Canadian Railroads > Station pictures taken from the "Canadian" 1974

In 1974, I spent my summer break from university in Montreal out west as a trainman in Revelstoke BC. I rode the "Canadian" both ways, in day coach.

Changes to the operating rules in Canada, and a decline in passenger service meant that many stations were facing closure and were being demolished at an alarming rate in the 1970's.

Travelling daycoach on an employee pass meant the train crew and on board staff paid little attention to what I was doing, so as long as I wasn't taking pictures from the vestibule the conductor was using, I was pretty much left alone.

I like these images from the train in that they show employees, bystanders and passengers joining or watching the train.

Carleton Place ON. was the location where the passenger route from Montreal and Ottawa joined the freight main line. I believe this station survives.

Renfrew and Pembroke are towns along the Ottawa River. I understand both these stone stations are gone.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/22 10:51 by eminence_grise.

Chalk River was the crew change point between Smiths Falls or Ottawa and North Bay. This station featured a lunch room, mostly for train crews, which had a swearing parrot. Both the station, and parrot are long gone.

North Bay was a CP division point station with shops and a rail yard. Like several other locations on CP across Canada, it featured multiple station buildings. I believe the near building is intact, the far building demolished.

Sturgeon Falls is a community east of Sudbury ON.

The Toronto and Montreal sections of the "Canadian" combined at Sudbury ON. Although an important operating point on CP, crews from North Bay or Mactier worked through Sudbury to Cartier ON. Cartier featured an over the main track coaling tower.

In the late 1960's, the twin cities of Port Arthur and Fort William ON. were combined to become Thunder Bay. This was the last passenger train to stop at CP's Port Arthur station. A single trackside watcher was present for the event.

West of Thunder Bay, there were many miles of double track ABS. Raith ON. was a station west of Thunder Bay at a crossover location.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/22 10:51 by eminence_grise.

Wonderful photos. I hope there are more to come.

Ignace was on the double track portion of the CP main line from Thunder Bay ON. to Winnipeg MAN. On time, the eastbound and westbound "Canadian" 's met here. This station was recently demolished.

Kenora is located in the Lake of the Woods region of Ontario and features an impressive station. Again, there is a second station building east of the main building.

Dryden ON. is a pulp and paper town between Kenora and Winnipeg MAN.

Several stations in northwestern Ontario featured grey asbestos tiles for insulation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/22 10:51 by eminence_grise.

These are great photos. Always like to see depots and structures.
Brian Stevens

Portage La Prairie MAN.is 60 miles west of Winnipeg, and a location where the CP and CN main lines are parallel.

Gull Lake ,SK during a spring blizzard.

Medecine Hat. AB. is the location of a still standing Division point style station

The Brooks Subdivision east of Calgary was still train order territory with many train order stations.

Gliechen AB. was once a crew terminal, abolished early on before Calgary became the division point.

Since the 1970's, when I come across a train station, I photograph it. Most are no longer in railroad use, but even preserved buildings suffer fires or conversions. Several failed restoration attempts have seen stations preserved for a number of years, only to be destroyed when they become an eyesore.

The Brooks Sub. stations were replaced by portable building as train order offices shortly after these were taken.

At least one of the stations shown in this post is preserved off site.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/15 13:13 by eminence_grise.

Wow. Great photos. I remember seeing some of those stations from my many trips on The Canadian before it was taken off it's intended routing. Another cool one was in Medicine Hat with it's large clock tower as I recall. Such a large station for a small town.

Excellent collection and presentation...

Those were exciting railroad days!

Thanks,

611...

Great photos. I rode The Canadian from Vancouver to Calgary in August of 1976 and the length of the train had shrunk even a little more from when you rode it two years earlier. I think CP was deliberately making less and less equipment available to the train to reduce bookings and show a bigger loss.

Gull Lake was the site where a freight train rear-ended The Canadian in, I believe, 1959. Park car Fundy Park was destroyed. I've never seen any decent photos of the aftermath -- perhaps none exist.

I have some regrets. The Algoma Division (east of Thunder Bay) modernised many stations in the 1950's. Looking back, these stations were distinct with flat roofs and big picture windows. However, we thought them "boring" in the 1970's and didn't take pictures. Nipigon, Terrace Bay, Marathon and other were this style, as were stations on the Sudbury-Sault Ste.Marie route.

Many were simply rebuilds of older stations. The second floor was removed, and replaced with a flat roof.

Of course, there was parts of northern Ontario and eastern Saskatchewan where both eastbound and westbound "Canadian"s passed through at night.

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wow. Great photos. I remember seeing some of those
> stations from my many trips on The Canadian before
> it was taken off it's intended routing. Another
> cool one was in Medicine Hat with it's large clock
> tower as I recall. Such a large station for a
> small town.


Moose Jaw SK had a big station because it was the location where passengers on Soo Line trains from Chicago joined the CP main line. During the summer, the "Mountaineer" ran through from Chicago to Vancouver, outside of tourist season, the "Soo-Dominion" connected with the "Dominion".

Moose Jaw has a huge air base developed during WW2 for training Ailed Forces airmen (from basic through multi engine) with great numbers of airmen arriving by train.

One of the Moose Jaw legends is that Al Capone fled Chicago and joined a Soo Line train. He detrained at Moose Jaw, purchased a hotel and lived several years as a legitimate businessman.

I really appreciated the picture of Dryden Station. In the book "Through The Windows of A Train" I wrote of an amusing incident that occurred to me in a sleeper berth in September 1963 while the "Dominion" was stopped in Dryden. At the time of publication I could find no picture of the offending station.

Love seeing the old cars in these pictures!

Brian H.