Canadian Railroads > Questions about GN sign in Vancouver

The picture attached was taken August 1966, presumably at what is now Pacific Central Station in Vancouver.  What I am curious about is the Great Northern sign off in the distance.  Was the GN sign on Pacific Central, or on the old GN "Union Station" that was next door.  The GN station was reportedly torn down in 1965, a year earlier.  Did GN move into Pacific Central and put up a new sign?  Just curious as to why that sign is there.

JBWX

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Thank you for posting the interesting photo. I do know that the GN did move into the CN station (just next door so it was a cost-saving move), so I would suppose the sign was moved if the GN station building had been entirely removed the previous year- just guessing, however.
For those not familiar with how the GN station looked, please find attached a photo from a slide credited to John McIntosh taken on August 18, 1960.

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Wow. Check out all those old GM taxi's!

Bob Phelps
Micanopy, FL

jbwest Wrote:
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> The picture attached was taken August 1966,
> presumably at what is now Pacific Central Station
> in Vancouver.  What I am curious about is the
> Great Northern sign off in the distance.  Was the
> GN sign on Pacific Central, or on the old GN
> "Union Station" that was next door.  The GN
> station was reportedly torn down in 1965, a year
> earlier.  Did GN move into Pacific Central and
> put up a new sign?  Just curious as to why that
> sign is there.

The last day of GN service into the GN station in Vancouver was April 7, 1962. Demolition did not start until later, and was completed in March 1965.

The last version of the Canadian National sign was in the same configuration as the current Pacific Central sign, with each word on either side of the central tower (see attached postcard from www.historicplaces.ca). That would have left room for the Great Northern sign to be placed atop the central tower as shown in your posted photo.


 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/24 05:08 by railsmith.

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Icing passenger cars for A/C.  This is a rare picture of a common activity in the 60s, 70s & early 80s.