Kingston's Princess, Postcards x5 +1

Sometimes, we have a particular image of the past which is too idealized.

This set of postcards looks at Kingston's sloping 'main drag' - which was also a provincial highway.

The Greatest Generation (i.e. it's not us) did not angle their front wheels when parking on a grade!

'Well, they didn't have power steering back then.'

That's true, but they didn't know that they didn't have power steering back then.

... I just thought there'd be greater knowledge of practical physics in the old days.

Perhaps no one in history has ever angled their wheels correctly on a grade.

Maybe Roman chariots were always rolling away while their owners were rushing in for smokes and Trojans.

*  *  *

Our first postcard comes with a stamp first issued in 1942 showing King George VI in uniform. Notice the rubber-stamped '2 cents postage due'. 

At the Capitol Theatre, Fred Astaire is starring in the 1935 movie Top Hat.

According to Kingston Portsmouth & Cataraqui Electric Railway; George Dillon & William Thomson; 1994; Kingston Division, CRHA. ... a fire in the carpenter's shop in March 1930 resulted in the loss of 20 streetcars. Colonial Coach Lines was contracted by the City of Kingston to provide temporary emergency bus service - marking the end of light rail in Kingston. The rails were lifted during World War 2.

The service started with horse cars on Princess Street in 1877, later 'going electric' in 1893. At one point, the line had extended as far west as Kingston Penitentiary and Portsmouth, and to the 'outer station' of the Grand Trunk on Montreal Street. The system was 8 miles in length at its peak. 

Probably "& Cataraqui" was the company's equivalent of all the railway corporate titles ending in "& Pacific".

*  *  *

Postcards often travel circuitously before many of them find their way 'home'. This looks like a Sunday afternoon photograph and not being an automotive or postcard scholar, I'll leave its dating to future historians.

In the early 1960s, Don Messer's Jubilee was hard-scheduled into our Lachine-based, rabbit-eared Viking brand black-and-white TV set. Its tuner clunked from channel to channel like the main switching gear at a hydro dam. LC Gagnon was a violinist and fiddler and that largely explains the show's reign over our apartment ever week ... Monday at 1930hr, perhaps?

In Montreal, today's TVA flagship station began as the famous Canal Dix of early French-language television broadcasting days in Quebec. LC Gagnon (an anglophone) never watched 'French TV', but the exception to this rule was Chez Isidore on Channel 10, Télé-Métropole. Isidore Soucy and family had real ceinture fléchée-ed fun - often with chansons à répondre which seemed to be more joyful and spontaneous than the carefully-practised precision of Don Messer and His Islanders and the Buchta Dansers.

We don't know about the first 30 or 40 years of this postcard's life, but it was dispatched to enter a Quebec geographical game show. The monastery name submitted as the contestant's entry is quite a large, sophisticated operation today with an impressive website.

*  *  *

The 1953 Disney film Peter Pan is playing at the Capitol Theatre. 

This card displays some good compliance with correct wheel-angling ... different up- and downhill techniques when parking along a curb-equipped road.

*  *  *

The Valentine & Sons serial number for this card corresponds to 1906 - so the photo is probably from an earlier date. The streetcar company had applied to the city to double-track Princess Street in 1905, but this request was denied. The stamp depicts King Edward VII, who was born in 1841 and on the throne from 1901 until 1910 - you know, during the Edwardian era.

*  *  *

This pass was purchased at a railway show.

*  *  *

from: Road Book, 1958-1959; Ontario Motor League.

Probably the most interesting aspect of this map, which includes Kingston, is the construction of Highway 401. In some areas it is marked as UC (under construction). If you have ever driven along the 1000 Island Parkway and noticed that the right-of-way seems wide or 'doubled' in places, you can see that the original plan was to route the 401 right down the waterfront along the St. Lawrence River.

*  *  *

The Wild Card ...

This postcard was probably printed before World War I - perhaps in Malta.

The famous 'insurance company view' is from the Spanish perspective - not from the Strait of Gibraltar.

from: Handy Reference Atlas of the World; JG Bartholomew; 1904; John Walker & Co.

The map above (from my favourite atlas) orients you to the Strait of Gibraltar and the small peninsula which features the Rock of Gibraltar.

Below, at the left, you can see the location of Neutral Ground between the British and Spanish territories.

At the right, you can see all the British Imperial features from ... the Edwardian era. 

from: Handy Reference Atlas of the World; JG Bartholomew; 1904; John Walker & Co.

Going to H*ll in a Streetcar

from: Electricity on a Steam Road, 1896  (Article link is at the bottom of this post.) 

There are some really good authoritative websites - as near as a Google search - which provide comprehensive descriptions of the Hull Electric Company streetcar/interurban line. This post presents a few resources which I cobbled together to further describe aspects of this interesting operation. As I went along, I found more and more references and the post length increased.

