Foreshadowing the Future

There is no train on this post card; at least, I can’t see one. But it is a picture of a gigantic celebration of an event involving a train. This is the inauguration of the first train coming into Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This was an event worthy of celebrating. Since 1891, Edmonton’s neighbouring city to the south, Strathcona, had had its own train station and the end of the train line. The Calgary & Edmonton Railway had been stopping in Strathcona, on the south side of the North Saskatchewan River for over 10 years.

It wasn’t until 1902 that a train actually entered into Edmonton. This train was owned by the Edmonton, Yukon & Pacific. It was simply a connecting railway between the C & E Railway and the city of Edmonton. The route went down what is now the Mill Creek Ravine's walking and bicycling path and went across the Low Level Bridge into Edmonton. My last blog had some information about the train and the Low Level Bridge.

Three years later, on November 24, 1905 the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) entered Edmonton from the east. That is what they are celebrating on the front of this post card. The entrance of the CNoR into Edmonton.

This post card is foreshadowing the future because the call letters they are using for the Canadian Northern Railway are CNR, of which the CNoR will eventually become a part.

The CNoR eventually owned a transcontinental line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Edmonton. It began as a consolidation of several branch lines around the Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR) in Manitoba. Two men purchased the shares of all of these lines and established the CNoR in 1899. CNoR's first step toward competing directly with CPR came at the start of the 20th century with the decision to build a line linking the Prairie Provinces with Lake Superior at the harbour in Port Arthur-Fort William (what we know today as Thunder Bay, Ontario) which would permit the shipping of western grain to European markets as well as the transport of eastern Canadian goods to the West. The last spike of the CNoR transcontinental railway was driven January 23, 1915, at Basque, British Columbia.

Unfortunately, along with several other railway lines, the CNoR came upon hard financial times. At first it was absorbed into the Canadian Government Railways (1918) and then into the railway, which is today called the Canadian National Railway in 1923.

This post card was mailed on May 22, 1907 – that makes the card over 106 years old - about a year and half after the celebration depicted on the front of the post card. It was published by the Edmonton Music Company and, like many cards of this time, it was printed in Germany. The message on the back is from a brother to his sister:
“Dear Sister, I guess you will be surprised to hear of me being up here. Will write in a day or so and give you all the news. As ever, your Loving Bro.”

The Train as a Different Sort of Hero!

98 years ago the North Saskatchewan River rose to 12 meters above the banks of its normal level. It began in June of 1915 and peaked on June 29th. On this day the river’s flow increased to 4,640 cubic meters per second (average is about 250 cubic meters per second). This flood is considered by many to be the worst flood of the river in the 20th century. The flood of July, 1986 came in at second place. The flow of the river that year was at 3,990 cubic meters per second. I was attending the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and the flood made news all the over there. I can only imagine what happened in 1915.

The people living in the communities of Cloverdale, Riverdale, Rossdale and Walterdale all had their streets turned into flowing tributaries of the river and eventually into a flood plain.



The bridge that brought the first train into Edmonton, the Low Level Bridge, was being threatened by the strength of the river surge and by the weight of the debris (including houses) in the river. To help stabilize the bridge the Canadian Northern Railway parked a loaded coal train on top of the bridge.

This post card is a reprint of a picture that was taken during that flood. It is from the publisher: The City of Edmonton

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.

In honour of my father in law

This blog post is a tribute to my father-in-law who died on May 13th of this year. While he was in his last week of life, I picked up his famous birch bark moose caller. I had never touched a moose caller before, let alone used one. I made a sound in it not very similar to the ones I had heard him make. I said to him, “That is a sick moose!” He responded, “I have been there, you know.” To which I replied, “I have a post card with the Sicamous hotel and a train on the front.” I was going to bring it to him, but his condition didn’t lend itself to a private viewing of the post card.

The top picture is the post card of the Sicamous Hotel in Sicamous, British Columbia (BC) to which I was referring. It served as both the local hotel (75 rooms and a large dance hall) and the local train station (Craigellachie, where the last spike on the transcontinental was driven is only 22km east). The first train station (according to the back of the bottom post card) was built in 1890 and burned down in 1900. A new one – the one on this post card – was built, modernized in 1908, and torn down in the 1960s.

If you ask me, that hotel looks pretty modern, so I would place the card as being printed and mailed after 1908. The stamp on the back carries the picture of King Edward VII. He was king of England from 1901 to 1910. This stamp was in use in Canada from 1903 to 1908. The cancellation marking shows August 5 but the year is not clear.

The top post card was printed in England by Valentine and Sons. 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. Valentine sold their Canadian branch in 1923.

The bottom post card is a black and white reprint of the top card. It was printed by Wayside Press in Vernon, BC for Pioneer Postcards in Kelowna, BC. Wayside Press still exists: It was begun in 1921 in Vernon, British Columbia and for over 90-years, Wayside has been a trusted business partner to some of the best known and most successful businesses in the area. Over the years They have morphed from an ink on paper commercial printer to an integrated print and e-Marketing solutions company and they owe their success and longevity to always exceeding the expectations of their customers and doing their best day in and day out to deliver the highest possible quality and service.

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.