Oh, Happy Day!

These two post cards are pictures of Fort Edmonton Park with their steam locomotive in action. The reason that I am blogging about the park today is because 5 years ago, today, I was married to my lovely wife on that train, literally, on that train. We stood on the platform of one of the passenger cars, our witnesses stood on the platform of another car and the ministers stood on the steps of the cars, while all of our guests looked on from the station’s platform.

The reception was held at the Selkirk Hotel on 1920s Street in the park.

The top post card shows downtown Edmonton in the top, the snaking North Saskatchewan River and Fort Edmonton Park in the bottom right half of post card. If you look carefully, about 2 centimeters from the bottom, in the middle, you can see the steam from the locomotive as it nears the replica of Fort Edmonton. I would point out where the Selkirk Hotel is, but it hadn’t been added when this picture was taken. It is to the left of the white airplane hanger in the middle of the card.

The bottom post card is a close-up of the locomotive. It represents the type of engines that were used on the Edmonton Yukon & Pacific Railway (EY & P) and is dressed in that livery. It is a 1919 Baldwin 2-6-2, built in Pennsylvania. The railway began on the south side of Edmonton in what was then, the town of Strathcona, in 1902 and by 1906 crossed the river and ran as far west as 123 St. and Stony Plain Road. The EY & P Railroad operated passenger trains until 1926 and finally ceased all operations in 1951.

The Fort Edmonton Park ride is 2.5 miles and has two main stops; at the Train Station entrance to the park and at the Fort. The locomotive arrived in Edmonton in 1977 and began service in 1978. The 107 was once used as a logging engine; it was owned by the Industrial Lumber Company in Oakdale, Louisiana, before being employed to move passengers and freight.



Both post cards were printed by Alberta Color, which is headquartered right here in Edmonton. You can see that both cards are modern. We can narrow down the age of the top card to between 1974 and 2003: barcodes were used for the first time in 1974 and the Selkirk Hotel was built in 2003. It is harder to narrow the age of the bottom card, but it was definitely after 1978, when the train started service.

Two Jasper Greats!

These two steam engines are both parked in the exact same location: they are on static display in Jasper, Alberta, Canada. The top post card is of the Canadian National Railway’s (CNR) 6060 and the bottom one is of the CNR’s 6015. They can both be in the same location because they were not there at the same time. The top post card, of the 6060, is older than the bottom post card. The 6060 was the very first of the U-1-f class locomotives. The wheel arrangement is 4-8-2. It was built in 1943. This was a time when iron and steel were at a premium because of the need during World War II. Therefore, this series of locomotives were built using less of those materials making them lighter (20 tons lighter than their predecessors). The result was a great performing class of steam engines that lasted longer between maintenance stops and could travel at higher speeds.

The 6060 was retired in 1959 and in 1962 set out on static display in Jasper, Alberta, an end point on the Edson Subdivision of the Canadian National Railway (Edmonton being at the other end 237.5 miles away).

But, that was not the end of the 6060’s life! It was a short ten years later that the CNR resurrected and restored the engine for passenger excursions around Toronto, Ontario. In 1980 the 6060 was presented as a gift to the people of Alberta to commemorate the province’s 75th anniversary. It is currently being cared for by the Rocky Mountain Rail Society. You can get to their website at www.6060.org

Some statistics of the 6060: Length with tender – 93 feet; Height – 15 feet 1½ inches; Diameter of drivers – 73 inches; Tractive effort – 52, 500 pounds with no booster. The cylinders are 24 inches in diameter with a stroke of 28 inches and the boiler pressure is 260 psi.

When the CNR removed the 6060 from Jasper, they replaced it with the 6015. It was built in1924 soon after the birth of the CNR by the Canadian Locomotive Company. It is classified as a U-1-a locomotive. It, too, has a wheel arrangement of 4-8-2; it is part of the first series of 16 Mountain type locomotives built to supply badly needed power. There were 21 locomotives built in 1924 – 25 as the second batch of motive power order by CNR. Five more were ordered in 1929 – 30 from the Canadian Locomotive Company and twelve were ordered from the Montreal Locomotive Works in the same time frame. The order for 20 more from the Montreal Locomotive Works was delivered in 1944. The 6060, above, was one of these.

Some statistics of the 6015: Length with tender – 90 feet 4 ¼ inches; Height – 15 feet 3 inches; Diameter of drivers – 73 inches; Tractive effort – 49, 590 pounds. The cylinders are 26 inches in diameter with a stroke of 30 inches and the boiler pressure is 210 psi.

