An interesting read is the book “ When Trains Ruled the Rockies”. In that book
he describes the number of people that worked at the Banff station in the
summer months, I think it was something like 300 people. Almost all of those
jobs disappeared when the TransCanada highway opened in the 60’s.
The Railways used to be major employer in most of the country.
Brent
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On Tuesday, February 23, 2021, 6:45 PM, Craig Talbot <talbotc@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
For me it's the mix of old and new. Brand new stainless passenger cars mixed
with 1920's heavyweights. Same with the mix of steam and diesel. Plus lots of
boxcars, seemed that everything except liquids moved in boxcars. Again a mix of
more modern steel cars with older wooden outside braced cars.
Another characteristic was pride in the physical plant- locomotives and
passenger cars were kept very clean, and the right of way was well maintained.
Stations with beautiful lawns and flower beds. I've seen photos of the mainline
west of Banff and the ballast is neatly sloped with the larger stones in a
finishing row at the bottom of the slope. You'd never see that today. Another
feature is the sheer number of people living and working along the line, so
many section houses and other buildings that are all gone now. In the NFB film
about CP's Mountain sub, I think they said 150 employees lived between Field
and Revelstoke, from operators to sectionmen to telegraph line maintainers.
Again, all gone now.
Craig
On Tue, Feb 23, 2021 at 6:12 PM Jeff Pinchbeck <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Railways are businesses and constantly dealing with the dynamics of the
evolving transportation market place.
The recent conversation about Dominion(Fowler) cars got me thinking, what are
the features of the 1950s transition period? Specifically, 1950 to 1959.
Diesels are obvious but their roll and influence weren’t felt the over the
entire 10 year period. Plus it appears to me that everyone has their own
interpretation of the features and nuances of the era.
So, what do you think are the principal features of the decade?
Jeff