Two articles from 1896, which were discovered by Jim Christie, are linked at the end of this post.

from: The Intercity Electric Railway Industry in Canada; John F Due; 1966; University of Toronto Press.

 

Postcard mailed July 18, 1910.

The image in the postcard above was probably photographed circa 1900.

The layout of the railway and streetcar lines is shown on the undated Interprovincial Bridge photo below.

from: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

from: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

As I understand it, Bridge Street referred to the Union Bridge which crossed the Ottawa River at Chaudiere Island. 

I think the location, above, is at/near Bridge Street and Aylmer Road on the 1915 map below. (I think  Bridge Street is Eddy Street in 2022.)

What is missing from the postcard photos, above and below? (Answer below)

from: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

Missing from the two photos above is the overhead streetcar catenary, and the 'trolley cord' is painted out with white in the photo immediately above. This was done by the postcard artist who colourized the original black and white photo used as the postcard's foundation.

The motorman and conductor, above, may be pushing their car back to the catenary's power after manually turning their car on a small turntable at the terminal.

In the early 1900s, Canadian city skies were cluttered with webs of wires carrying a wide variety of electrical currents: electricity destined for commercial or domestic use, electrical signals in telephone and telegraph circuits, and streetcar catenary designed to feed current to streetcars' overhead trolley poles.

The routes of the Hull Electric Company are coloured blue in the map below. Aside from the Interprovincial Bridge segments to the Chateau Laurier area, it is not clear on the map how far/if the HEC ventured into Ontario over the Union Bridge when the map was drawn.

*  *  *

Maps

from: Atlas of Canada; 1915; Government of Canada.

from: Historical Topographic Map Digitization Project - The Ontario Council of University Libraries.
Thank you to Jim Christie for making me aware of this resource !

Above: extract from Ottawa sheet, 1906. 1 inch:1 mile Department of Militia and Defence, Canada.

The map above shows the line and its western loop at Queen's Park. On another map designed to show only the park area, two yard (or 'storage') tracks were shown extending the main line tangent into stub tracks within the turning loop. It seems likely that these were used: to 'park' streetcars clear of the loop track at peak times of park use ... or if assigned streetcars were used to carry particular excursion groups to and from the park.

*  *  *

Legislation/Regulation

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

*  *  *

Contributing to your CPR dividend!

from: Canadian Pacific Railway Annual Report, June 1915.

Above: The $75,000 of interest contributed to the CPR seems paltry. 

However, when converted to 2022 dollars ... Hull's little streetcars contributed $1.9 million to its corporate parent circa 1914.

*  *  *

Power Generation

from: Google maps 2022.

Deschênes (mentioned below) is shown on the topographical map which you saw earlier.

The current view of the the company's former generating location is shown above.

from: Electric Generation and Distribution in Canada; Leo G Denis; 1918; Commission of Conservation, Canada.

*  *  *

Examples of Hull Electric rolling stock.

from: Canadian Car Builders Series (misc builders); JM Mills; no date; OERHA, UCRA.

Canadian General Electric (factory at Peterborough, Ontario) vehicles are shown above.

I think the date shown is their date of building.

*   *  *

Ottawa Car Company vehicles ...

from: Canadian Car Builders Series (Ottawa Car Co.); JM Mills; no date; OERHA, UCRA.

from: Canadian Car Builders Series (Ottawa Car Co.); JM Mills; no date; OERHA, UCRA.

from: Canadian Car Builders Series (Ottawa Car Co.); JM Mills; no date; OERHA, UCRA.

The following articles in Canadian Electrical News at archive.org give contemporary details of this operation.

(Thank you to Jim Christie for his research!)

The Hull and Aylmer Electric Railway, April 1896

Electricity on a Steam Road, October 1896

Winnipeg Maps 1915, Streetcars, Interurbans

 

Above: A hand-coloured Valentine company postcard, no date.

*  *  *

The two following images are different sizes of the same map of Winnipeg - from the Government of Canada Atlas of 1915. 

(Original size is about 12 inches by 17 inches)

Electric railways are shown in blue.

*  *  *

The next images are from The Era of Streetcars and Interurbans in Winnipeg 1881-1955; Herbert W Blake; 1974; self-published.

Streetcar lines above. Interurban lines below.

*  *  *

More details on the Winnipeg, Selkirk and Lake Winnipeg follow from: 

The Intercity Electric Railway Industry in Canada; John F Due; 1966; University of Toronto Press.

Postcard above by Bloom Brothers, Winnipeg, hand-coloured, no date.

Engineering Streetcar Tracks in 1914

This week we look at track structures which are usually hidden within city streets.

In the 1960s, through the cracking pavement of Broadway in Lachine, Quebec, I could trace the rails of the Montreal Transportation Commission's west island streetcars. I'm quite certain there was a similar phenomenon visible along King Street in Kingston in the 1970s - just east of our famous prison.

