Portage la Prairie Lines, Part 10 - CNR in 1958

Extracts from this employee timetable have the most detail about the operations and features of the lines through Portage la Prairie. Working to better understand the changing face of railway operations through Portage over the years, I have selected the subdivisions radiating from Portage and some connected CNR lines of interest to include from this timetable.

The timetable sheets appear in page order.

These sheets provide additional detail.

Page 10 - Special instructions - Operating between East Tower and West Tower.

Page 26 - Speed restrictions for all power - steam and diesel.

Page 27 - All train order offices are listed with their hours of operation.

Page 28 - Restricted clearances not marked by tell-tales - including coal docks and water tanks.

Page 29-31 - Steam and diesel equated tonnage ratings.

*  *  *

I was at 'the postcard show' last weekend and was happy to discover the postcard above.

This station was built in 1902 and is (naturally) on the Neepawa Subdivision timetable sheet below.

The lower quadrant train order signal and the long skirts are signs of the times.

*  *  *

As usual, I have produced facing-page spreads for the same subdivision as one image. 

While you'll need to scroll far to the right, you'll be able to easily see the scheduled meets in boldface type (eg. No 1, No 790  23.53).

Detail from 'Portage la Prairie, 1950'. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/

The Portage map above is wonderfully out of date in its railway features. It helps us identify which enduring features of the Portage CNR tracks originated with which antecedent railway. An old 1915 map appears below. The Canadian Northern is shown in badly-faded blue. The Grand Trunk Pacific streaks in and out of town - without doing much - in orange. As you'll remember, the Great Northern (dashed line above, black line below) was long gone from Portage by 1958. 

from: Atlas of Canada; 1915; Minister of the Interior.

While it is kind of old, this larger section of the 1915 map is the best for showing the CNR lines and as many of the settlements as possible in an uncluttered way. Hopefully this will be helpful for locating some of the more obscure subdivisions from the timetable and seeing how they fit into the overall system(s).

from: Atlas of Canada; 1915; Minister of the Interior.

You could always find someone at East Tower ...

Below: Steam tonnage ratings ... where 50% = 50,000 pounds of starting tractive effort (better bunch that slack!). 

Diesels tonnage ratings listed by individual class description ... where ...

• M is Montreal Locomotive Works
• C is Canadian Locomotive Co
• G is General Motors Diesel

• R is road (switcher)
• F is freight
• A or B is cab or non-cab carbody units

CNR 3573 at Portage la Prairie, April 1953, Stan Styles photo.

A 55% B - booster-equipped - locomotive

built by Montreal Locomotive Works in 1924, 

scrapped November 1958.

Portage la Prairie Lines, Part 9 - CPR in 1950

A few photos of Canadian Pacific steam at Portage (collected by LC Gagnon) appear below to enhance the late steam era atmosphere. During this period, much less effort was spent on the cosmetic appearance of steam engines. And as more diesels were brought onto the roster, even steam engines having a distinctive 'passenger character' were often used in freight service.

The CPR employee timetable sections reproduced below show the lines through Portage and additional subdivisions are included to round out the local network. 

If you have already seen Part 8 of this series, you'll remember that it presented data from around 1920 ... as the ownership of lines through Portage la Prairie became less diverse. 

... Back then, the Canadian Northern, Grand Trunk Pacific and Great Northern had built lines through or to Portage la Prairie. In 1920, the first two companies were becoming consolidated into the Canadian National Railways. 

... The Great Northern soon retreated from Portage. On the map from 1933 below, the Dunn and Layland stations of the Great Northern are no longer served by any railway. In fact, the map shows the Great Northern only reaching north as far as Morden (the route is shown in black).

Once again, to repeat the reason for this series ... During the many happy visits we had to Portage over the years, I always wondered about the history of all the local lines. Particularly intriguing were all the abandoned railway roadbeds which evidenced even more lines reaching the city. This series is an effort to share the primary documents to which I have access. Hopefully, some future Portage la Prairie residents will find this series helpful in understanding their rich local railway history.

from: Canada, Descriptive Atlas; Minister of Immigrations and Colonization; 1933.

With the CNR shown in 'Action Red' the key to the lines is counterintuitive for modern railway enthusiasts.

The Great Northern is represented by black (including to Brandon).

Portage la Prairie, July 1953, Stan F Styles photo.

It seems clear that this westbound passenger train is making its station stop at Portage.

Soon, The Canadian will be operating with its stainless steel cars and diesel locomotives.

Roundhouse 'wiper' shifts are probably already being reduced - even for passenger steam power. 

Less than 14 years after the CPR requested this class's 'Royal' designation, the engine looks unkempt.

Portage la Prairie, 19 July 1953, Stan F Styles photo.

