Portage la Prairie Lines, Part 5 - The Canadian Northern comes to town!

Do you like maps? We've got maps from Siberia to Waskada!

The trains of the Canadian Northern (and its antecedent railway, Lake Manitoba Railway and Canal Co.) had been running into Portage la Prairie via trackage rights on the Manitoba and Northwestern from Gladstone. However, they still didn't own or lease any rails which would bring them into Portage. 

... That will change with this installment of my effort to understand how the Portage rail-scape evolved. 

But first ... dredging up ancient history ...

It was fun to find this photo of Thomas Rosser (below) before he started working for the CPR. As you'll recall, Van Horne eventually fired him for conspiring to profit from his access to privileged corporate information concerning where the railway was to locate and build its facilities. Rosser is not found in the Biographical Dictionary of Railway Officials of America (1901 edition) so he might have found another line of work, retired, etc.

from: Northern Pacific, Main Street of the Northwest; Charles R Wood; 1968; Superior Publishing.

I'm foreshadowing with some Northern Pacific images ...

from: Northern Pacific, Main Street of the Northwest; Charles R Wood; 1968; Superior Publishing.

I am equally tickled to find a photo of these flatboats. You can imagine how desperate they were to have some form of 'heavy transportation' if they were building and using these things. 

I have read that these boats would float ... and, failing that ... grind their way down the river - sometimes getting dragged off the riverbed when they became stuck in shallow sections, or during periods of low water in the river. This is a means of transportation which works well in only one direction - with the current. And, of course, they could only be used when the temperature was reliably above freezing. There would be the possibility that shallow-draft steamboats could have assisted flotillas of flatboats (loaded or empty), but there probably weren't that many steamboats around.

Returning your 'empties'? I guess they would have 'lined' them up-river using draft animals on a tow path. Probably hardware and other high-value cargoes could have justified the expense and hassle of using these vessels. However, cheap, reliable, all-weather railways would be a lot better. 

These images also show that there was a lot of free, cross-border movement of people, goods and commerce. Certainly, First Nations people in the Canadian west would not hesitate to travel on their traditional, but newly-buffalo-free, lands. Speaking of First Nations and their traditional lands ... the railways, Canadian settlers, American settlers (923,000 between 1897 and 1913), and settlers drawn from Europe by the railways' overseas immigration agents ... were crossing as many borders as they needed to, to get to the 'Last Best West' in Canada.

from: The Last Best West; Jean Bruce; 1976; Fitzhenry & Whiteside.

The Last Best West; Jean Bruce; 1976; Fitzhenry & Whiteside.
From a Canadian government immigration pamphlet.

The Last Best West; Jean Bruce; 1976; Fitzhenry & Whiteside.
From a Canadian government immigration pamphlet.

In Part 4, I was suggesting that the definition of Galicians would be open to nuance. 

There we go: Now everyone's a Ukrainian. 

The map from Part 4 is repeated below, along with another from 1904.

Naturally, there are differences between national/imperial boundaries ... and distinct or mixed ethno-cultural areas.

from: The Modern Age; Richards & Cruickshank; 1955; Longmans Canada.

Handy Reference Atlas of the World; 1904; JG Bartholomew.
No, Vladimir, no one wants to know what you think ...
Everyone is a Ukrainian (see above).
No time for your bad, sloppy and conveniently-selective history - that's my department.

*  *  *

... Man! Some people! ...

Back to our friend Hanna ...

from: James J Hill, Empire Builder of the Northwest; Michael P Malone; 1996; University of Oklahoma Press.

from: Biographical Directory of Railway Officials of America; T Addison Bushey; 1901; Railway Age. edg

... so ends Hanna's story of the Canadian Northern Railway gaining control of the former American-built and owned Northern Pacific lines, 

including the lines near and through Portage la Prairie.

*  *  *

Here is what they'll say about the Canadian Northern in Port Arthur circa 1912 - about 10 years in the future.

This book was written by a Briton who was on a CPR-supported trip across Canada via the CPR.

from: From Halifax to Vancouver; B Pullen-Burry; 1912; Mills & Boon Ltd, London.

Valentine Co postcard. Mailed from Port Arthur in 1912.

WG MacFarlane Postcard. Unused, undated.

