This Budd is for You!

The picture on the front of this post card is of a "Budd" car passing the O'Keefe Centre in Toronto, Ontario. The O'Keefe Centre is a concert hall, so I hope that the Budd Card slips past quietly. The car is an RDC-2, built in 1956.

It is being used to shuttle Canadian Pacific Railway employees from the John Street Coach Yard to Agincourt Yard. The following information about Budd Cars was taken from this website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budd_Rail_Diesel_Car The Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC) or Buddliner is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcar. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The cars were primarily adopted for passenger service in rural areas with low traffic density or in short-haul commuter service, and were less expensive to operate in this context than a traditional diesel locomotive-drawn train with coaches. The cars could be used singly or coupled together in train sets and controlled from the cab of the front unit. The RDC was one of the few DMU trains to achieve commercial success in North America. RDC trains were an early example of self-contained diesel multiple unit trains, an arrangement now in common use by railways all over the world. Budd RDCs were sold to operators in North America, South America, Asia, and Australia. They saw extensive use in the Northeast United States, both on branch lines and in commuter service. As passenger service declined in the United States the RDC was often the last surviving conveyor of passengers on a particular route. Most RDCs were retired by the 1980s. In Canada, RDCs have remained in continuous use since their introduction in the 1950s. The RDC inspired several derivatives, including the unsuccessful Budd SPV-2000. The New York Central Railroad strapped two jet engines to an RDC in 1966 and set a United States speed record of 184 mph (296 km/h), although this experimental configuration was never used in regular service.

The Peter Dickinson-designed O'Keefe Centre at 1 Front Street East with the angled, bulb-filled canopy has seen a steady parade of musicals, ballets and symphonies since its movie palace-style doors first opened on October 1st, 1960. Back in the 1960s, when hockey fans actually saw the Leafs sipping out of Lord Stanley's mug, O'Keefe Ale was one of Canada's best-selling beers and a logical initial sponsor of this eventual landmark. From 1960 until 1996, it was known as the O'Keefe Centre, and a number of high-profile tours chose to make their Toronto stop there due to its superior architectural acoustics. To this day, the venue prides itself as being Canada's largest soft seat theatre.The venue seemed to possess a certain majesty that is rooted in its unique combination of downtown convenience, gorgeously striking architecture and a healthy dash of glitz, topped off by a deceptively rich music history created by a parade of entertainers who have a genuine respect for the legacy they have helped build. These are qualities that a great deal of other venues throughout Toronto would kill for. The information in the above section about the O'Keefe Centre was taken from this website: https://www.blogto.com/music/2012/10/that_time_when_the_okeefe_centre_was_the_place_to_play/ The post card was published by JBC Visuals out of Toronto, Ontario. The photo credit goes to Ted Wickson. The photo was taken on April 20th, 1968.

Not Quite Twins

The two trains pictured on these post cards are both part of Canadian National Railways’ (CNR) flagship the Super Continental.

It was a transcontinental Canadian passenger train operated by the CNR from 1955 until 1977. Via Rail took over the train in 1977 and operated it until the train was cancelled in 1981. Service was restored in 1985 but was again eliminated in 1990. The original CNR train had a Montreal–Ottawa–Toronto-Winnipeg–Saskatoon–Edmonton–Jasper–Vancouver routing with daily service.

CNR waited until April 24, 1955, to introduce its new transcontinental flagship to replace its former flagship, the Continental Limited; this was the same date that competitor Canadian Pacific Railway introduced its new streamlined transcontinental train The Canadian. The two routes competed with each other until 1990 when Via Rail cancelled the Continental Limited. The Super Continental route was advertised as the longest single run of a diesel locomotive powered train in North America without changing locomotives. Even though Canadian National Railways had not yet completely switched from steam to diesel power, the Super Continental was always hauled by a variety of diesel locomotives, including Montreal Locomotive Works FP-2s and FP-4s. I have written about the AFP-4s in the last few posts.

On the backs of the post cards it mentions that these trains are part of Canadian National Railways’ “Super Continental”. Notice that they say Canadian National Railways (possessive). That was the official name of CNR until they dropped the final “s” in 1960. CNR started because the Canadian government amalgamated several struggling regional railways into one large corporation back in the early twentieth century. That is why it was called the Canadian National Railways with and “s” at the end. This fact tells me that both of these post cards were published in the 1950s. The bottom post card was printed and published by Smith Lithograph Company, Ltd. out of Vancouver. It was distributed by Harry Rowed, O’Neill and Associates out of Jasper, Alberta. This post card has a date of 1958 in the bottom right hand corner. The first post card simply informs us that this is the “Super Continental” in the Fraser Valley, near Hope, British Columbia and that it was printed in Canada. Even though they do look so similar, I am not sure that they are the same photograph.