The photo above was printed very light, and I have tried to bring out a little more detail. Probably, it is the engineer looking at the camera from the cab - to ensure he is immortalized. The fireman is on the tender, actuating the valve to fill the tender with water. Notice that the 'sweat line' of the tender is below the Canadian Pacific lettering. The coal has just been topped up at the Portage coaling tower. It isn't clear what the worker in the foreground is doing - he may be a trainman from this engine. The engine is displaying signals as an 'extra'.

*  *  *

To help those who like to match up the timetable 'meets' (shown as boldface times) ... I generally put facing pages side-by-side as a single image. So scrolling way, way to the right might sometimes be necessary.

from: Canada, Descriptive Atlas; Minister of Immigrations and Colonization; 1933.

This is just another version of the previous map - showing the full width of Manitoba.

*  *  *

At the back of these old employee timetables, there is interesting historical information on older rules and procedures. That's why it is included below - even if it does not apply specifically to Portage in all cases.

... Between the periodic updating of the printed railway rulebooks, modifications to operating rules were often published in timetables ... until the next rulebook was finally updated and printed. Various manuals of Special Instructions were also frequently supplemented in this manner. 

For example, below on Page 21 under Steam Whistle Failures, you can see that Rule 14-L is being changed. The UCOR (rulebook) of 1951 will show the crossing whistle signal which is familiar to us today, but I believe the old grade crossing signal was two longs and two shorts. 

... Perhaps by the 1950s, there were fewer horses to scare at crossings ... but motorists needed a sustained warning loud enough to be heard through their closed (in cold weather) windows and over the noise of their automobile engines.

Portage la Prairie, undated; slide photo by Paul Meyer; Blackhawk Films. 

On this undated slide of the Extra 2706 I am unwilling to guess whether it is west- or eastbound.

Probably, the station platform and the fact that no pole-lines or elevators are visible ... are our best clues.

Portage la Prairie, undated; slide photo by Paul Meyer; Blackhawk Films.

This undated slide looks familiar and it may appear in a previous post. The Extra 2430 is facing east.

I think the fireman's cap can be seen over the coal bunker - in front of the station chimney.

It looks as if the valve-closing counter-weight on the standpipe is lifted as he tops off the tender. 

(See the standpipe in the CPR 1000 photo, above.)

*  *  *

The next part of this series will look at the CNR in 1958.

Their employee timetables included even more local operating data!

Portage la Prairie Lines Part 8 - 1920 CPR versus the CNR

Saved from the woodstove a century ago. This handy reference for business travellers in the west has details on post offices and postage, real estate, banks, politicians, lawyers and courts, and governments including local municipalities. 

However, its largest section shows passenger train schedules west of Winnipeg. The map - inside the back cover - showing railways, etc, was extracted by a previous owner ... but I've got maps for you ...

The booklet is 3 1/2 by 6 inches and 160 pages long. In 2023 inflation-adjusted dollars, its $.20 selling price would be $3. Archive.org has one from the 1940s and a few from the 1950s - if you want to thumb through one for yourself.

Chronologically in history, this forms the next part of the my Portage Lines series. Through this effort I am trying to better understand the history of the railway lines through Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Consequently, only those pages which show passenger trains through Portage are reproduced below. I don't think I have missed any of the railway subdivisions associated with Portage.

With James J Hill deceased, this is all that remains of his line north to Portage. 

Boosters of Portage (see Part 7) described its northern terminal as the Portage Union Station (GTP + GN).

*  *  *

Next, comes the Canadian Pacific Railway. 

Officers and agents are thoroughly listed.

*  *  *

Considering the first page of timetables, below ...

In the far right column, Exp. Rate is definitely an abbreviation for 'Express Rate' - but the term is not defined in the booklet.

Of course, these fares are not official - as a ticket agent would be quick to tell you.

And, given the great post-war demand for rail travel, the railways have had their wishes granted for fare increases 'by Government order' ... bottom of the page.

As the timetable suggests, this line is in the direction of Rapid City. It is north-west of Portage. Rapid City is almost due north of Brandon.

This map from 1916 is posted in two sizes.

The first is an overview.

The second makes it easier to see railway line details as the colours have faded.

from: Atlas of Canada; 1916; Minister of the Interior, Government of Canada.

from: Atlas of Canada; 1916; Minister of the Interior, Government of Canada.

*  *  *

Printed separate from its timetables, perhaps as a late-breaking detail, are the officers and agents of the new Canadian National Railways. Because the Canadian Northern Railway (based in Toronto) preceded the Grand Trunk Railway (based in Montreal) into government control, it seems logical that the new CNR's headquarters are occupying the already-established Canadian Northern office space in Toronto. 