*   *  *

... but that's still in the future. And it will happen far from Portage. Below is the chain of legislation which shows how the Northern Pacific railway lines were finessed by the NP, CNoR and the Manitoba government into the rapidly-growing Canadian Northern portfolio of western Canadian lines. Oh, to have been a railway builder ... or a corporate lawyer ... back then!

from: A Statutory History of Railways in Canada 1836-1986; Dorman/Stoltz; 1987; Canadian Institute of Guided Ground Transport.

*  *  *

Waskada or Bust!

From: Grant's Bankers and Brokers Railroad System Atlas, 1906; Toronto. Original maps: George F. Cram, Chicago. http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/

Above is the 'big picture' of what is happening in Manitoba vis-a-vis the Canadian Pacific (red, 15) and Canadian Northern (purple, 12) systems in 1906. 

It doesn't really seem that any area of the Prairies is being neglected.

Does anyone see any Grand Trunk Pacific lines? 

... Perhaps someone should tell Sir Wilfrid Laurier to hold off on the National Transcontinental and the Grand Trunk Pacific. 

... Yes, I realize Laurier might want a nation-building 'Liberal transcontinental' matching the nation-building 'Conservative transcontinental' (CPR) ... but really! 

The dystopian future: Bankrupt railways eventually get rolled into the CNR ... the CNR gets ... Turbotrain! 

Please, no.

Even Vladimir thinks a functionally-complementary

Canadian Northern (western Canada) and Grand Trunk (eastern Canada) system

would have been better for Canada.

From: Grant's Bankers and Brokers Railroad System Atlas, 1906; Toronto. Original maps: George F. Cram, Chicago. http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/

Zooming in on developments in the Portage la Prairie area, above:

(Most dates were carelessly transcribed from: Lines of Country; Christopher Andreae; 1997; Boston Mills Press.)

• Gladstone to Dauphin 1897 (Lake Manitoba Rly & Canal)
• Portage to Winnipeg (NP 1889; Government of Manitoba to CNoR 1901)
• Portage to Delta (NP 1900; Government of Manitoba to CNoR 1901)
• Portage to Brandon Jct (CNoR 1905)
• Brandon Jct to Carberry Jct (CNoR 1905)
• Neepawa Jct to Carberry Jct (CNoR 1903)

Eliminating the need to use trackage rights on the Manitoba & Northwestern/CPR - Gladstone to Portage (with a bit of joint track at Gladstone):

• Gladstone to Neepawa Jct to Beaver (CNoR 1901)
• Beaver to Portage la Prairie (CNoR 1900)

from: Canadian Rail; October 1979.

An undated photograph from Manitoba with no location noted.

This is a photo which is perhaps typical of the early years of the Canadian Northern Railway.

It provided a needed service without fanfare.

If the traffic warranted further development of the physical plant, it would come.

from: The History of Canadian Railroads; Greg McDonnell; 1985; New Burlington Books.

A westbound drag of empties at Dauphin.

For those romantics who still 'believe in' the Canadian Northern Railway, this must be their favourite photo.

Part 6

BLE 1911 The Standard Code

What would happen if commercial airlines flew around the skies with each using its own rules? 

In the early days of the industry, that's exactly what they would have done.

This post will look at a letter sent to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Journal in April 1911, regarding the risks of not using a 'standard code'. The letter is by WH Morris of Division 236. Today Division 236 is based in Vancouver, Washington.

The Era in History

This first image was taken within a decade of the letter, showing motive power built at about that time.

from: The Northern Pacific, Main Street of the Northwest; Charles R Wood; 1968; Superior Publishing.

Engineer Walt Stevens and fireman AC Larson in Northern Pacific Mikado 1693, built in 1910.
Each is posing with a hand on a control. The photo was probably taken with flash powder.

This is a letter which was written by an engineer probably working for a subsidiary of the Union Pacific. He is spending a good part of his time running on Northern Pacific rails .

I can give you a few contemporary illustrations of the work, using Northern Pacific equipment on that same line from that same time. So that is what you will see.

*  *  *

The Letter

All of the railroads mentioned above are listed in the Statistics of Railways in the United States; 1909; Interstate Commerce Commission. The shortest is 57 miles long. The Oregon-Washington is a Union Pacific subsidiary. The trackage described is shown in public timetables as part of the UP's main routes - although much of it is actually Northern Pacific track. Maps and timetables follow ...

