Canadian National Railways - Part 1

To compare my childhood impressions of them :

At CNR Turcot Yard in the summer of 1961 - photo by LC Gagnon.

At the main Montreal freight yard of the former Grand Trunk,
my grandfather (a retired school principal) and I stand on the running board of a retired CNR commuter tank engine.
The locomotive was built in 1914 by the Montreal Locomotive Works for use on the Grand Trunk's Montreal west island commuter runs.

Note : Trespassing on railway property is illegal and extremely dangerous and this should never be done by anyone !

During another visit to Turcot in 1961 - another photograph by my father.

These retired English Electric locomotives were built for the National Harbours Board 1924-26,
and then obtained for use on Canadian National's extended catenary radiating from CNR's Central Station.
They smokelessly pulled trains through Mount Royal, and to other nearby urban locations including Turcot.
I suspect those pictured were destined to be used for parts to keep the other English Electric locomotives in service.

For this webpage, they symbolize very similar locomotives purchased by Mackenzie and Mann for use through their
Canadian Northern Railway's
Mount Royal Tunnel ... which provided CNoR's
transcontinental (coming through Toronto and Ottawa) north-end access
to downtown Montreal.

At the left is the Turcot Yard steam locomotive coaling tower.
The former Grand Trunk roundhouse and its many smoke stacks appear in the distance behind the electrics.
All that remains today from this photo is the rectangular building on the horizon behind the roundhouse.

So, briefly, that was the Canadian National Railways I knew.

What caused the CNR to be formed ... and what was Canada like back then ?

"The nineteenth century was the century of the United States ; the twentieth century will be the century of Canada."

Laurier in 1887 when he became Liberal leader.

Montreal operating room 1892

Teams and teamsters at the Grand Trunk freight sheds, Bonaventure Station, Montreal.

Kingston, Ontario circa 1900. Taken from a grain elevator with a ship's mast in the foreground.
The Grand Trunk spur runs along the waterfront to the Grand Trunk "inner station" and ...
to the Canadian Locomotive Works : the dark coloured complex and its attached buildings in front of the distant grain elevator at the horizon.
The Kingston and Pembroke, a CPR subsidiary, veers off to its station behind the mast.
Note the shallow draft steamboats.

Spring 1897 in the House of Commons of the original Parliament Buildings
... later destroyed during the 1916 fire.
At this point, Laurier's first government has been in power for almost a year.

Clifford Sifton was Laurier's minster of the interior and Indian affairs from 1896 to 1905. He is well known for his insights into the federal government's potential role to stimulate the economy and he dabbled in railway policy as well. He put systems in place to encourage British, American, and eastern European immigration ... primarily for the purpose of populating the Canadian interior. Naturally, the federal, provincial, and municipal governments helped stimulate all of this activity by supporting railway construction.

Sifton's "stalwart peasants in sheep-skin coats" in this photo are Galician settlers in Manitoba in 1913.
Galicia overlapped today's south-east Poland and the western Ukraine.
Overpopulation, ethnic conflicts ... and railway and government advertising abroad ...
caused many to seek a better future in Canada's west.

Showing some of the effects of Macdonald and Laurier-Sifton railway and immigration policies,
here is Canada's population ...

Province	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871
Nova Scotia	492,338	459,574	450,396	440,572	387,800
Prince Edward Island	93,728	103,259	109,078	108,891	94,021
New Brunswick	351,889	331,120	321,263	321,233	285,594
Quebec	2,003,232	1,648,898	1,488,535	1,359,027	1,191,516
Ontario	2,523,274	2,182,947	2,114,321	1,926,922	1,620,851
Manitoba	455,614	255,211	152,506	62,260	25,228
Saskatchewan (1905)	492,432	91,279
Alberta (1905)	374,663	73,022
British Columbia	392,480	178,657	98,173	49,459	36,247

The GTR

One of Canada's early railways - 30 years before the completed CPR - was the Grand Trunk.

The equipment shown suggests the 1890 era or earlier (to me).
The GTR was built mainly with British capital and run by a board of directors in England.
The fact that it was "foreign" with US subsidiaries connecting westward to Chicago, and east to its Portland, Maine seaport terminus ...
proved to be a significant political liability when Prime Minister Robert Borden came on the scene.

