advantageous price ... and the ship is then instructed to dock and make delivery.

* * *

He was born in a foreign country. He lived and worked in poverty during his first decade of life. He was subsequently deported to another foreign country at the onset of the Franco-Prussian War.

Rudolf Diesel hoped that poorer countries could fuel his simpler engines with whichever plant oils they had in abundance. He hoped people could derive the economic benefits of efficient, modern motor power. 

Diesel never could have imagined how his invention would dominate the world's transportation system over a century later.

'His work changed the face of the global economy.'

end

CPR Steam Snapshots - 4-6-4T, 4-4-0, Moosomin & McAdam

Oh, some interesting surprises always pop up during the course of research.

Some unknown collector acquired railway photos and glued the prints to 5x8-inch cards. Given the limited data available before the internet, the captions are sparse. I have included the original captions in quotation marks under the images.

To accurately obtain the equipment's building and scrapping dates, I consult Canadian Pacific Steam Locomotives; Omer Lavallee; 1985; Railfare. 

... It is necessary to go through all the concatenations of road numbers generated through the Canadian Pacific's three major numbering schemes for steam. Sometimes, the engines were even renumbered within one of those systems. 

And I always forget that the builder's serial number is the single best data point to use, to ensure that you haven't slid into the line of data for a completely different locomotive.

I can 'show my work', but I will not burden you with the intermediate road numbers used and their effective dates. 

*  *  *

First, we'll start with a couple of fast-in-both-directions tank engines. You should feel free to call them Forneys if you wish. 

"Montreal, 1896."

Built CPR New Shops, April 1893. Scrapped as 5990, September 1924.

"Shawbridge, Quebec, September 1921."

Built CPR Angus, February 1912. Scrapped February 1935.

"Field, British Columbia, 1886."

Built CPR New Shops, July 1886. Scrapped as 159, December 1929.

The display of the American flags is interesting.

Notice that wood was still in use as a fuel.

"Golden, British Columbia, 1936"

Built at CPR New Shops, June 1886. 

Above, you will recognize the number of the engine which pulled the first scheduled train into Vancouver on 23 May 1887. It was the 371 which led the first scheduled train coming from Montreal on its final leg into Port Moody on 4 July 1886. 

... As oil headlights were no longer being used in 1936, and the Randolph Scott movie Canadian Pacific was made in 1949 ... I did an image search in the hope that the 'event' in Golden would become apparent. 

Another CPR Movie

A movie was made in 1937 with the help of the CPR and the people of Revelstoke ... and at other locations. You can also witness a model train which sinks to the engine's running boards in 'muskeg'!

Like Canadian Pacific, the most someone could say is that the movie is 'based on actual events'. Silent Barriers is slightly closer to history, and being a British production, it is 'less Hollywood' in its approach. More CPR corporate history and lore was allowed to filter through into the final product. No doubt the 1949 movie producers referred to the 1937 film during their planning. 

'The Great Barrier' was the movie's original title ... pertaining to Major Rogers's last-minute [literally, the last 3 minutes] movie discovery of the pass through the Selkirks for $50,000!

... Perhaps pluralizing to Silent Barriers was intended to evoke both the mountain range PLUS some kind of melodramatic conflict ... labour versus management ... the national dream versus the obstacles to Canadian nation-building ... Van Horne versus Hill ... engineer versus conductor ... take your pick. 

Artistic Licence

The most fascinating triumph of story-telling over the vastness of Canada comes when Rogers Pass is discovered. At the exact moment when the pass is found, the railway will be saved: A telegram will be sent to Montreal and the pay car can finally be sent out to pay the striking, rioting, arsonist, murderous workers at End of Track - at the aptly-named 'Moodyville'. 

How is this miraculous discovery communicated? 

Simple: Rogers lights a fire at the pass, creating a pall of black smoke, it rises over the mountains and is seen at End of Track.  

The Making of ...

Through the miracle of the internet, I found an excellent presentation by the curator of the Revelstoke Museum and Archives which shows some of the treasury of photos taken at Revelstoke during the making of the movie. 