Now about the publishers:

The top card was published by Harry Rowed, O’Neill and Associates, Ltd. Harry Rowed began his photographic career in Jasper in the late 1930's. Long leather bellows and a hood over the camera and his head; he captured the essence of what it is to be out in the mountains. He started a photography shop which flourished through the years. He took on a partner, Ray O'Neil, to handle the day to day "people" assignments so that he could continue his quest to capture the beauty of the mountains. For years, the team of Rowed and O'Neil produced the magnificent postcards and prints that drew tourists to the area. As the years wore on, Harry retired. The business passed to his partner, Ray O'Neil, and it continued under the name Rowed & O'Neil until the early eighties when the business of keeping alive the incredible work done by both of these men passed to Keith Allen. The card was printed in Canada by the Grant Mann Lithographers from Vancouver, British Columbia. The bottom card was published (distributed) by Alberta Color Productions, in Edmonton, Alberta. It was printed by Dexter Colour Canada. Thomas A. Dexter began Dexter Press, a one-man shop in Pearl River, New York, in 1920. With the production of the very first natural color post card in 1932, Tom Dexter established a tradition of innovation and craftsmanship that would be associated with the Dexter name for years to come. During that same time period, the Burney brothers, located in Aurora, Missouri, were quickly becoming one of the largest road map printers in the country. From their Midwest Map Company grew MWM Color Press. As with Dexter Press, MWM Color Press emphasized a commitment to excellence in printing. In 1980, the two companies combined forces to create MWM Dexter.

The Northern Alberta Railroad

The picture on the front of this post card was taken just over a year before the Northern Alberta Railway was purchased by the Canadian National Railway... ...and one month before the line was completely dieselized.

On June 6, 1919 the federal government of Canada incorporated several bankrupt or near bankrupt railroads into what is today known as the Canadian National Railway (CNR). As time passed more railroads were added to the CNR. One of those (in 1989) was the Northern Alberta Railways.

The Northern Alberta Railways (NAR) came into being in 1929. The NAR was an amalgamation of four railways, the Edmonton, Dunvegan and British Columbia (ED&BC). the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway (A&GW), the Canada Central Railway (CCR) and the Pembina Valley Railway (PVR) all having the proverbial financial challenges that faced so many of the early railroads.

In the 1920s, the lines ED&BC, A&GW, and CCR, along with the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR) and Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) had fallen victim to poor financial health inflicted by the financial strain of costs of World War I and falling traffic levels.

Following the federal example mentioned above, and in an attempt to preserve rail service to northern and northwestern Alberta, the provincial government leased the ED&BC and CCR in 1920 for five years. In 1921 the provincial government purchased the A&GW. It also entered into a five-year agreement with the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to operate the ED&BC and CCR.

The provincial government purchased the ED&BC and CCR in 1925, following the expiration of the five-year lease. Dissatisfied with the CPR's operation of the ED&BC and CCR, the provincial government allowed the operating contract for the these railways to expire in 1926, with operations subsequently taken over by the new provincial Department of Railways and Telecommunications, which was also tasked to operate the AG&W and the newly-built Pembina Valley Railway (PVR).

In 1928 the provincial government grouped the ED&BC, CCR, AG&W, and PVR under the collective name Northern Alberta Railways, which received a federal charter in March of 1929. The NAR was subsequently sold to both the CNR and CPR in equal portions with both companies agreeing to maintain the NAR as a joint subsidiary. At that time, the NAR was the third-largest railway in Canada. In 1937 the NAR began to show a profit for the first time.

In summer 1942, following the entry of the United States into the Second World War, the Alaska Highway civil defense project resulted in tremendous growth for the NAR, as the system was the only railway to service Alaska Highway mile 0 at Dawson Creek, British Columbia.

NAR's locomotive fleet was completely dieselized by October 1960 with GP9s, and GMD1s. NAR also purchased two Canadian National GMD1s in January 1962. A final locomotive purchase was made in December 1975 for SD38-2s.
On January 1, 1981, Canadian National Railways bought out CPR's share in the NAR system and incorporated these lines into the CN network, allowing CN to operate unhindered in northern Alberta.

This post card was printed by Dexter Colour Canada and published by JBC Visuals.

