The Old and the Older, but Which One is Which?

The locomotives pictured on the front of these two post cards are both “F-Units”. One is about 50 years older than the other.

The locomotive on this, the top post card, is an EMD that was part of a line of diesel-electric locomotives produced between November 1939 and November 1960 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (GM-EMD) in the U.S.A. and General Motors-Diesel Division (GMDD) in Canada. While the parts came from many locations, the final assembly for all F-units was at the GM-EMD plant at La Grange, Illinois, and the GMDD plant in London, Ontario. The term “F-unit” refers to the model numbers given to each successive revision (i.e. F3, F7, etc.), all of which began with the letter F. The "F" originally meant Fourteen, as in 1,400 horsepower, not F as in Freight. Longer EMD “E-units” for passenger service had twin 900 horsepower diesel engines. The later "E" meant Eighteen as in 1,800 horsepower. The F-units were the most successful "first generation" road (main line) diesel locomotives in North America, and were largely responsible for superseding steam locomotives in road freight service.

The locomotive in this post card, the bottom post card, is an F40PH-2. The design of the F40PH was based on the EMD GP40-2 freight road-switcher and shared that locomotive's turbocharged EMD 645E3 V16 cylinder, two-stroke, water-cooled diesel engine. The locomotive developed 3,000 horsepower at 893 RPM. Beginning with the EMD F40PH-2, introduced in 1985, the engine developed 3,200 horsepower. Many of the original F40PHs were updated to match that output. The locomotives were 56 feet 2 inches (17.1 m) long. A standard F40PH weighs 260,000 lb (117,934 kg). The designation "F40PH" stood for the following: "F" for the full-width cowl carbody, "40" as the locomotive is part of EMD's 40-series (based on the GP40-2 freight locomotive), "P" for passenger service and "H" for head-end power. Both trains are passing by the famous “Morant’s Curve”, a location made famous by the Canadian Pacific Railway’s official photographer Nicholas Morant. The above information was mostly gleaned from a couple of Wikipedia articles.

The reason that chose these two post cards to blog about is multi-faceted. 1) They are both pictures of Moran’t Curve in the winter, but taken about ten years apart. There aren’t a lot of differences between the two, when you compare the scenery. The trees on the inside of the curve, near the tracks, seem to have grown a bit, but not much. The Bow River flows in the same crooked pattern in both pictures. 2) They demonstrate the differences between the two different F-Units that were used by Via Rail. The top one is the earlier version; the bottom one the modern version.

3) The bottom picture is a photo of the very last Via Rail passenger train to travel on these tracks. Via took over the operation of all passenger rail services in Canada in in 1977. They stopped running two transcontinental trains (one through Edmonton and one through Calgary) in January of 1990. This is the last one that travelled east-bound through Calgary. 4) Although the top picture is older than the bottom one, the bottom post card seems to be older than the top one. The bottom post card includes a bar code on the back; it was printed in Australia and developed in Calgary, Alberta. The company, started in 1950, is still active (now in Cochrane, AB) with a website: http://www.hccolour.com/ The top card includes a only a post office box on the back; it was printed in Canada by Dexter Colour. DEXTER COLOR CANADA, LIMITED was founded on June 28, 1978 and has its registered office in Bramalea, Ontario. The organisation's status is listed as "Inactive - Amalgamated".

