European Railroad Discussion > CN's London office building

From my oldest brother in England,  the former CN building at 17-19 Cockspur Street, London.  Was this the former headquarters of the Grand Trunk Railway Company?
I've seen other images that show an end wall with the words "Grand Trunk Railway" in stone.

In April 1912, the GT CEO Charles Melville Hays was returning to North America on the "Titanic" and was not a survivor. The Grand Trunk had a traffic agreement with White Star, so the fact that Hay's was on the "Titanic" was not unusual.  White Star competed with Cunard and Canadian Pacific for the Canada trade.

Canadian Pacific Steamships was always a British company owned by the Canadian parent corporation. Home port was Liverpool.  All the liners and many of the coastal steamers were built in Britain, mostly on the Clyde.

Similarly, CP had a London office building which was distinguished by a large ship model in a storefront window.
 

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Excellent ! Thanks for sharing...

What great photographs! I was vaguely aware that the CN building and the CP building had both changed uses, but does anyone know when?

For the whole of the 1970s I worked for London Transport, just down the road at St James's Park. In those days there was a wonderful reciprocal arrangement between CN and CP on the one side, and LT on the other. We got free train travel in Canada, while they went free on the Underground. I guess it was balanced by the fact that both railroads maintained a large permanent London office who all had free season tickets, while it was only an intrepid few Londoners who would venture across the pond. This was before the days of cheap flights.

However my wife and I travelled from Montreal to Prince Rupert in 1976 We were very sad not to be able to use the (unrequested) return ticket which we were nonetheless given, as we came back via Northland Navigation, Amtrak and the D&RGW. Arranging the trip involved me taking many extended lunch breaks to visit the CN offices.

Happy days!

Behind the 1903 built building at 16-19 Cockspur Street is a tiny stub end street called "Warwick House Street" which is best known for the "Two Chairmens" pub.

Number 4 ,Warwick House Street was the original Grand Trunk Railway of Canada building, and there is a carved in stone sign above the entrance which says so. I'm thinking it was incorporated into the new building, and there is evidence of a bricked in bow window and another tall leaded glass window in this facade.

Can you imagine Charles Melville Hays , a New Yorker, selling the concept of a transcontinental railway to a bunch of London financiers in a panelled boardroom in this building?

eminence_grise Wrote:
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> Behind the 1903 built building at 16-19 Cockspur
> Street is a tiny stub end street called "Warwick
> House Street" which is best known for the "Two
> Chairmens" pub.
>
> Number 4 ,Warwick House Street was the original
> Grand Trunk Railway of Canada building, and there
> is a carved in stone sign above the entrance which
> says so. I'm thinking it was incorporated into the
> new building, and there is evidence of a bricked
> in bow window and another tall leaded glass window
> in this facade.
>
> Can you imagine Charles Melville Hays , a New
> Yorker, selling the concept of a transcontinental
> railway to a bunch of London financiers in a
> panelled boardroom in this building?

Ah! The Two Chairman - scene of many a lunchtime scheming conversation! Behind the bar is displayed the brass plate form the ill-fated Department of Economic Affairs, an early attempt at a super ministry.

More interesting though is the idea that GTP was funded from London, as its western partner, the Pacific Great Eastern (which becae BC Rail), also had some origins here. I believe the odd and inappropriate name came from some connection with the original Great Eastern Railway, serving East Anglia from London.