The Beginning…

… or the End? If you lived in British Columbia (BC), in the late 1880s, you could get on a train here in Port Moody and travel to the other side of the country.

This was because the Canadian Pacific Railway chose your home town as the western point of the transcontinental railroad. While it is still 25 miles from Vancouver it is a port on the Burrard Inlet that will connect ships to and from the Pacific Ocean. The first train (probably the one carrying all the dignitaries) reached Port Moody the day after the last spike was driven (see the previous blog post) in 1885. According to the official Canadian Pacific history on their website, “within three years the first transcontinental train leaving Montreal and Toronto for Port Moody” was on June 28, 1886. The steam engine pictured was built by Angus in May 1910 and originally numbered #1240, Class G2d. It was renumbered 1190 in December 1910 and as number 2590 September 1912. It was rebuilt in November 1928 as Class G2s. It was retired in April of 1957 and scrapped. Source of this information: http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net

This post card is one of several that I have in my collection published by Pioneer Postcards in Kelowna, British Columbia. It was printed for them by Wayside Press, Ltd. in Vernon and Kelowna, BC. It is obviously a reprint of an old photograph printed and sold in the last few decades. As you can see, they have developed a logo; see the upper right hand corner of the card where the stamp goes.