The train in the second picture is shorter than the first. However, the snow in the mountains in both pictures is the same. It is possible that the top one is the original and someone removed the spectator in the white shirt and took off a couple of cars before reprinting it. If that is the case, the second publisher copyrighted the picture. There is no indication of a copyright on the top one. On the other hand, I could be completely wrong. The back of the top card still reminds us that the message goes on the left side and the address goes on the right-hand side of the post card. This could be left over from when they started to allow both items on the same side of the card. Although, that did happen back in 1907.

Another Unique Locomotive (sort of)

The train on the front of this post card shows the “Rapido” passing through Dorian, Quebec on October 15, 1972. On the open track the “Rapido” will speed along at 90 miles per hour. This is Canadian National Railway’s train number 61. It is being pulled by a sister locomotive to the one that I wrote about last week. It is another FPA-4. The following was taken from this website; it is a series of newletters published by: Canadian Rail_no171_1965 - Exporail.org On the Montreal - Toronto line, the abolition of the "pool" was the signal for CN to take up the speed war where it was left off in 1932. Spearheaded by re-geared GM diesel units, instead of high-wheeled Hudsons, the "Rapido" was inaugurated by the Mayors of its terminal cities over closed-circuit TV with high CN officials in attendance. Champagne bottles were broken over the locomotive fronts (what a waste) and corsages were given to the passengers, along with other souvenirs, free photographs, menus, etc. The first "Rapido" trains consisted of three diesel units, three coaches, one dining car and two parlor cars, the latter having 2-and-l reclining seats. First and last cars carried the word "Rapido" in black on the white lower panel. The trains are scheduled in 4 hours, 59 minutes, with two brief stops to change engine crews at Brockville & Belleville Yard.

The post card was published by Audio Visual Designs out of Earlton, New York. The photo credit goes to Carl H Sturner.

Talk About Different!

The locomotive on the front of this post card is extremely unique. It is an FPA-4. What makes it unique is that this is a Canadian National Railway (CNR) locomotive and the FPA-4s were built exclusively for the CNR. It is pulling a train on a route that no longer operates.

This was part of a weekend service between Toronto and North Bay, Ontario. The route is 350 miles long. Today, VIA Rail operates passenger services in Canada and they no longer make this run. One must to to Sudbury and hope to make some sort of connection using other transportation to get to North Bay. A part of this train is a bullet-end observation car built in 1937 for Reading Railroad’s “Crusader”. It was then given to the CNR for their luxurious “Champlain” route between Montreal and Quebec City. This picture was taken in August of 1977. The information below was taken from this website: https://www.pwrs.ca/view_product.php?ProductID=157278 In 1940, General Electric (GE) and American Locomotive Co. (Alco) concluded a sales and marketing agreement to manufacture diesel locomotives under the Alco-GE label. While World War Two prevented immediate building, the Alco-GE planning efforts continued. In the 1940s, EMD's (General Motors’ locomotive division) success with their "FT" freight diesels drove Alco to develop their own streamlined freight locomotives. These diesels were developed around Alco's new turbo-charged "244" prime mover, GE electrical systems and AAR type B trucks. As a result, the first FA/FB set was delivered to the Gulf Mobile &Ohio Railroad in 1946. The 1500-h.p. FA1s and FB1s sold quickly, and were succeeded in 1950 by the up-powered FA2s and FB2s. Also in 1946, Alco delivered their first streamlined passenger diesels to the Santa Fe. These 2000 h.p. units in cab/booster configuration were later designated the PA/PB-1 type. Upgrades in 1950 resulted in the PA/PB-2 type. Some units were later rebuilt and popularly called PA/PB-4s. In 1950, Alco upgraded their specifications to DL-212 (cab) and DL-213 (booster). Since these units were designed for dual freight/passenger service. To accommodate steam generators, both units were lengthened, cabs to 53'6" and boosters to 52'8". These units were rated at 1500 h.p. The cab units were 51'6" long and the boosters were 50'6" long, leaving no room for steam generator equipment. All DL-208/209 units went to the Gulf Mobile & Ohio. Units built to later specifications (DL-208A/209A, DL-208B/209B and DL-208C/209C) were more widely distributed. Units with steam generators installed were designated FPA-2 and FPB-2. In 1951 through 1953, the Montreal Locomotive Works produced FA-2s and FB-2s under Alco specifications ME1600FA and ME1600FB. These were produced for Canadian National Railways and Canadian Pacific Railway in 1951-1953. Alco FA-2s and FB-2s built with steam generators installed were designated FPA-2 and FPB-2. Only the Missouri Pacific and some Mexican railroads had FP models built at the Schenectady plant. All other FPs were built by the Montreal Locomotive Works produced FA-2s and FB-2s under Alco specifications ME1600FA and ME1600FB. These were produced for Canadian National Railways, Canadian Pacific Railway, and National de Mexico in 1953-1955. Montreal Locomotive Works also produced the FPA-4 and FPB-4, under Alco specifications DL218 and DL219. Not only were the engines uprated to 1600 h.p., car bodies were stretched to 54'0" (cab) and 53'2" (booster). The locomotive on the front of this post card is one of those locomotives. They were produced exclusively for the CNR.