This is a professional journal which often hashes out questions and problems with operating rules. The 'Train Rules - Standard Code' column follows the letter.

*  *  *

The Territory Described

The map below (from 1928) shows the section of track described between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. This map seems to support the idea that the Great Northern, Union Pacific and Northern Pacific all operated trains over the same section of the latter's main line.

from: 1928 Handy Railroad Atlas of the United States; Rand McNally - Kalmbach reprint.

Looking at the Northern Pacific (1911) and Union Pacific (1910) public timetables which follow, you'll see many of the same station names used. You'll also notice that the passenger trains used the same series of numbers - 3xx. The train numbers dovetail with no duplication between the railroads.

It seems likely that the Northern Pacific employee timetable would display these trains side by side.

Northern Pacific Railway 1911 public timetable on archive.org

Union Pacific public timetable 1910 on archive.org

*  *  *

from: The Northern Pacific, Main Street of the Northwest; Charles R Wood; 1968; Superior Publishing.

The photo above shows a Northern Pacific freight crew at the beginning or end of the day at Auburn, Washington in 1912. There are many details to enjoy, but notice the backup whistle on the caboose's rear platform.

*  *  *

The Standard Code

The Standard Code of The Association of American Railroads of 1940 is a four inch by six inch book which is almost two inches thick. It includes the progression of operating, block signal and interlocking rules put forward by committees of the Association between 1889 and 1938. The oldest version of any given rule ... is following by its next version ... and finally ending with the current version.

I could never imagine myself out flagging as a new brakeman, on multi-track territory at night, and correctly identifying when I, myself am getting whistled back ... it's the stuff of nightmares ... so let's look at the whistle signals on the page at the right instead ...

You can see that the Standard Code of 1940 includes the whistle signals used in 1906. Most people would recognize the 14 (l) whistle signal used at public grade crossings. Notice that it ends with a short sound in this version of the rules.

On the next pages comes the 1915 version of the whistle signals and our 14(l) is still the same. 

The letter from Brother Morris to the BLE also raises the lack of consistency regarding the rules for the use of torpedoes. (A 'torpedo' was an 'explosive charge' - long before it was an explosive charge propelled under water at an enemy ship.)

Starting with Rule 15 of 1887, above, and continuing on the pages below, you can see that the use of torpedoes gave them a lot of work ... After trying one procedure, there were problems or accidents and this caused a review of the process to try to improve it. 

In 1928, they decided to avoid placing torpedoes where the general public was nearby. While this may have been to prevent tampering with life-saving warnings ... you can imagine it may also have been because of injuries sustained by bystanders which caused this rule to be modified. 

Bell cord signals! Before radios, a dedicated air pressure line was used by the passenger train conductor to signal the engine. Before this air line, there was the bell cord. 

The bell cord was strung on the outside of the full length of the passenger train. Pulling on the cord was supposed to ring a bell in the engine cab. Keep in mind that compressed air on a train didn't become common before the air brake was widely in use. 

In February 1874, a passenger train westbound from London, Ontario caught fire ... and because the bell cord had not been connected (for practical reasons) ... the train couldn't be stopped immediately, and ten people burned to death or died later of their injuries. As usual, there were many other contributing factors - movable kerosene lighting inside wooden coaches, just as one example.

Again, you can see how the rule evolved over successive reviews by the successive committees.

To sum up: Brother Morris had a good point that problems are created when crews are forced to operate over territories such as his where there is such a diversity of rules to cover the same general process. There was good justification for a 'Standard Code' and for railroads to adopt approved, standardized rules. 

*  *  *

from: The Northern Pacific, Main Street of the Northwest; Charles R Wood; 1968; Superior Publishing.

In 1912, at Yakima, Washington (shown at the east side of the map above) an eastbound NP passenger train has overtaken an eastbound freight. Most of the splintered wood you see was the caboose. We can probably think of ten possible rules violations which may have caused this problem, including some not involving anyone on these trains.

As humans will always make mistakes and will always forget things from time to time, it is a good idea to eliminate unnecessary confusion by making necessary rules simpler.

*  *  *

From the same edition of the Journal (some bound sets of these can also be seen on archive.org) comes a letter about efforts to change a railroad practice which increased the probability of crews making mistakes and forgetting things ... long hours and inadequate rest.

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Canadian Content

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Finally ...
Making Money from Endorsements and Advertising