The 1939 Royal Tour - Part 3 - Ottawa to Chapleau

Above, this is how Molson sold beer in 1939. Our look at the 1939 Royal Tour continues with the guide book's wayside narrative and images from along the way. And a beer ad from the end of the Dirty Thirties.

I have dreaded calculating how and where the tour made up the time they lost while stopped amongst the fog and icebergs. From Part 1, you'll recall that Vice-Admiral Sir Dudley North was effectively in charge of the designated royal yacht (RMS Empress of Australia) and its escorts. He bullied the Canadian Pacific captain, Archibald Meikle, into taking the 'fastest' northern route - which delayed the arrival at Quebec City by two days.

In the press, Captain Meikle was taking the blame for the delay, but he would not have taken that more northerly route in the spring - like the RMS Titanic had 27 years earlier.

Here is a point-form summary of the timing, Quebec City to Toronto.

The bold text summarizes key aspects of the schedule adaptations.

The local time was Daylight Saving but the railways used only Standard Time.

Arrived at Quebec City Wednesday, May 17 instead of Monday, May 15.
Two days behind schedule.

Arrived at Ottawa on Friday May 19 instead of Wednesday, May 17.
Two days behind schedule.

Left Ottawa at 1430hr on Sunday May 21 instead of 1800hr Saturday May 20.
The train was about 18 hours behind schedule leaving Ottawa.

The train made up about 18 hours between Ottawa and Toronto.
This included cutting the Kingston stop from 9.5 hours to 90 minutes.
The local Member of Parliament, Norman Rogers (then Minister of Labour), was shocked by the initial plan to stop there for only 30 minutes.

The arrival time at Toronto matched the published itinerary.
The train arrived at the CPR North Toronto station at 1030hr DST on Monday, May 22.
As planned, the royal party motorcaded to the events in Toronto.

The train left for the west from Toronto Union Station at 1945hr.

Here is a quick summary of the Toronto events in chronological order:

• Met the Dionne Quintuplets in the Lieutenant-Governor's suite in the Ontario Legislature. The Quints had their own train to bring them down from Callander - The Quintland Special. (The Quints were not on the official itinerary.)
• The Queen presented colours to the Toronto Scottish Regiment at Hart House at the University of Toronto. They lunched at U of T - The King asked for a chicken breast and a cup of coffee. The other 500 guests had a more elaborate menu.
• Drove among rows of 25,000 children assembled at Riverdale Park.
• Attended the running of the King's Plate at Woodbine.
• Visited Christie Street Hospital where they spoke to 250 veterans individually.
• Returned to Queen's Park for tea.
• Visited the Canadian National Exhibition.

from: Canadian Geographical Journal; July 1939; Canadian Geographical Society.

Kingston: I  think you can see the King boarding (standing) the lead car.
The Royal Train can be seen beyond the platform shelter
at Kingston's CNR 'outer station' on Montreal Street.

I can't remember where I purchased the roughly mounted and framed newspaper clipping seen below. After all these years ... here is its moment! It was obviously important to someone at some point to have been framed. It is extremely yellowed and I have desaturated it of colour.

I have enlarged the photo of the men and the caption farther below. Notice that the CPR crew operating to Toronto is taking over at Brighton. A decade or more ago, there remained a short manual crossover between the CNR and CPR at Brighton. 

The Pilot Train (carrying press and some tour officials and always ordered to run 30 minutes ahead) and the Royal Train were usually tucked into a quiet siding at night, and passing trains were given instructions in order to minimize noise there. The trains were guarded by police, and the location was not publicized. 

While there is nothing to indicate that the trains stayed at Brighton - it seems likely that a Brighton crossover was used and that the 2851 and 2850 led the trains again from that point westward.

(Brockville Museum home movies linked in the previous posts show the CNR 6400 operating on the CNR at Brockville and I churlishly observed that the 2850 indeed did not operate on the Royal Train without replacement between Quebec City and Vancouver - contrary to the often-quoted CPR promotion of that engine.)

from: Toronto Telegram, 1939.

Many of you have already noticed that something is 'missing' from the locomotive above.

The position of the rods and counter-weights seem to match in both photos,
so perhaps both photos were taken at roughly the same time.

from: Toronto Telegram, 1939.

from: Canadian Pacific Railway Diagrams and Data; ed: Omer Lavallee; 1985. Railfare.

The semi-streamlined Hudsons - the H1c, d, e classes 2820-2864 were those promoted as Royal Hudsons.

from: Canadian Geographical Journal; July 1939; Canadian Geographical Society.

Wearing the uniform of Admiral of the Fleet, 

the King inspects part of the guard of honour 

supplied by the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve 

at the North Toronto station.

In the years that followed, it seems likely 

that some of these sailors would be serving on the Canadian corvette convoy escorts 

protecting convoys for Britain from German U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic.

from: Canadian Geographical Journal; July 1939; Canadian Geographical Society.

Above: You can see the Queen and King boarding the lead car.
The Royal Canadian Dragoons provided the Captain's Escort.

'This' was bothering me, so here is a description.
Sadly, the 'Plates' were not available.
... The entire tour was steeped in tradition and protocol.

from: Regulations for the Instruction and Movements of Cavalry, 1876; Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

from: Daylight Upon Magic; Tom MacDonnell; 1989; Macmillan.

The King and Queen at the Christie Street Hospital, Toronto.
This stop was extended from 7 minutes to 45 minutes as each of 250 veterans was spoken with.

According to the Canadian War Museum about 7% of Canada's population (of 8 million) was in uniform
during the Great War and the King felt a particular obligation to acknowledge their service.

from: Canadian Geographical Journal; July 1939; Canadian Geographical Society.

