Vancouver in September 1950

In September 1950, LC Gagnon saw the famous MWD weather bird in Vancouver! Kitsch and style of the 1950s, and a visit to a rich uncle, are featured during this installment of his CPR Company pass visit to the west coast.

LC Gagnon at Whytecliff Park, Vancouver, BC, September 1950.
(photo by Robert Armstrong)

No description.
Obviously this is a meat packing plant ...
somewhere between Seattle and Portland.

Vancouver, Washington.

The Willamette River.

Portland, Oregon.
The car on the sidewalk is heading for the parking garage.
The woodie at the right is waiting for surfboards?

When in Portland, LC Gagnon stays at the Heathman ... it's still there in 2018.

*  *  *

Back in Vancouver BC ...

The CPR Hotel Vancouver.

The Gray Line tour bus stops at Stanley Park.

As bad as this looks, the 374 was unfenced and in rougher shape when we saw it in 1982. (It's now under cover.)
Earlier in this trip my father also photographed The Countess of Dufferin at the CPR Winnipeg station.

A relative from Lachute, Quebec, 'Uncle Abbie Armstrong' left for the west coast when he was young. He became half of the thriving Vancouver contracting firm of Armstrong and Monteith. On a Sunday afternoon, my father dropped by Abbie's house on Newton Wynd and got the tour of their estate. Abbie's son Robert showed him around the Vancouver area for the afternoon. My father was back for supper and they dropped him off at the Hotel Georgia that night.

The MWD weather bird!
Official Forecast: Sunny today.

The Maritime Building rises behind.

Guessing from the hood ornament ... Robert Armstrong may be driving a 1940 Oldsmobile.

Going through Stanley Park.

Over the Lions Gate Bridge.

... It's a toll bridge.

*  *  *

On the following day, September 18, 1950, 
my father was headed back for the train home.

The Hudson's Bay store is in the foreground, the Hotel Vancouver is behind.

The Davie bus is seen in front of the Hotel Georgia.

Somewhere else, the Cambie bus is spotted.

Look at the fancy SUV to the right!
With that full-sized spare stored on its rear, it must be the Limited Touring Edition!
It's also got energy-absorbing bumpers.

Notice that the owner sprang for the Rear Brake Light Technology Package
... no more arm signals when you slow down!!

... just when you turn.

CPR 1950 Connaught Tunnel to Victoria - and Seattle

LC Gagnon's Company pass trip west reaches the coast with this installment. 

Additional CPR assets take him over to Victoria and then it's off to Seattle!

The first view is the Columbia River, west of Golden BC.
The characteristic steam locomotive smudge is produced by the heavy oil burning in the firebox.

What seems to be a disused sawmill is seen near Rogers, BC.

Usually I plumb up the photos, but detail would be lost on this one.

To the right, the absolute block signal semaphore arm is rising to provide a clear signal into the Connaught Tunnel ...
now that this train has cleared the circuit.

Left-hand (back then it was double tracked) running gave engineers a view ahead of trains or railway personnel in the tunnel.

The tunnel ventilation fans (two 'squirrel cages' between the white buildings) were operated by diesel motors.
Perhaps there is a tank car on the short spur at the right which was used for fuel cars.
The back of a searchlight signal can be seen. It would have governed movements returning to the main track.

If Number 7 is on time ... you can confirm on the employee timetable, below, that these are shadows from about 1700hr.

With one of the Connaught Tunnel's white fan buildings still visible around the curve, the train is departing Glacier.
A local citizen is leaning against the baggage wagon.
A water standpipe can be seen at the end of the platform.

A nice piece of tangent track west of Glacier.

If you've ever spent many hours at a time in a dome car
or at an open dutch door in a vestibule ...
you'll probably remember a point at which you experienced 'sensory overload'.

As rare and wonderful as the experience is, you just want to hole-up in your accommodation and rest for a while.
... Maybe get some hot food too.

My 23 year old (future) father has been hanging out, off and on, in the hayrack observation car since Calgary.
The next photos are from Vancouver.

The Princess Kathleen and Princess Marguerite were the finest of the CPR's coastal steamers.
With a displacement of 5875 tons, they were completed in 1925 and could steam at 22 knots.
They were designed for the fast 'triangle' run connecting Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle.

My father travelled from Vancouver (shown above) on the Princess Marguerite to Victoria.

... probably enough lifeboats to hold everybody.

Private sector coastal services existed before the establishment of the provincial BC Ferries in 1960.

'Entering the inner harbour at Victoria.'

If you look at the flat white warehouse to the right of the terminal elevator,
I think you'll see 'Canadian National ... ' written on it.

LC Gagnon stayed overnight at the Empress Hotel ... within walking distance of the dock!

At the left, in the distance, you can see a Hudson's Bay Company store - it did have a sign like that.
It is not clear home many of the sidewalk people are 'computer generated'.

The photo above was taken on September 14, 1950 ...
as the Princess Marguerite approached Vancouver's Lions Gate Bridge.

It looks like a good example of a box camera manual time exposure.

When in Vancouver, you too can stay at the Hotel Georgia.
In front is the BCE trolley bus for the Davie Route.
That is not advertising on the front, it is the red BCE logo and the bus' road number.

This sight was seen from the Great Northern train my father took between Vancouver and Portland, Oregon.
It remains slightly askew to get as much of that tower's detail as possible.
The chain link fence seems to have extra strands of barbed wire mounted at an angle.

The photo is captioned 'Coastal fog'.

Seattle, Washington and Mount Rainier.

'I did not see Mount Rainier because of the fog.'

LC Gagnon snapped this Northern Pacific locomotive through a coach window near the Seattle station.

I think it is a Baldwin VO-660.