Thomas A. Dexter began Dexter Press, a one-man shop in Pearl River, New York, in 1920. With the production of the very first natural color post card in 1932, Tom Dexter established a tradition of innovation and craftsmanship that would be associated with the Dexter name for years to come. While all the photochromes printed by Dexter boor the words Genuine Natural Color they went through a variety of phases. Their early photochromes went under the name Dextone and tended to be flat and somewhat dull in appearance. As years went by their optical blending techniques improved producing richer and more varied colors. I do not know when they entered into business in Canada. I do know that their business contact is as follows: Dexter Colour Canada, 384 Neptune Crescent, London, Ontario N6M 1A1 Phone: (519) 457-2605

JBC Visuals: My guess is that they no longer exist. When I type into the web searcher their name and address (Box 5736, Station "A", Toronto, Ontario M5W 1P2) I come up empty.

100th Anniversary coming up in less than a month!!

Welcome to Edmonton in the early 20th Century. These two post cards of pictures of the newly constructed HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE in Edmonton, the capital city of the province of Alberta in Canada.



The High Level Bridge was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). It purchased an already existing railroad (the Calgary and Edmonton Railroad) who had begun the surveying for the bridge. The Calgary and Edmonton Railroad wanted to build a bridge over the North Saskatchewan River to join the cities of Strathcona and Edmonton together. Then the CPR negotiated rights of way, design and content of the bridge - among many other things.

Finally, construction of the bridge began on August 14, 1910. There are 62 land piers and four river piers holding up the bridge. Construction of the piers was completed in 1911. The addition of the steel girders began on the south side of the river and slowly - and safely - the crew made its way to the north side, and in early 1913 the bridge made it to the side of the river where the Legislative Building is.

The bridge was to carry a train in the middle of the top of the bridge and street car lines on the outside of the top of the bridge. The bottom deck was built to carry automobiles.

The bridge is 755 meters long or 2,478 feet and 13 meters wide or 43 feet. It originally carried street cars, steam engines and cars. It rises 64 meters or 210 feet above the North Saskatchewan River.

On June 2, 1913 the first CPR passenger train steamed into Edmonton over the newly completed structure. The first streetcar crossed the bridge on August 11, 1913. By that time, the cities of Strathcona and Edmonton became one city: Edmonton.

The top post card is looking south toward the Old Strathcona area of Edmonton.

The bottom card is looking from the south toward the north and the Legislative Building is prominent in the background. It illustrates how the trolleys and the steam engines shared the top of the bridge and one can see the bottom deck where the automobiles travelled.



The top post card was mailed at 4 PM on September 22, 1916. It was sent to Yorkton, Saskatchewan, which is about 100 kilometers from the border with Manitoba on the Yellowhead Highway. Olga is telling her sister that they are in Edmonton visiting the Falks. She expects to be home (Yorkton) on October 1st which will be a week from the coming Sunday.

This card, like the one in the previous blog post and the other post card in this post, was published by Valentine and Sons. The previous post card mentioned Toronto and Montreal as their headquarters in Canada. This post card adds Winnipeg as a third city in which they have a headquarters. It must not have lasted long, because the company stopped operating in Canada in 1923. The bottom card only mentions Toronto and Winnipeg as the headquarters cities.

The top card is from the Divided Back era and the bottom on is from the White Border era.

Today it carries southbound cars and buses on the bottom of the bridge and a tourist street car on the top. From about 1980 to 2008 there was a sprinkler system on the east side of the bridge that, when turned on, created a waterfall taller than Niagara Falls. It was turned on for special occasions, like its inaugural event: the celebration of the bridge's 75th birthday. Environment Canada suggested that it should not be used again in the early 21st century. The Edmonton City Council recently voted to allow a volunteer group to raise money to light up the bridge instead, using LED lights that can be programmed to "dance" to music.

No Genetically Modified Wheat here!

This has to be a picture from Alberta - even though it doesn't say so anywhere on the post card. I have been to Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia along both the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railroads. None of these provinces have a scene of a wheat field near the mountains that look similar to this. Having said that, I can't pinpoint where the picture would have been taken, except somewhere between Canmore and Calgary, Alberta. The tracks of the CPR do get close enough to both mountains and flat land that this might be from there. Notice how calm the four horses are as they pull the reaping machine while the steam engine zips past them. This post card was published in the Divide Back Era (1907 - 1915) so the wheat being cut down here is definitely NOT Genetically Modified!!

Of course, it may be an artist's rendition of "all the good things" one can find in Alberta. There is a signature under the back left of the machine. I think it says, "O. Rosenvinge." I believe that the artist is Odin Rosenvinge who was certainly around the early part of the 20th Century. He lived from 1880 to 1957. You can see some samples of his work at http://www.invaluable.com/artist/rosenvinge-odin-zd6hzct1vb . You will have to cut and paste or write down the address as the linking on this site does not work very well.