Queen Elizabeth presents colours to Toronto Scottish Regiment.

from: Canadian Geographical Journal; July 1939; Canadian Geographical Society.

Children near Riverdale Park ('waybills' attached) wave Canada's official flag.

Full page ad from back inside cover: Canadian Geographical Journal; July 1939; Canadian Geographical Society.

In 1939, people with subscriptions to the Canadian Geographical Journal were probably fairly well off.

If they were targeting affluent 40-year-olds in 1940 ...
(people who survived the Great War)
the target's great-grandfather would have been born circa 1825.

CNR 1981 Kingston: M-630 Locomotives

During hot summer days in the 1980s, Alco Century Series 6-axle units were a favourite locomotive to spot and photograph. With some of the smoking external 'personality' of steam locomotives, they were particularly interesting to watch as they lifted heavy trains.

Diagrams come from this January 1970 operating manual ...
which made many trips along the north shore of Lake Superior with Rolly Martin.

Before the widespread provision, and company mandated use of dynamic brakes on Canadian railways, train air brakes were generally used for train control when descending grades and/or preparing to clear in sidings. Above, brake smoke blends with summer haze as an eastbound approaches the Kingston VIA station in 1981.

A time-honoured practice was to put freights into sidings for peak periods of VIA traffic. Before the 1986 Commission of Inquiry, Hinton Train Collision this was done through CTC signalling with very little 'sharing' from the Belleville-based dispatcher on the master plan evolving at his desk.

The tailend crew would advise the engineer when they were in the clear.

Above, Alco-MLW thoroughbred power supplements the summer heat at the east end of Kingston's Queens track 4.

Italics denote archaic railway terms.

Getting underway, the trailing unit - an M-636 - is putting on a show.

An earlier effort to look at M-636 power can be seen here:

CNR 2300s in June 1982 at Kingston

The evening summer sun in 1981 does a nice job of lighting elements of the brake system on the loaded boxcar above.

Probably no railroader mourned the extinction of roof-mounted hand brakes and 'plain' bearings.

Sir John A Macdonald's Funeral Train, 1891

One can only imagine two 4-4-0's slowly traversing the Canadian Shield backwoods north of Kingston,
leading wooden rolling stock which is draped in black - Macdonald's funeral train.

from: Vanishing Canada; Rick Butler; 1980; Clarke Irwin & Co.

In happier times.
Apparently, this is the only known photo of Macdonald actually aboard a train.
In this book the view is undated, the private car is named Jamaica.

from: Vanishing Canada; Rick Butler; 1980; Clarke Irwin & Co.

Sir John A Macdonald is shown in 1888 at Earnscliffe - his home in Ottawa.

from: Canada -1892; Peter C Newman; 1992; Penguin Books.

Above is a well-known poster from the March 5, 1891 general election.
Macdonald won another majority for the Conservative Party - albeit a smaller one.
He died on June 6, 1891.


*  *  *

The account of the events after Sir John A Macdonald's death comes from this book,
which is also available at archive.org.

The recounting begins. 

We are midway through a speech in the House of Commons by Liberal leader Wilfrid Laurier ...

The Senate Chamber in the old Parliament Buildings (burned in 1916) - also known today as 'The Red Chamber'.
... is seems likely the British artists who colourized the Valentine Company's postcard did not know this.

From the book.

The CPR Ottawa station circa 1900.

from: In Search of the K&P; Bennett & McCuaig; 1981; Renfrew Advance Ltd.

The funeral train, perhaps at the Ottawa station.
Depending on train speed and weather, special event train decorations often deteriorated en route.

THIS ACCOUNT RESUMES BELOW

*  *  *

... after the following details on the train and Kingston ...

According to In Search of the K&P, the consist and passengers were as follows:

First Car - Mayor Kingston and city councillors.

Second Car - Carillon

Third Car - Journalists

Fourth Car - Ottawa

Fifth Car - Privy councillors and other dignitaries.

Sixth Car - Funeral car. 

Seventh Car - Cumberland

(The Montreal Gazette of June 12, 1891 reported the train was 14 cars. Clearly, there is plenty of opportunity for further research on the exact details of the train, its consist and its occupants.)

The route taken was: Carleton Place, Franktown, Smiths Falls, Perth, Sharbot Lake. 

At the last place, where the train reached Kingston and Pembroke rails, a K&P engine was added to lead - making the train a double-header. The train proceeded very slowly on the last section of its route. 

At Harrowsmith, the Funeral Car was marshaled directly behind the motive power. When the train arrived at the K&P station at Kingston, this would have spotted it directly across from Kingston's city hall.

In the circa 1900 view above, the Grand Trunk tracks leading to the 'Inner Station' and the locomotive works are nearest the water. The Kingston and Pembroke station is directly behind the ship's mast.  Notice the K&P platform shelter which is attached to the freight shed. 

Part of the city hall building is seen at the right edge of the photo.

The back of City Hall on market day.

The waterfront trackage and the K&P station are on the far side.

From the book.

Above: The waterfront side of City Hall.

from: In Search of the K&P; Bennett & McCuaig; 1981; Renfrew Advance Ltd.

On the day of the interment. Viewed from City Hall, the freight shed and part of the platform shelter are seen again - this time from the opposite side, with the harbour beyond. Coaches are stored on the K&P (foreground) and Grand Trunk tracks (background) ... the funeral has resulted in an influx of passenger equipment onto the waterfront trackage.

*  *  *

THE ACCOUNT CONTINUES ...

From the book.

The last six pages of the book describe the response in Britain ...