Franco-British Expo of 1908

This post card is in my collection because the front picture has train tracks and the title says, "Canadian Scenic Railway..." It also mentions the

"Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908". I looked up what the Exhibition was all about. This is what I found:

The information below has been taken directly from this website: http://jdpecon.com/expo/wflondon1908.html

It's an odd exhibition for many reasons. Considered an outstanding success at the time, the exposition, confined to the nations and colonies of the British Empire and French Empire, was actually a clarion call that both of those empires were waning and were ceasing to be competitive with the rest of the world that was barred from participation. Twinned with the Olympic Games, a poor second cousin to international expositions at the time, they were managed by the British Olympic Committee, which managed them well. The Olympics were held in the Great Stadium, sixty-eight thousand seats, later renamed the White City Stadium after the fair's buildings, plastered bright white in a dazzing display. The reason for hosting a colonial exposition with only France and Great Britain involved was the 1904 Entente Cordiale peace accord. Apparently they wanted to keep that peace to themselves, but they may have wanted to clue in their colonial possessions, who were beginning to want their independence over peace.

The Franco-British exhibition had large scale leisure attractions, the first for a British exhibition. Kiralfy built an open-air theatre for three thousand and a two hour show, the Alfresco Spectacular, Our Indian Empire which mesmorized visitors on how the British had civilized India. There was also the Flip-Flap ride and fireworks three nights a week. Thirty thousand people attended the opening ceremonies with the Prince and Princess of Wales in attendance. By 6 o'clock on opening day, 123,000 people had visited.

Attendance at the amusement attractions:
Flip-Flap 1,110,800;
Mountain Scenic Railway 2,800,000; This is the exhibit on the front of this post card!!
The Spiral 653,600;
The Canadian Tobaggan 807,000;
Old London 500,000+;
The Mountain Slide 250,000;
The Johnstown Flood 715,000;
The Stereomatus 425,000.
Down the left-hand side of the back of this post card it mentions that it was published by Valentine & Sons Limited from Dundee in Scotland, London in England and New York in the USA; it does not mention that there were two offices in Canada in Montreal and Toronto at that time.

Build the Tunnel

The front of this post card shows a bit of history that no longer exists. You are looking at one of 31 snow sheds built by the Canadian Pacific Railway

in the Roger Pass. When Major Albert Rogers discovered the pass through the Selkirk Mountains, the owners of the Canadian Pacific Railway were happy that an "easy" route through the Canadian Rockies had been found. He was rewarded with $5,000 and the fact that he would be the namesake of the pass he discovered.

The railway was built through Rogers Pass in 1884. In a previous post, last year, I showcased a post card of the Stoney Creek Bridge, one of the largest bridges on the CPR right of way. This was only one of many bridges that had to be built. The tracks also followed a series of loops in order to maintain a safe grade for the locomotives. Despite all of their efforts to avoid steep hills and avalanche areas, danger lurked each winter. So much so that after the winter of 1885 31 different snow sheds were constructed over a total of six and a half kilometers of tracks. Despite their best efforts, avalanches continued to wreck havoc on the railway. Eight people lost their lives when, in 1899, an avalanche took out a train station in the pass. The worse loss of life occurred on March 4, 1910 when the crew clearing out one avalanche were killed by a second avalanche that came from the other side of the tracks. Sixty two people died that day.

This is when the railway decided that it was the safest option to build the Connaught Tunnel. It was completed in 1916. The rails you see in this post card were abandoned and removed.

The post card was published by the Canadian office for Valentine’s of Dundee, Scotland. From 1907 to 1923 they published souvenir books,

greeting cards and view-cards of Canadian scenery in sets numbered with a three digit prefix and a three digit suffix. These tinted halftone and collotype cards were printed in Great Britain. Valentine sold their Canadian branch in 1923. This particular card only shows (extremely faintly and covered with handwriting) that there were two offices in Canada: Montreal and Toronto. For a very short time they also had an office in Winnipeg.

OUCH!! Don't Do That...

The picture on this post card shows a train exiting from the lower of two spiral tunnels built by the Canadian Pacific Railway to solve a problem of trains losing control on "The Big Hill" and killing people on board. This

happened because the grade of The Big Hill was 4.5%. The very expensive solution to this challenge was to bore two spiral tunnels through two different mountains along where trains entered onto The Big Hill as they traveled west. It is at the beginning of the Kicking Horse River Canyon.