Ahhhh !
I see Robert Borden has just arrived.

Sir Charles Tupper wanted a new face to lead the Conservative party
and he suggested to the startled and disbelieving Borden that he should take the job himself.
... and he did - in early 1901.

For Borden, "serving" in government was a duty which he felt successful citizens had.
Unlike many politicians, he did not enjoy just listening to the sound of his own voice ...
and he found the Parliamentary parry and thrust ... and speeches generally ... stressful.

A successful lawyer from Halifax, he was Prime Minister of Canada after Laurier ... from 1911 to 1920.

If you are a Grand Trunk Railway shareholder ...
NOW is the best time to calmly place a "market order" to dump your stock !
It's you he's looking at !

Robert Borden

Robert Borden circa 1912
(He is probably hiding a spray can of Shareholder Whupass in his left hand)

As opposition leader in 1903 he said, foreshadowingly :
"Shall we have a Government owned railway, or, a railway owned government?
If the people undertake nine-tenths of the obligations, why not the whole, and own the railway?"

The table below helps show the long careers of ... Canada's Greatest Railway Prime Ministers After Macdonald
... a new reality show coming soon to CBC-TV !

Today, hired professional political operatives ... and party infighting ... quickly incinerate big party leaders who fail to quickly grasp and keep power for the party.

Notice how long these two were allowed to lead their respective parties without winning. I know we were involved in one Imperial skirmish and one big war during the period ... but still ...

Bold type indicates who was prime minister after the election in a particular year.

In 1918 it was decided that Britain would not confer honours (e.g. knighthoods) on Canadians without the Canadian Prime Minister's approval and advice - not including military distinctions.

Laurier and Borden across the aisle in Parliament

Election	Liberal Leader	Conservative Leader
1891	Wilfrid Laurier 5 years in opposition
1896	Wilfrid Laurier
1900	Sir Wilfrid Laurier	Election lost. Then Borden new leader 3 years in opposition
1904	Sir Wilfrid Laurier	Robert Borden 4 years in opposition
1908	Sir Wilfrid Laurier	Robert Borden 3 years in opposition
1911	Sir Wilfrid Laurier 6 years in opposition	Robert Borden
1917	Sir Wilfrid Laurier 2 years in opposition	Sir Robert Borden - last PM knighted in 1914 Knighted 2 months before WW1 began. "Unionist government" - i.e. included defecting Liberals
End	Died 1919	Retired 1920

Laurier and the Grand Trunk Pacific

Well-maintained Grand Trunk mainlines.

Laurier's possible desire to have a Laurier-Liberal-transcontinental-railway for his regime
... to match Macdonald's CPR "monument" ...
led to the mutually convenient outcome of working with Hays.
The latter was back again at the GTR at his old job and still enthusiastic.

"Let's call it the eastern part the National Transcontinental Railway - that'll be swell !"
"We'll find a place to put it ... somewhere ... um ... in northern Ontario and Quebec" [Laurier's political stronghold]
"It'll open up new settlement and we'll probably find gold and get rich ! Yahooo ! "

The GTR's luck in running profitable railways "by telegraph" from far away England is going to improve - can't you just feel it ?

This map shows the Grand Trunk system as it existed in 1914.

GTR's 1895 network is represented by the solid red lines ... while other red lines indicate new acquisitions or construction.
The blue shows the government's National Transcontinental with its western grain branch to Fort William (and Fort William Union Station), via Superior Junction.
The blue dots, North Bay to Cochrane, represent running rights on the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway - part of today's Ontario Northland Railway.

And now we return to 1903 ...

when the Grand Trunk Pacific and National Transcontinental are still in the talking legislation (!?!) stage ...

Andrew Blair circa 1902

Among the most descriptive passages from Blair's long speech :

I think it becomes my duty to make a statement as the retiring minister in my own behalf.

... The only cause which has led me to take that regrettable step is because I have been unable to justify to my mind, to my own conscience, and to my own duty to my people, the support of the proposal which the Government have decided upon making to this House and the asking of legislation to pass with respect to the project known as the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.