Edmonton to Calgary and Back

The information below is taken from this website: http://forthjunction.ca/passenger-rail.htm Regularly scheduled passenger trains served the area between Calgary and Edmonton on the Canadian Pacific line from 1891 to 1985. When the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway reached Fort Calgary in 1883, the Calgary-Edmonton Trail gained significance as a major transportation corridor and a crude stagecoach service began carrying mail, goods and passengers north and south along the trail. The trip between the two forts took 4 to 5 days requiring several stopping houses along the way. The one way fare between Calgary and Edmonton was $25 (at the time, a good wage was $2 per day). Almost immediately, there developed a demand for rail service. The Calgary & Edmonton Railway received its first charter in 1885 but nothing happened. A new charter was awarded in 1890. The new railway was built and it was completed by July 1891. The CPR leased the line and took over operations in August 1891 with regular passenger service beginning in 1892. The travel time was 12 hours with a one-way fare of $10 between Calgary and Strathcona (part of south Edmonton today). In 1936, Canadian Pacific introduced "high speed rail" with 'The Chinook', a specially-designed inter-city light passenger train between Calgary and Edmonton, reducing travel time to 5-1/4 hours at speeds up to 100 mi/hr. with up to 22 stops. From 1936 to 1955, four passenger trains a day ran the Calgary-Edmonton route including an overnight train, the 'Eskimo'/'Stampeder', a 'milk run', and the 'Chinook' using a 4-4-4 Jubilee F2a class locomotive no. 3001, one of only five of this class of locomotive ever built. Passenger service and rail infrastructure remained relatively stable for 60 years (1914-1954). But, with increased competition from airlines, new roadways, the new affordability of personal vehicles and cheap fuel, the desire for rail passenger service started to decline. In an attempt to maintain viable passenger service within the Calgary-Edmonton corridor, Canadian Pacific replaced 'the Chinook' Jubilee with a Budd 'Dayliner'

in 1955 cutting the travel time from Calgary to Edmonton to 3-1/2 hours. Budd Dayliners The CP Dayliners reached a peak of three trains a day in each direction in 1969 carrying almost 80,000 passengers that year. The following year, the number of trains was reduced to one in each direction per day resulting in only 31,400 passengers that year and only 23,400 passengers in 1971. At the order of the federal Railway Transport Committee, the frequency was increased to two trains per day in 1972. The CP Edmonton downtown station was closed to passengers in 1971 (and demolished in 1978), with Strathcona becoming the northern terminus of CPR corridor passenger rail service, further eroding the desire for travellers to use the train. Canadian Pacific corridor service was reviewed in 1976 and 1979 by the Railway Transport Committee after public hearings in response to continued CP requests to cancel passenger operations. Meanwhile, the government-owned VIA Rail took over all CP and CN passenger service in 1978. The federal Committee ordered improved service in 1981 citing the corridor had the best potential for rail passenger service outside of the Quebec City-Windsor corridor. Ridership increased to 53,000 in 1982, the highest since 1969. One-way fare was $27. However, grade crossing collisions and railway errors caused the public to question the safety of Dayliner service. And poor integration with other transport modes and connectivity caused much frustration. The Dayliners continued on the CP Calgary-Edmonton corridor until September 6, 1985 when the service was cancelled due to financial losses and at-grade collisions after 94 years of continuous rail passenger service.

The post card was printed by Dexter Color Canada in Cornwall, Ontario. It was published by JBC Visuals out of Toronto, Ontario. The photo credit is given to Peter Jobe.

Preserving History

These two post cards show what the diesel engine number 9000 looks like today.

The photo here is by Laaysell Studios and the post card was made by Dexter Colour out of Cornwall, Ontario.

This post card came from STEAMSCENES in West Vancouver, Canada. They used a photo by Nils Huxtable.


Number 9000 is worthy of preservation because it was the first production road freight locomotive built for a Canadian railway. The Canadian National Railway (CNR) had used diesels for about 20 years before they ordered this one; but, these other diesels were always used in yards for shunting around cars. This locomotive was intended to be used for regular road freight service. During World War II it was loaned to the Canadian government. It was clad in armour and used along the West Coast of Canada. Once the war was over it was returned to the CNR which reconditioned the locomotive so that it could be used in regular passenger service. Several of these post cards are pictures of the locomotive pulling "The Super Continental" passenger train through the Rockies, no doubt.

The locomotive has had a bit of an identity crisis over its years. It was built in May of 1948 as an F3A class, V-1-a by EMD.
It was later reclassified as a V-1-A-a in January of 1950 and once again reclassified in September of 1954 as a GFA-15a. This post card, showing the 9000 as in freight service, was published by JBC Visuals out of Toronto, Ontario.