From Wikipedia: The route decided upon called for two tunnels driven in three-quarter circles into the valley walls. The higher tunnel, "number one", is about 1,000 yards (0.91 km) in length and runs under Cathedral Mountain, to the south of the original track. When the new line emerges from this tunnel it has doubled back, running beneath itself and 50 feet (15 m) lower. It then descends the valley side in almost the opposite direction to its previous course before crossing the Kicking Horse River and entering Mount Ogden to the north. This lower tunnel, "number two", is a few yards shorter than "number one" and the descent is again about 50 feet. From the exit of this tunnel the line continues down the valley in the original direction, towards Field. The constructions and extra track effectively double the length of the climb and reduce the ruling gradient to 2.2%.

The reason the title of this post is "OUCH!!!" is because of what a stamp collector did to the post card. You can see in the upper right-hand corner that someone has removed the stamp, leaving an unsightly scar. This has reduced the monetary value of the post card to a collector to minimal. The post mark indicates that this post card is 97 years old (August 14, 1922); and, that it was mailed only 13 years after the Spiral Tunnels were completed. That makes it valuable. Having the stamp ripped off makes it almost valueless. OUCH!!!

The card was published by The Valentine and Sons United Publishing Co. The Canadian offices for Valentine’s of Dundee, Scotland were in Montreal, Toronto and, for a short time, Winnipeg.

This post card documents the short period in which they had an office in Winnipeg (another reason for this card to have been valuable to a collector). They published souvenir books, greeting cards and view-cards of Canadian scenery in sets numbered with a three digit prefix and a three digit suffix. These tinted halftone and collotype cards were printed in Great Britain. Valentine sold their Canadian branch in 1923.

The Largest.... EVER!

The locomotive shown on the front of this post card is truly an essential part of this Express Train as declared in the title on the card: "Canadian Pacific

Railway Express Train". The driving wheels are 84 inches in diameter; that means that each revolution of the wheels moved the train forward 22 feet. Once the pistons got into the rhythm, this locomotive could easily go 60 miles an hour. These were the largest driving wheels ever used on the trains of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) used this particular locomotive to haul passengers from Montreal to Ottawa and back. It was the CPR's attempt to cut into the lucrative business of the Canada Atlantic Railway, which already had a similar route. The CPR's 113 mile long tracks were completed in 1898 and the first passenger trains started running in the fall of the next year. The train could make the trip in two hours and 20 minutes.

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is an Atlantic-type of engine (using the Whyte system of classification) which means that the wheel arrangement was 4-4-2. You can see that the pistons have two chambers in the front of the driving wheels. This is a clue that the locomotive used the Vauclain system to drive the wheels. The system used the steam from the boiler twice; once at high pressure and the exhaust from this became a lower pressure piston driver. This system was said to be more economical, but it turned out that these savings were offset by the extra wear and tear on the system.

This locomotive was built by the CPR's DeLorimer Works at Montreal in 1899 and scrapped in 1917.

The post card was published by the Valentine & Sons Publishing Company. They began publishing in 1907 in Montreal, so a picture of a locomotive like this would make perfect sense for them to print. This was published by the Canadian office for Valentine’s of Dundee, Scotland. They published souvenir books, greeting cards and view-cards of Canadian scenery in sets numbered with a three digit prefix and a three digit suffix (you can see it in the bottom right-hand corner of the post card). These tinted halftone and collotype cards were printed in Great Britain (as is mentioned on the back of the card, running up the left side of the card. Valentine sold their Canadian branch in 1923.

Not just Canadian Rockies, “The Big Hill”

This week we are going to Canada. The title on the post card says, “C.P.R. Passenger Train, Canadian Rockies”.

Well, my experience tells me that this is not just the Canadian Rockies; this is a picture taken on “The Big Hill” just west of Calgary, Alberta on the CPR main line. This is part of the Canadian transcontinental railway. If you look in the bottom left corner of the post card you can see a rail that goes up hill to nowhere. This was one of several that the Canadian Pacific Railway built to stop runaway trains on “The Big Hill”.

In order to convince British Columbia that being a part of the newly formed Canada was a great idea, the politicians promised the citizens of British Columbia that a railroad would be built across the continent to connect them to the rest of Canada within 10 years if they joined. They voted to become the 6th province of Canada on July 20, 1871. On November 7, 1885, the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia. It was a little late, but the promise was fulfilled.