... I objected to the government constructing another government road from Levis to Moncton. I objected to it because it paralleled the Intercolonial Railway in my opinion, without a doubt.

... Another objection was that I thought we were proceeding with undue haste. ... I am not in favour of impetuously rushing into the construction of a transcontinental line from Quebec, through an unknown country to Winnipeg and the west, until we know something about it - until we have the fullest information about it. The project is one of a very great magnitude, and should be dealt with only after the maturest deliberation.

He then quoted from his recent correspondence to Laurier (at this point Laurier's complexion is turning from white to grey) :

I could not bring myself to believe that a scheme so objectionable and alarming in many respects would be finally and deliberately adopted by government ... I think I might justly complain that so important a matter of policy, arising within the sphere of my own department, should have been conducted and continued in this way behind my back and without my knowledge ...

... Let me state our position on the main question: My decided preference is for a government owned and government operated railway across the continent, and my chief reason for favouring it is that it will have an equalizing and regulating influence upon all other railways throughout the western territory. In this view I am practically alone ...

... It will be difficult to explain why government should build and own the lean section of this railway, and provide a company with government credit to enable them to build and operate the fat section.

After providing several alternative policy choices, Blair concluded :

My strong conviction is that this country cannot wisely adopt and carry into operation the policy which my right honourable friends the government has adopted.

The tailend of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's time as Prime Minister

In 1910, Laurier took a pre-election swing through the west.
Here at Mission City, British Columbia, he is receiving some feedback from a local citizen - the car's step box is between them.
Governments defeat themselves.

The 1911 election was "about" Free Trade with the US ... or Reciprocity as they called it in the olden days : you lower your tariffs and I'll lower mine.
Laurier had also recently advocated setting up a Canadian Navy ...
You see, there was a "Dreadnought Gap" panic in Britain ! Germany seemed to have more battleships than England and needed help !

[Equally as important as Dreadnought Class battleships in World War I ... as it turned out ... was the fact that Britain had fewer bulls with udders]

Is Reciprocity for you ?

Most Canadian manufacturers liked the existing time honoured "National Policy" because it shielded them from US competition using HIGH import tariffs at the Canadian border.

However, if you were "hewing wood and drawing water" (lumber, base metals, farm products, fish) getting into the US market was easier with reciprocal LOW tariffs on their side.
Imported goods would probably also be cheaper if the Canadian tariffs were lower - the Wal*Mart phenomenon.
So traditional Canadian export industries would do well ... and their working lumberjacks, miners, farmers, fishermen and railroaders would do well = many, many votes for Laurier !

How did the Conservatives and disloyal Liberals who wanted HIGH import tariffs defeat Laurier in the 1911 election ?

Canada's railway situation in 1915 - four years into Borden's government, and one year into World War One

map Canadian railways east of Winnipeg 1915

map: Canadian mainlines east of Winnipeg in 1915

map: Canadian mainlines west of Winnipeg in 1915

map: Saskatchewan railway lines 1919
This government map shows the Grand Trunk Pacific still in private hands
and the Canadian Northern which had recently been taken over by the government.

This map compares nicely with the mainline map above to give you an idea of the richness of the prairie rail network.
If you were a grain farmer of the time, transporting your wheat by horse-drawn wagons on dirt roads,
you probably wouldn't want the nearest railway and grain elevator too far away.
A ten mile one-way trip was often the maximum sane people would tolerate ... see below.

Indian Head grain elevators and wagons

CPR grain elevators at Indian Head
From a cheap 1909 CPR booklet for prospective colonists ... printed poorly on thin paper.
You can carry more on a wagon if you bag the grain, it seems ... just don't lose the load at a low spot in the road.
This is why prairie branchlines were later thought to be "overbuilt".
Note how small the elevator scale house is for the wagons.

Some of Borden's other diversions beyond Canadian Railways
1914-1920

CNR Part 2 will explore aspects of the "Canadian Railway Problem" and how it was addressed by the Borden government.

What is remarkable is the CONTEXT in which the Canadian railway decisions were being made ...

Neither you nor I will have the patience to go through a chronicle all of Borden's activities. However, considering the many little problems which cause such national stress and debate in Canada today ... it is interesting to contrast and consider the tremendous stresses which affected ALL Canadians in one way or another during this period of history.