This was an MTC show of retired streetcars at their Youville Shops on a hot September 23, 1961.
I wasn't taking notes.

I once heard a key member of a national railway historical organization politely dismissed as follows: "Well, he knows everything there is to know about trolleys, but ... "

Knowing nothing about trolleys, I am fortunately immune to such criticism. As one pokes around the history of vehicles on rails and their worldwide distribution today, one can begin to appreciate the 'railwayness' of a much broader spectrum of railed vehicles and the systems which support them.

When possible, there are advantages in letting a voice from a particular period of history speak. What did 'they' think about then; what experiences did they have; did they make any predictions about the future?

Urban passenger railways (city streetcars) had the same requirement for good track as Class 1 common carriers. If 'all politics is local' ... streetcars worked in a much more demanding environment than the Class 1 railroads.

Not only did they operate beneath, above and among other crucial - often fragile - infrastructure systems which could not be disrupted ... 

Every day, the streetcars performed before thousands of pairs of eyeballs - workers, employers, local elected officials ...

Repeatedly delaying the arrival of part of a large plant's workforce due to regular derailments or frozen switches had more real time urgency and greater political consequences than ... putting a few boxcars in the bush several times each winter - like a Class 1 common carrier.

The engineering textbook forming the main part of this post gives us a comprehensive view of the construction of urban railways, when the technology was still early in its evolution.

The Time of the Trolley; William D Middleton; 1967; Kalmbach.

Lexington, Kentucky, 1890s (above)

If you have studied aspects of railway track structure, you will note that this situation is the worst - particularly in a climate (like Canada's) which includes temperatures below freezing for a significant part of the year. Generally, water needs to drain away from your track ... and frozen water causes heaving and derailments.

In their defence, this may be the inaugural run of this line. The local officials may not yet realize that operating through mud and horse manure will be an unpleasant experience.

*  *  *

Here are three diagrams representing about 50 years 
of technological advances on the Toronto system.

Many readers recall that William Mackenzie (of Canadian Northern Railway fame)
was an early investor and developer of the Toronto horsecar/streetcar system.

Wheels of Progress; 1953; Toronto Transit Commission.

Wheels of Progress; 1953; Toronto Transit Commission.

Wheels of Progress; 1953; Toronto Transit Commission.

Above: I think you can see a thermite weld represented here - on the second rail to the left of the tie bar.

*  *  *

Track Infrastructure in Toronto and Montreal

Wheels of Progress; 1953; Toronto Transit Commission.

In the undated photo above, the very large pixels could not be smoothed more without harming detail resolution.

July 2018, Google.

The same intersection recently.
The two buildings on the corner - to the left of the centre streetcar - can help you get oriented.

A Toronto Album; Michael Filey; 1970; University of Toronto Press.

Here is the same intersection, in 1923 - perhaps during the same job which is pictured above.
From a social history perspective, cobblestones and granite blocks made excellent projectiles during riots.

A Toronto Album; Michael Filey; 1970; University of Toronto Press.

Enlarged detail of what the workers are doing ...

A Toronto Album; Michael Filey; 1970; University of Toronto Press.

Enlarged detail of what may be a traction engine which was used for the transportation of materials.
There seem to be granite blocks piled on the wagon.

A Toronto Album; Michael Filey; 1970; University of Toronto Press.

When the rails provided an essential service, the priority was to keep them operational.

After rubber-tired vehicles became more common (buses and personal autos) perhaps there was not the same sense of overnight urgency.

• Buses could detour passengers around the area being rebuilt.
• Instead of using 'modular' granite blocks, it was necessary to carefully pave over the track structure.
• In addition, local businesses, dependant on rubber-tired restocking and shopping, needed the whole street back in its original condition.

*  *  *

Two Views of Track Structure in Montreal

Montreal's Electric Streetcars; Richard M Binns; 1973; Railfare.

'Roller Skating at The Forum' (from 1912)

This streetcar is turning from St James (St Jacques) to Windsor (Peel). This book's author notes that the rickety wooden steps at the Grand Trunk Bonaventure Station (right) were a longstanding feature of the facility. Notice that a sewer hatch may be be located within the trackwork - just one more complication. I think those may be bonding cables for the switch rails which you see lying over the ties.

Montreal's Electric Streetcars; Richard M Binns; 1973; Railfare.

In the middle of the Great Depression (1935) you can see a disadvantage of paving over the track with concrete instead of granite blocks or asphalt. You need jackhammers to get at the track. The residents along The Boulevard in Westmount will simply have to make do as best they can with all the noise and inconvenience.

*  *  *

After posting, Jim Christie sent me some really interesting links.
Here are two of them:

Montreal's Street Railway System 1893

Rules for Drivers and Conductors, Toronto Street Railway, 1880