... No one is writing history articles yet ... using 'CNoR' to distinguish it from the CNR ... so the new CNR is just in the old CNR offices. 

The new CNR President is an experienced Canadian Northern official whose autobiography contributed to earlier segments of this Portage Lines series.

Soon the government will be winding up the sad Grand Trunk Pacific-National Transcontinental/Grand Trunk saga and CNR headquarters will relocate to the Grand Trunk's building in Montreal. 

... This GTR consolidation will result in future short blurbs on the history of the Canadian National Railways citing 1923 as the year in which this crown corporation was established. However, as you see in this 1920 woodstove-dodging booklet, the Canadian National Railways name was in the public space earlier than 1923. 

As you probably know Canora (above) is a contraction of Canadian Northern Railway.

The Grand Trunk Pacific (a railway laying track where there were few pre-existing towns) had the practice of naming their new sidings and siding-side settlements in alphabetical order, east to west. This probably made early operations and clerical work easier ... and may have prevented the odd collision.

... One of my bosses was a New Yorker who married a fellow PhD student from Prince Albert. Driving over the Prairies with relatively little for him to anticipate except the next letter of the alphabet used to drive him nuts!

*  *  * 

Finally, these historically interesting operations have no association with Portage la Prairie.

Portage la Prairie Lines, Part 6 - Portage Union Station and the Great Northern

It seems unfortunate that the rare and unusual so often receive the attention of railway preservationists - and the common and typical are lost. 

Nonetheless, ignoring my own lamentation, here is the story of a line which existed for fewer than 20 years as it was conceived by one of the great railway tycoons.

In the 1980s, I heard an engineer say he had switched a car into the 'Old Great Northern' at Portage la Prairie. I've always been curious where that was. Back then, I mistakenly assumed it was in the Canadian Northern section of the railway yard area. An image which Eric discovered and good old Google Earth helped me answer the question for myself. 

from: History of Railroads in America; Oliver Jensen; 1993; American Heritage Books.

Above: James J Hill in 1909, unknown location.

from: The Railway Builders; Oscar D Skelton; 1916; Glasgow Brook & Co.  edg

Here are a few samplings of contemporary railway news. 

As it says above, the Midland & Manitoba was Hill's company. 

The Grand Trunk Pacific was also enjoying some 'earned media' as it gave the Canadian Northern a poke.

Railroad Gazette 1905 11 10 - archive.org

Railroad Gazette 1905 11 10

Railroad Gazette 1905 11 17

from: The Railroad Gazette, November 1907; archive.org

The article in the Railroad Gazette was very long and was full of boring financial details. It was fine for James Hill and the Great Northern to be this ambitious, to rattle the cages of the CPR and CNoR, and to gallantly and publicly eschew 'spoon-feeding'. However, when reading the excerpt above ...

It is not obvious why the existing Canadian railway rates westbound from the Canadian Lakehead should be particularly cheap ... when compared to the rates via the Hill lines from Duluth. Manitobans had already learned the hard way (after the Battle of Fort Whyte) that eastbound grain was carried cheaper in Canada than in the US. 

So exactly why was Hill working so hard at building extra branch lines? So he could lose money by cutting his US rates ... as he tried to compete with established Canadian railways with lower rates?

Hill must have had some kind of genius 4-dimensional chess 'reason'. Or, perhaps he was just enjoying 'the game' he was playing with Van Horne, Shaughnessy et al - as a Canadian Rail article suggested. Life is short, enjoy it by keeping the other tycoons guessing.

• Hill was working to siphon off profitable near-border Canadian shipments with his many north-south branches across the west.
• Hill was threatening the CPR with the possibility of another southern Canadian transcontinental.
• Hill was even musing about building a line to Fort Churchill. Perhaps this was a swipe at the former Winnipeg & Hudson Bay of the 1880s, by then a charter in the Canadian Northern portfolio. But ... laying rails to Hudson Bay, or even just as far as The Pas, was never something which Mackenzie and Mann saw as a spectacularly profitable venture.

Perhaps if Hill had lived a little longer, he could have experienced delight 

as he threatened the Grand Trunk Pacific's pipedream of building a railway line to the Yukon. 

https://natural-resources.canada.ca/earth-sciences/geography/atlas-canada/explore-our-maps/map-archives/16868   *
* Time travellers from the future - this URL worked way back in 2023. Here are possible search terms if the URL does not work. 'Natural Resources Canada' 'The Atlas of Canada's Map Archives'

Above (1906) and below (1915) are pages from Government of Canada atlases - available at the URL quoted above. These are great atlases to look through.

You can see how the strategic picture changed for the Canadian Northern builders over the course of a decade. Where's the harm in a little more ruinous competition between tycoons when the Prime Minister is paying for everything?