After seeing 33 years of service on the CN mainlines, it was retired on October 8, 1971 after traveling over 4.1 million kilometers (2.6 million miles). It was donated by CNR to the Alberta Pioneer Railway Association in November of 1971.

It is currently being kept and used at the Alberta Pioneer Railway Museum in the northeast of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada. The association of volunteers restored the locomotive (there were some major challenges). It was ready for service, after being painted in the CNR freight colours, in 1996, just in time to "star" in the move "In Cold Blood". No one has taken credit for the photo or printing of this post card above or the one just below, but they both do say,"Made in Canada".

This post card was prduced from Natural Color transparency. Published and copyrighted by Smith Lithograph Co. Limited, Vancouver, Canada. It was distributed by Harry Rowed, O'Neill and Associates Ltd, out of Jasper, Alberta in Canada. The printed date on it is 1958.

Byron Harmon, One More Time (No, Two More Times)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_(train) is the source of information below about the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) train known as "The Canadian".

The two trains seen on the fronts of these post cards are part of the transcontinental train service that used to be offered by the CPR. The company christened its new transcontinental flagship train “The Canadian” and service began on April 24, 1955. Running time between Montreal and Vancouver was reduced from about 85 to 71 hours, so that passengers spent only three, rather than four, nights en route. Although CPR competitor Canadian National Railways (CNR) began its own new transcontinental service, the Super Continental, on the same day, CPR was able to boast honestly that “The Canadian” was "The first and only all-stainless steel 'dome' stream-liner in Canada" — it was not until 1964 that the CNR acquired dome cars from the Milwaukee Road.

The train operated with Montreal and Toronto sections which ran combined west of Sudbury, Ontario. The Montreal section (also serving Ottawa) was known as train 1 westbound and train 2 eastbound, while the Toronto section was known as train 11 westbound and train 12 eastbound. Although initially successful, passenger train ridership began to decline in Canada during the 1960s. Facing competition from airlines and increased automobile usage following construction of the Trans-Canada Highway, the CPR cancelled “The Dominion” in 1966, and petitioned the government to discontinue “The Canadian” in 1970. Although this petition was denied, CPR during the 1970s attempted to remove itself from the passenger service market. “The Canadian” was operated at reduced levels, with the government subsidizing 80 percent of its losses. VIA Rail eventually took over “The Canadian” operations then dropped the service on January 15, 1990.

Both of these photos are attributed to Byron Harmon. The top one reflects a classic Byron Harmon point of view. I have several of his post cards that are taken from this position. But these cards show steam locomotives. The back of the post card also reflects a classic Byron Harmon look. “POST CARD” is printed across the top, middle with “Along the Line of the Canadian Pacific Railway” printed directly under these words. Following that, “Copyrighted by BYRON HARMON, BANFF, CANADA” is also printed in the usual script and position. These two post cards are pictures of diesel locomotives. Diesel took over this route long after Mr. Harmon died. I think that someone in his family took over the business upon his passing and tried to keep the Byron Harmon look active.

The bottom post card attributed the photo to “Photo by Byron Harmon Photos”. Byron Harmon Photos is also the copyright holder and publisher of the post card. It is a company in Banff, Alberta. The fact that the post card is a photo-chrome print also tells me that this is a modern card that cannot be directly attributed to Byron Harmon. A bit of background on Mr. Harmon: He arrived in Alberta in 1903 as an itinerant photographer after leaving his portrait studio in Tacoma, Washington. By 1906 He had become a founding member and official photographer of the Alpine Club of Canada. He took over 6,400 photographs while exploring the Canadian Rockies and the Selkirks. In 1907 Harmon began turning many of these photographs into real photo postcards, which became his principal life’s work. In 1924 he traveled into the Rockies with the photographer Lewis R. Freeman. Some of the real photo postcards produced under Harmon’s name from this trip may actually be the work of Freeman that he published for him. After this trip Harmon mostly produced scenes alongside railway lines. He also distributed printed color postcards made from his photos that were manufactured in the United States. He died in 1942. His Granddaughter was still running the family business in Banff the last time that I was there.