Part of the reason the train tracks were finished by 1881 is to be found in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia. Kicking Horse Pass was the best the surveyors could find in which to lay tracks through the Rockies at a latitude close enough to the American border that they could send a message to the Americans that Canada is not for annexation.

The following paragraph is from the website:
http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/bc/yoho/natcul/spirale-spiral.aspx

The steep grade in Kicking Horse Pass posed a serious challenge. Under government pressure to complete the railway, and given the engineering challenges that came along with the geography, Canadian Pacific was not in a position to carve a gradual descent. A solution was reached, which temporarily allowed a grade of 4.5%. The first train to attempt the hill in 1884 derailed, tragically killing three workers. In an effort to improve safety, three spur lines were created to divert such runaway trains on what became known as the “Big Hill”. Switches were left set for the spurs and were not reset to the main line until switchmen knew the oncoming train was in control. Descending the Big Hill was challenging, but uphill trains had their problems too. Extra locomotives were needed to push the trains up the hill, causing delays and requiring extra workers. Although the mountains were a complication for CP, they were an inspiration to the many tourists who started to arrive by train. In an effort to preserve the landscape and encourage tourism, CP prompted the creation of Mount Stephen Dominion Reserve in 1886. The park was renamed Yoho in 1901.

The post card is from the Divided Back Era (1907 – 1915).

It was printed and published by The Valentine & Sons Publishing Co. Ltd. This particular company was the Canadian office for Valentine’s of Dundee, Scotland. They published souvenir books, greeting cards and view-cards of Canadian scenery in sets numbered with a three digit prefix and a three digit suffix. This particular post card is numbered 107239; it is in the bottom right hand corner of the post card. These tinted halftone and collotype cards were printed in Great Britain. Valentine sold their Canadian branch in 1923.

Still Around Today

The title on the upper left part of this post card is “C. G. R. Express ‘Ocean Limited’ ” Its first run from Montreal, Quebec to Halifax, Nova Scotia (1345 kilometers) was on July 3, 1904. It is said to be the longest running train service in Canada. The C. G. R. stands for the Canadian Government Railways. This was the legal name used when the federal government owned several railways that the government rescued because they were getting too close to becoming bankrupt. It was a short lived name, taken over by the now familiar Canadian National Railway which was incorporated on June 3, 1919. The Canadian Government Railways only lasted from 1915 to 1919. This is a great way to be able to date the card to having been printed between 1915 and 1919.

The back of the card tells us that this was a product of Valentine and Sons. It was printed by the Canadian office for Valentine’s of Dundee, Scotland. They published souvenir books, greeting cards and view-cards of Canadian scenery in sets numbered with a three digit prefix and a three digit suffix. You can see these on the front of the card in bottom right hand quadrant. These tinted halftone and collotype cards were printed in Great Britain. Valentine sold their Canadian branch in 1923.

It was published by the Canadian Railway News Co. That is their logo in upper right hand corner, where the stamp goes. When I first read that it was the Canadian Railway News Co., I thought immediately of the American conglomerate. The American News Company (founded in 1864) owned several subsidiaries like the Union News Company, the Colorado News Company, the St. Louis News Company, and many others. I presumed that the Canadian Railway News Company was the American News Company’s intrusion into Canada. My research told me otherwise.

In 1883, the Phelan family of Toronto began the Canada Railway News Co. to sell newspapers, magazines and confectionary to the travelling public (very similar to the American News Company). This post card was one of the items they sold.

Those of us who live in Canada are familiar with several restaurants: Swiss Chalet, and Second Cup to name two of them. This entire chain of restaurants is owned by the same company: CARA. The name Cara was derived from the first two letters of each of the words "Canada Railway”. It was this company that published this post card.

In the 1930s, Cara began offering catering services to the airlines.
By 1951 it was serving about 1,500 meals a day.
In 1961 the company changed its name to Cara Operations Limited.
Cara was owned solely by the Phelan family from its inception in 1883 until it went public in 1968.
The Phelan family has since bought back CARA’s public stock (in 2004) and, once again, made it a private company. Today it is a food service giant with $1.1-billion in annual sales and the owner of such restaurant brands as Harvey's, Second Cup, Swiss Chalet, Kelsey's and Montana's — as well as the in-flight caterer to Air Canada.