As someone who is interested in the preservation and interpretation of history (in this case, Revelstoke in the 1930s), I highly recommend the excellent presentation linked below. And there are many others to see via their YouTube account. If you choose to watch the movie, you'll see much more if you watch the museum presentation first. 

Silent Barriers, original title The Great Barrier (1937)

Silent Barriers, Revelstoke Museum & Archives presentation

Cathy English, Curator

Silent Barriers on YouTube

Cathy English mentions that 'they brought up another engine from Vancouver' (this was the 374). The image below is taken from a screen shot of her presentation. If you count the rivets, you'll see that the 522 is not the 374 renumbered. (To represent a whole railway roster, the CPR 136 was renumbered several times during The National Dream.)

from: Revelstoke Museum and Archives presentation.

Built by Manchester, New Hampshire, 1888. 

(CPR 522 - acquired from the New Brunswick Railway) 

Scrapped (officially as 143, Lavallee), October 1936 - after the movie's summer location work was finished.

Both engines are shown moving under steam power in the first few minutes of the film.

The last minute of the 1937 film features a contemporary motive power scene.

from: Revelstoke Museum and Archives presentation.

Worth their weight in publicity for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Another photo from the Revelstoke presentation.

from: Google Maps

The Revelstoke Museum and Archives in the former post office building.

*  *  *

"Vancouver, British Columbia, 1946."

Above, CPR 374 is probably decorated for the formal event of its presentation to the City. 

Below, as 374 originally appeared on display in the park at Kitsilano Beach.

You'll perhaps be interested in the locations of the air pump.

Originally, the pump for the 'new braking technology' was located on the engineer's side.

Later in history, it will find its permanent home on the fireman's side. 

No Caption.

*  *  *

"Moosomin, 1886, First scheduled run to Vancouver."

With the track curving behind the train, you can see a wind-driven pump for the water tower.

The large crowd on the station platform suggests a special event.

Lightening the photo reveals a man wearing a tie right beside the cab.

In a dress uniform, we see a member of a military unit or a member of the North-West Mounted Police.

*  *  * 

"McAdam, before 1904."

An image identical to the one above appears on the internet - it is printed as dark as my image was originally. However, my photo has an odd rectangular printing artifact at the third storey of the tower. 

The camera seems to be perched on a shop building. 

In the foreground, left to right, are spare wheels and a jacked up tender water tank. Another tender is having its wooden parts renewed. To its right is another tender for the 631 - loaded with wood and which might just have a link and pin coupler. A triangular locomotive pilot is tipped up in front of the fountain. 

In front of the unique caboose (I can't read the print) at the right margin is a car labelled 'CPR' and possibly 'post car'. This guess would be supported by its relatively small door and small windows intended to admit light for work and never people.

The building in the centre has 'railway character' and it may have belonged to a railway subsequently acquired by the CPR - perhaps the New Brunswick and Canada. Its tall guyed 'mast' is quite an interesting feature.

Initially, the Maine Central approached from the west ... and became the St John and Maine at the Canadian border and as it left McAdam on its way east to Saint John.

The New Brunswick and Canada Railway passed through McAdam on its north-south alignment.

I think the CPR had effective corporate control of these lines by 1890.

My guess is that the main east-west (or vice versa) line is seen at the left margin (i.e. part of the CPR 'Short Line' across Maine). However, I don't want to guess on the compass alignment of anything in the photo.

That is probably a four-storey heated water tower. Behind the coach and caboose to the tower's right is probably an interlocking tower and a station with perhaps a divisional headquarters. Or perhaps part of the complex is a hotel. The well-known McAdam station which survives today incorporated a hotel into its design. 

Main line passengers travelling to and from the CPR resort at St Andrews, New Brunswick might have justified a high-quality railway hotel being located at this junction.

*  *  *

from: Railway and Canal Maps of Canada; 1904; Government of Canada. archive.org

The map above shows the general arrangement of railways here circa 1900.

To add to the fun, I have included McAdam-related pages from an employee timetable from the same era.

source: archive.org

end