Borden had more to worry about than ... makeovers, media relations, "great visuals", polls, and looking natural while using a tele-prompter.

Ask Borden what a "war room" was.

He was a very busy, responsible leader with growing frustration about foreign decisions
which were being made at great cost to Canada and Canadians.
He had some ideas which were unusual for a Conservative.

These factors ultimately affected how the railways were handled.

Valcartier volunteers and Canadian Northern

The volunteers arrive at the scratch-built training camp at Valcartier, Quebec.
Canadian Northern coaches are at the platform - each train to Valcartier carried around 600 men.

Comfortably assume that at least half of the people you see will be shot, bayonetted, torn to pieces by artillery,
die of uncontrollable infections, or gassed with chlorine, phosgene or mustard gas by war's end.
Many of those who survive intact will be affected by a mysterious "new" battlefield phenomenon
which will leave them prone to depression, alcoholism, and suicide once they return to civilian life.

At the time, a common fear among the volunteers was that they would miss the war because it would be over by Christmas 1914.
By 1916, most Canadians knew better than to volunteer for this war.

Borden Government activities and various demanding events during World War One

Passed the War Measures Act - important later in the railway story.

Established a fund to assist soldiers' families ... and the Canadian Expeditionary Force saw its first action in April 1915 at Second Ypres.

Reached peak military strength at 330,000 people in 1916 but further increases were not possible ...

Shortages of labour affected the Canadian economy.

Government bond issues were floated in New York, after the London stock exchange closed to foreign issues ... to keep capital in England.

Borrowed successfully from the Canadian public through Victory Loans ... to the government's surprise.

Established a more objective purchasing process for military supplies - rather than the traditional government purchasing style of "favourite contacts".

Seized control of the1915 wheat crop from private grain companies and set up the forerunner of the Canadian Wheat Board to control runaway prices charged by middlemen.

Tossed Sam Hughes out and set up the Ministry of Overseas Military Forces in London to better manage the Canadian military force ... which was still under British command.

Borden telegram to Canada's Acting High Commissioner, London, January 4, 1916 "It can hardly be expected that we shall put 400,000 or 500,000 men in the field and willingly accept the position of having no more voice and receiving no more consideration than if we were toy automata ... Procrastination, indecision, inertia, doubt, hesitation and many other undesirable qualities have made themselves entirely too conspicuous in this war."

Borden telegram to Canada's Acting High Commissioner, London, February 21, 1916 " Believe you should carefully watch movements Admiralty in requisitioning ships when they act on advice of interested persons. Why does Admiralty not consult us before requisitioning ships employed by Canadian Companies. There must be either consultation or representation upon requisitioning board." Canadian coastal and export shipping had been disrupted significantly because the British were simply helping themselves to Canadian ships ! The railways were forced to embargo some ports until the shipping backlog could be cleared.

Borden himself expressed concern directly to the British government during multiple visits to London ... about the conduct of the war by generals without civilian oversight.

Borden also spent a significant amount of time visiting troops, particularly those in military hospitals.

British Prime Minister Lloyd George was desperate for more soldiers to replace heavy losses and looked to the dominions. Borden insisted that Canada and the other dominions must be involved in war planning. Canada was admitted to the Imperial War Cabinet in spring 1917.

Returning to Canada Borden pushed for Conscription in 1917 as his duty to support the wounded Canadian soldiers he knew and those still in the trenches. This was necessary as the war was predicted to continue until 1920. Britain was even releasing some prison inmates to fight. Borden didn't understand Quebeckers ... and many of them didn't understand Canada's desire for "recognition" in a foreign war declared for them by the British Empire.

Easter 1917 : The legendary attack and capture of Vimy Ridge by Canadian troops ... under Currie's command with all Canadian units fighting together for the first time.

December 6, 1917 : The Halifax Explosion destroys the local facilities of the Intercolonial Railway and areas of Halifax : 1600 killed ; 9000 injured ; 6000 homeless. Relief came by rail from Canada and New England.