The post card was published by JBC Visuals out of Totonto. The photo credit is given to Ted Wickson.

The Pagwa Cannonball

The very short train pictured on the front of this post card is part of the history of trains that served a very sparsely populated area of northern Ontario. The information below was taken directly from this website: http://www.c-and-e-museum.org/Pinetreeline/other/other29/other29ap.html In 1912, a bridge was built across the Pagwa River by the National Transcontinental Railway (NTR), then under construction between Moncton, New Brunswick, and Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Pagwachuan River was 1,233.6 miles from Moncton. The railway selected a site 2.3 miles west of the river for Pagwa station. The station site consisted of a large, two-storey station, a section house and a tool shed.

Stations on the National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) were located seven to 10 miles apart. All track maintenance in the early days of the 1900s was done by hand by section crews and short sections were the norm. Every fourth or fifth section also had a water tank for steam locomotive service. The nearest water tank to Pagwa was at Savoff, to the east. The NTR was Canada's third transcontinental railway. It developed out of political controversy and ultimately helped bring about the defeat of the Laurier Liberal government in 1911. The Borden Conservative government replaced the Liberals. The Conservatives opposed building of this railway, but allowed work to proceed to completion. The government did scrap the four-man commission that guided construction of the NTR and replaced it with a one-man commission, RW Leonard. It is significant that the year in which he became the commission, 1912, is also the date that is inscribed in concrete abutments of the Pagwa River bridge. Canadian Pacific, and later Canadian Northern, were the two transcontinental railways preceding the NTR. But only the NTR ran through Northern Quebec and Northern Ontario, and it was considered a development road. Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was general contractor for the NTR, with funding provided by the federal government. The NTR was to run from Moncton to Winnipeg. The Grand Trunk was to build the remainder of the railway from Winnipeg to the Pacific Ocean. It is significant that it cost $166 million to build the NTR from Moncton to Winnipeg, and only $144 million to build the railway from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, the Pacific terminus, which included crossing the Rockies. Muskeg in Quebec and Ontario was a bigger challenge than granite. Construction of the NTR started in 1906 and ended in 1913. But the Grand Trunk Pacific refused to take over the NTR section, scared off no doubt by the high cost of construction. It had to repay the federal government at the rate of three per cent per year of the total construction cost. The NTR languished as a contractor's railway until 1915 when Canadian Government Railways assumed operational control. Scheduled trains began to operate in that year. By 1923, Canadian National Railway Company was formed and it inherited the NTR, the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern as well as other small roads. Regarding the locomotive that is pictured on the post card, the following was taken directly from this website: https://www.american-rails.com/19486.html The EMD SW1200 began production in January, 1954.

The 12-cylinder engine could produce a hefty 1,200 horsepower, which apparently is something many very much liked as EMD's higher-horsepower small switchers tended to sell much better (similar higher horsepower models offered by Baldwin, the American Locomotive Company, and Fairbanks Morse also tended to sell much better). Using General Motors' newer model D37B traction motor the SW1200 could produce a respectable 36,000 pounds of continuous tractive effort (its starting tractive effort was the most offered of any EMD switcher up to that time, 74,000 pounds) and overall weighed just over 122-tons. Sales for the EMD SW1200 quickly took off and with the builder's reputation at the time for being the best manufacturer of diesel locomotives sales remained steady through the 1950s and into the 1960s. Just as with other SW series models, numerous Class Is, shortlines, and private industries purchased the switcher since they could be used in all types of applications from light branch line work to industrial duties. However, what allowed the model to sell so well was its 1,200 horsepower rating, giving many railroads the versatility to use it pulling heavier freight trains. Production on the switcher continued through May, 1966 and when the last unit was outshopped some 1,056 units in total had been produced, which included 287 models built by General Motors Diesel of London, Ontario. It was the most purchased EMD switcher for industries as its power and agility made it ideal in such settings.

The photo credit goes to Bill Linley; it was taken in July of 1983. The post card was published by JBC Visuals out of Toronto, Ontario.