Odin Rosenvinge was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1880 of Danish descent. After leaving school, he joined a Leeds commercial art and printing firm where he started to paint marine subjects. When he was thirty-two, he moved to Liverpool and joined the firm of Turner and Dunett who had all the major shipping companies as clients. He served in the Middle East during World War I. In the 1930's, his employers went into liquidation and he went freelance, becoming one of the most celebrated poster and postcard artists.



The post card publisher Valentine & Sons was able to get a copy of one of Odin's pieces of art and reprinted it as this post card. Valentine & Sons was from Great Britain, as was Odin.



Valentine & Sons operated in Canada from 1907 to 1923 in both Montreal and Toronto. They were 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. These tinted halftone and collotype cards were printed in Great Britain. Valentine sold their Canadian branch in 1923.

Welcome to Alberta!

You can still ride a train behind a live steam engine in Alberta. These two post cards are from a city named Stettler in Alberta.



Alberta Prairie Steam Tours Ltd. operating as Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions started in 1990 when they purchased all the steam and passenger equipment from Central Western Railway Corporation and began operating over lines owned by that company. Today Alberta Prairie either owns or leases all of the rail assets at Stettler.

I have had the great joy of riding on the train at least three times. On each journey, not far from Big Valley, Alberta (the terminus) we were stopped by "train robbers" on horseback, who walked through the train taking money from the passengers. Fortunately, another groups on horseback came to our rescue. But, because they didn't know who the money came from, they decided to donate the money to charities that focus on children in either Edmonton or Calgary.

When the train arrives at Big Valley there are several options for activities.

Some of the activities are included in your train ticket. One year we had a huge steak and lobster barbecue under a tent. Another year, it was a play a the local community centre; the actors accompanied us on the train (in character) to Big Valley. Here are a few activities that they have planned this year:
1) Travel back in time and see small town Alberta as it once was. A visit to roundhouse interpretive centre and fully restored railway station a must see during stop at Big Valley. Includes on board entertainment and an Alberta roast beef buffet at Big Valley.

2)You will feel the heat and smell the coal burning as model steam engine enthusiasts come together to display their fascinating creations. Working early gasoline pump engines, antique machinery and vehicles, and one of a kind creations also featured. Includes an Alberta roast beef buffet and all the other extras offered on most Country Dinner excursions and more.

3)Enjoy a little bit of "The Rock" (Newfoundland' nick name) right here in Alberta and feast on steak and lobster. Included are guaranteed train robbery, on board entertainment and Down-East entertainment at supper. And what would a Newfoundlander Special be without complementary "East Coast" beer and blue berry wine with the meal. And as an added bonus, Ever wonder who these people are who call themselves Métis? This is your chance to visit a hivernant, meet the people of the plains in their colourful sashes and Hudson's Bay coats, and see their handicrafts.

Some of the activities are not included in the price of your train ticket. You can visit the Creationist Museum, where they have displays to explain why the world is younger than 7,000 years. You can visit the town itself.

Check out all of the activities and the dates of the Steam Excursions at their website: http://www.absteamtrain.com/ or, if this works, click here:


These are the backs of the cards.




The top card of the depicting a train robbery was printed by The Stettler Independent and the bottom card was supplied by Arlin Photography.

Upper Spiral Tunnel

This is a view of the Upper Spiral Tunnel.

I know that it is the upper tunnel because of the portal and track coming out of the bottom entrance. In the previous blog posts of the Lower Spiral Tunnels, one can notice that it is a rather long, straight track that leads into the lower entrance. In this view, one can see that as soon as the train exits the lower portal it makes an immediate right hand turn. The fact that Mt. Stephen is in the background helps us to orient ourselves, too.

The caption says that we are looking at the "EAST PORTAL SPIRAL TUNNEL AND MOUNT STEPHEN NEAR FIELD B.C."

The train in the picture has come from Field, B.C. and it headed toward the continental divide then Lake Louise, Banff, Canmore, Cochrane, and on to Calgary and point East!

I do not know who took the picture or who published it.
It is a picture of a picture.
I can see a light border around the original picture.
It also has a serrated edge on the top of the card.
It looks like this was one of several pictures in a post card book.

Yessie simply tore out the card and wrote the message on the back.
She didn't put a stamp on the back and send it like a normal post card.
She must have put it into an envelope and mailed it.

Well, we have been in the Rockies for way too long. I think I will now start jumping around Canada and be surprised where we land with each blog post that follows. I have a lot of Canadian post cards that are not all about the Spiral Tunnels.