December 17, 1917 : After a bitter election campaign over Conscription, on this day Borden's "Unionists" obtained a large majority in the Commons with 114 Conservative members and 39 defecting Liberals. Laurier won 82 seats. Given Laurier's reluctance to form a coalition with Borden to implement conscription against the wishes of Quebeckers, the Manitoba Free Press had stated that "A vote for Laurier is a vote for the Kaiser".

Borden memorandum June 15, 1918 : "At Passchendaele last autumn, Currie refused to fight under [British Fifth Army Commander] Gough as he considered him incompetent [also the verdict of history] ... One could almost weep over the inability of the War Office and even of the Admiralty to utilize the brains of a nation at a time when brains are most needed. At the War Office they restricted brilliant men who enlisted in the new Army to the rank of Brigadier General in order that professional soldiers might not have their careers interfered with. I attacked this in the [Imperial War] Cabinet on Thursday and said it amounted to scrapping the brains of the nation at a time when they were most needed."

Due to Borden's persistence, Canada signed the Treaty of Versailles for itself - for better or worse.

Borden told his wife : "Canada got nothing out of the war except recognition."

Currie is the tall "pear-shaped" officer to the right of Borden.
Calder (suit, hat, dark moustache) was in the Unionist government under Borden's leadership.
A Liberal from the Moose Jaw area, he is responsible for Colonization and is also on the Reconstruction Committee.

Kicking Back ... at the Imperial War Cabinet
Front row : British Prime Minister Lloyd George fourth from right ... Robert Borden third from right.

World War One Canadian Casualties : 60,000 dead ; 150,000 wounded
Death toll of 50,000 from Spanish influenza spread to all corners of Canada by the returning troops 1918-1919.

Canadian national debt 1913 : $463 million
Canadian national debt 1918 : $2.5 billion

In the miserable winter conditions following the Halifax explosion of December 6, 1917
injured are evacuated on cars of the Canadian Government Railways (ICR, NTR, etc)

By this time in the war, specialized "hospital trains"
had been built to transport badly injured soldiers returning from Europe.
The cars included lengthwise bunks - to form traditional medical wards
for easier supervision and care - and assigned military medical staff.

What happens to North American railways during a world war ?

Labour costs increase due to the labour shortage - during World War One they doubled due to a precedent setting American railroad pay award.

Fuel costs increase.

The government enforces freight rate control to prevent "profiteering" ... but railways are still affected by economy-wide wartime inflation.

The government essentially requisitions the railway for scheduled military movements ... including the transport of European gold reserves.

Traffic levels increase as overseas demand increases for lumber, food, fuel, steel, troops, clothing, munitions and manufactured war equipment.

Terminal congestion ... spikes in demand - e.g. a troop train running in several sections to meet a troop ship ... special time sensitive government demanded routings ... often create expensive inefficiency which the peacetime railway system was not set up to address ... more extra costs.

Maintenance is deferred on the right of way and the equipment in spite of increased wear. In World War One, Canada was proud of its overseas military Railway Corps ... which took skilled trades, equipment and materials away from Canadian railways.

Railways' ability to borrow is impaired ... although there were still plenty of US investors eager to make profits from "war industries", the London Stock Market was closed to foreign offerings.

Before World War One, the Canadian Northern and the Grand Trunk system
were already in an expensive competition to expand themselves into transcontinental systems.

What really happened to them ?

Was Robert Borden the kind of prime minister
who would deliberately push a Railway
in front of a train ?

CNR Part 2 will explore this.

Oh, for happier times ...

In everyone's favourite Canadian Northern photo, the engineer is working his locomotive hard at Dauphin (DOF fin) Manitoba.

The rain and humidity are causing the steam exhaust to linger in the saturated air, adding to the volume of the coal smoke plume.
The engineer is watching and listening for any slipping of his drivers.
Is it possible he just had his petcocks open four cars back - indicating the train is being restarted ?
Perhaps from a black water standpipe behind the 12th car ?

While the Grand Trunk is running fast trains on double track between Canada's small cities in the east,
this photograph (probably of grain empties)
represents the no-nonsense practicality
of Mackenzie and Mann's Canadian Northern Railway.

"Pioneer Road of the Northern Prairies"

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