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.