Is that a Crown that I See - The Royal Hudson

After 15 years of active service, the Royal Hudson 2860 – which you see on the front of this post card - was retired in April 1956.

The Vancouver Railway Museum Association wanted to preserve the locomotive so they acquired it in 1964 after it had been sitting outside the Weston Shops in Winnipeg. The Museum was not successful in this endeavour and gave the locomotive to the Province of British Columbia. It was completely restored (and a few external modifications made) so that it returned to service on June 20, 1974. It was used by the province to operate summer seasonal (May to October) steam excursions between North Vancouver and Squamish. In that first season of operation almost 50,000 passengers rode into history. The excursions ended in 1999. Currently the 2860 is still owned by the Province of British Columbia, but is on permanent loan to the West Coast Railway Association and is housed securely under cover at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park in Squamish, B.C.

In the 1920s the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) was using 4-6-2 Pacifics for many of their service routes. While the Pacifics were adequate in the 20s, the increase in load weight for their freight routes and the need for speed on their passenger routes led to the desire for a new locomotive that would be both lighter and have greater horse power. After considering several options, the CPR looked to the New York Central Railroad. The CPR ordered the first batch of Hudsons in 1929. The grate in the firebox was 25% larger (80 square feet) so the locomotive could develop 275 pounds of boiler pressure. To be efficient, the It used an efficient Elsco feed water heater; they utilized Type E superheaters for extra steam capacity. Their driver wheels were 75 inches for both speed and power; the locomotive weighed in at 194,000 pounds and delivered 45,000 pounds of tractive effort. The first set of 20 locomotives were ordered in 1929 and were coal burning, some of which were later converted to oil burners. The second set of 10 locomotives were modified to gain another 12,000 pounds of tractive effort. The third set of 30 locomotives included the one on the front of this post card.

These locomotives were so successful that one locomotive would take the train from Toronto to Fort William and turn the consist over to another Hudson. That locomotive would take the train to Calgary (1,250 miles) where the consist would be hitched to a Selkirk locomotive to get it through the tough part of the Rockies. At Revelstoke, the trains would again be hooked up to a Hudson for the final 380 mile trip to Vancouver.

ROYAL HUDSON
In 1939 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth became the first reigning British Monarchs to visit Canada. They were given a 31-day tour of Canada by rail. A special 12-car train was assembled and the role of lead locomotive was given to the Hudson. The train went west via the CPR main line and came back east via the Canadian National line. The king, it turns out was a bit of a railroad buff and spent an amount of time in the locomotive with the crew. He said that he was impressed with its performance and by the fact that only one locomotive was used to travel to the west coast and back with no stoppage for mechanical problems. So, when the CPR applied for the status of adding "Royal" to the name Hudson, it was easily granted. Thus you see on the front of the engine on this post card, a little crown.

The post card does not tell us who the publisher is, but the picture comes from the Steamscenes collection of J. F. Orem.