Carman, Manitoba was quite a railway centre! The CPR build a branch there in 1885 and was followed by the Canadian Northern and the Great Northern. 

*  *  *

How does all of this relate to railway lines at Portage la Prairie? 

Where was the Great Northern Railway in Portage?

from: Scarborough's Map of Manitoba, 1918
https://www.flickr.com/people/manitobamaps/

The map above is made busy (and handy) as it shows the surveyed square miles which are part of surveyed 'townships' - the latter being 6 square miles in size. You can see part of the township numbering system printed above and below the US border. A square is 640 acres and a 'quarter section' is 160 acres. 

The map above will relate to the Google image below.

Above: The Great Northern line leaving Portage in a south-east direction passes just east of a distinctive large bend in the Assiniboine River before it reaches the station 'Dunn'.

Below: The large bend in the Assiniboine River has turned into an 'oxbow' (the one in the lower right corner) which has become subject to eutrophication or perhaps it has been filled in with earth. Where the Great Northern Railway was you will now find Angle Road which deadends at the Assiniboine River - in the lower right corner of the image.

*  *  *

Above: We've swung around and we are looking south-east from Portage, at Angle Road, and the embankment continuation south of the Assiniboine River.

The lightened rectangle near the horizon contains a little pink Google map pin at Carman.

Above: Returning to Portage to show north at the top of the image again, Angle Road comes in at the lower right corner. The Great Northern shared the new Grand Trunk Pacific station which you can barely see in the top left corner. This long rectangular building, surrounded by windbreaks, is the current 'beside the CNR ex-station building', to be exact. It was referred to as a 'union' station, because both Great Northern and Grand Trunk Pacific shared the facility. 

(Whether it was the Grand Trunk Pacific ... or Portage boosters ... claiming a 'union' station in Portage, I don't know. I can't see the GTP diluting their British-American grandeur by going halfsies with Hill's dinky little line. But that ship will soon hit an iceberg, as many of you already know.)

A century after the Great Northern line into Portage was abandoned (in 1926) the former railway land use is still echoed in the land use and zoning. Above, to the west of the railway area you generally find residences. On the north-east side of the line's gentle curve to line up with today's CNR ... you can still see industrial use of the land.

*  *  *

Portage la Prairie fire insurance map 1959
from: https://www.flickr.com/people/manitobamaps/ 

About 30 years after the Great Northern left Portage, it is possible that some of the former Great Northern real estate is being used by McCall Frontenac and North Star Oil and their siding. With a wooden raised platform around the union station, the Great Northern passenger trains probably discharged passengers on the south side ... while the Grand Trunk Pacific trains used the north side. Unfortunately, these fire insurance maps do not show all of the railway buildings and facilities at Portage.

*  *  *

Portage la Prairie image from 1908. archive.org

Above and below are south-facing images which show the relative positions 

of the Canadian Northern, Grand Trunk Pacific and Great Northern in Portage la Prairie.

The image above comes from a 1908 Portage-boosting booklet which will appear in Part 7.

The image below is one of my favourite postcards because it was the first image I ever saw which showed some of the history of these lines in Portage.

I think the well-treed street to the right is 1st Street NW.

Unused, undated postcard.

* * *

Here is the legislative chain which enabled some of Hill's railway activities in Manitoba. 

I think item 1913-782 would include the four railways' joint use of Winnipeg Union Station.

(Counting the National Transcontinental and the Grand Trunk Pacific as 'two'.)

from: A Statutory History of Railways in Canada 1836-1986; Dorman & Stoltz; 1986; Canadian Institute of Guided Ground Transport.
Note: The charter of the Brandon, Saskatchewan and Hudson's Bay indicated it would build to The Pas.

To summarize the abandonment of the Great Northern line to Portage:

• Portage la Prairie to Carman was abandoned in 1926.
• As noted above: Carman to Plum Coulee was turned over to the CPR in 1926.
• Plum Coulee to Gretna was abandoned in 1926.
• The CPR abandoned Carman to Plum Coulee in the 1970s.

*  *  *

The following data is for the Portage, Morden and Brandon lines and comes from 1915.

from: Altitudes of Canada; 1915; James White; Commission of Conservation, Canada.

*  *  *

From November 1920, this handy pocket-sized reference shows the mixed train schedule.

James J Hill died in 1916, so his 'vision' for this particular line had probably been altered. 

If one was not in a hurry, the 7-hour northbound running time of the mixed train would have been quite pleasant on a nice summer day. Except for the presence of freight cars, wayside switching work and the fact that only a single coach was probably employed, the experience and equipment might have been quite similar to an excursion on the Prairie Dog Central.

Part 7