Canadian Trains & Railways
Showing 41–71 of 71 results
Over the Hills to Georgian Bay: The Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway
The fascinating story of one of Canada's most interesting rail lines.
Parry Sound Logging Days
A collection of stories told by the men who worked the white pine logging camps and steam-powered mills of the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Portraits of Canada: Photographic Treasures of the CPR
Few individuals have had as much opportunity to traverse the breadth of Canada as the photographers who rode the rails for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Almost from the company's beginnings in 1881, CPR hired noted photographers, first on contract, then later in its own in-house photography and publicity departments. Portraits of Canada presents the very best of their work in a visual journey across Canada in space and time.
This book is a painstaking selection of 150 of the most thought-provoking, stunning, and sometimes quixotic images from the approximately 800,000 historic images in the Canadian Pacific Railway Archives, including momentous events in Canadian history, the social changes that swept through Canada from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, and picturesque scenes from across Canada that were sent around the world by the CPR. These are postcards of a nation that allow us to see the country as it was, and how it was perceived by outsiders looking in.
Quebec Central Railway: From the St Francis to the Chaudiere
Derek Booth's story of the Quebec Central Railway, serving the upper St. Francis and Chaudière River valley regions of southern Quebec for over 130 years. The Quebec Central included links with Quebec City and Sherbrooke, providing through passenger service between those locations and points in USA, including Boston. Much specialized passenger equipment for QCR's service was manufactured at the company's shops. Quebec Central continued to provide passenger service between Sherbrooke and Quebec City until 1965.
The book tells the story of the railway from its earliest beginnings in the 1860s, when local business people in Quebec and Sherbrooke sought to implement rail service in their region. The largest of Quebec's regional rail carriers, the QCR was also, for some period of time, one of Canada's most profitable systems. After the Depression, the QCR entered a long decline culminating in its abandonment in 1994. Its subsequent rebirth under new management in 2000 added yet another chapter to the history of the railway, this one as a "short line". This most recent business incarnation of regional railways in Canada survived until 2006.
The Quebec Central Railway, from its beginnings to its reincarnation, was a model of innovation and adaptation in both its freight and passenger operations. The QCR was one of the very few regional carriers in Canada to manufacture a significant portion of its rolling stock in its own company shops, as well as one of the first to experiment with gas-electric passenger cars in the face of rising competition from automobiles in the 1920s.
Throughout its history, the QCR was primarily a resource railway whose freight traffic rested heavily on the forest and mineral sectors, particularly on asbestos products. With major market constrictions and production declines, asbestos contributed zero freight tonnage to the re-born Quebec Central. It was forest products that, from 2000, became the mainstay of the new Quebec Central, but economic events in 2006 caused declines in that industry that led once again to the shutdown of Quebec Central Railway.
While much of the Quebec Central's right-of-way, stations and other structures have disappeared, many still survive in altered form. These are detailed in an appendix devoted to the principal physical components of the system. Information is included on the conversion, in several locations, of the right-of-way from ìRails to Trailsî, thus permitting hikers, cyclists and snow-mobilers once again to travel the Quebec Central, albeit with a different means of locomotion.
Over 200 photographs, some in colour, cover all aspects of the operation of the railway. These photos illustrate not only details of QCR rolling stock and operational scenes, but also (through the extensive photographic archival holdings in the Eastern Townships) a full record of the regional economic and social impacts of the railway in relation to mining, agriculture, manufacturing, forest industries and urban growth. The year 2000 rebirth of the railway permits the inclusion of not only historic photographs but also of current ones. The book contains 160 pages, and over 200 photographs.
Quebec Railway Light & Power Company – Volume 2: Citadel Division
QRL&P Volume 2 Citadel Division is a history of streetcar operation in Quebec City which ended in 1948. The book includes both colour and B&W glossy photos. Included is a series of maps, diagrams and equipment roster.
Rails and Rooms: A Timeless Canadian Journey
A journey across Canada, a journey across time. With humour and insight, Dave Preston invites readers to share his month-long journey across Canada, over 4,000 miles by rail. Traveling through every province that still has a track, stopping to recount the glory days of the luxurious CPR hotels, Rails & Rooms offers a unique travelogue that covers this country from Halifax to Victoria, past to present.
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Route of the Cariboo: PGE/BC Rail
A comprehensive photo-history of the scenic and dramatic British Columbia Railway - formerly the Pacific Great Eastern and now better known as BC Rail - home of the world-famous "Royal Hudson" steam train, long a major holdout for big Alco diesels, operator of a modern, heavy-duty electrified branch.
Inside you'll find over 250 black and white photos, 64 pages in full colour, maps, timetables and other illustrations, plus a wealth of written history and entertaining anecdotes.
Self-propelled Cars of the CNR: Endurance, Economy, and Speed
In the 19th century, steam-hauled trains had a virtual monopoly on transportation of passengers. After the 1914-1918 Great War, competition from highway vehicles, which had previously not troubled North American railroads to any considerable extent, began to provoke renewed interest in a more economical form of railway motive power, and a number of rail buses of varying designs were introduced. Tony Clegg, who wrote Canadian National Steam Power with Ray Corley, is the author of this book.
Sentimental Journey: An Oral History of Train Travel in Canada
The railway has been many things to a lot of different people: a lifeline, a party, an adventure. Although you may still be able to travel on a few of the trains featured in Sentimental Journey (the Newfie Bullet, the "Peg," the "Prince George Eventually") many live on only in the memories of railwaymen and passengers, hooligans and honeymooners, young and old alike.
Illustrated with many vintage and current photographs, Sentimental Journey brings to life, in nostalgic and entertaining oral history, the many faces of train travel in Canada. From the days when the dining cars were the ultimate in sophistication, advertised throughout North America and Europe, to memorable events of more recent times, such as the Mississauga derailment, Sentimental Journey is sure to delight anyone who has traveled, or has dreamed of traveling, on the famous trains of Canada.
Steel Rails and Iron Men: A Pictorial History of the Kettle Valley Railway
In the late nineteenth century, something stood in the way of mining and selling the riches discovered in the interior of British Columbia: mountains-and lots of them. While politicians and financiers wrangled over money and public support, engineers sought solutions to the obstacles presented by the terrain. Hundreds of men worked under dangerous conditions to make the Kettle Valley Railway a reality. In this updated edition, Barrie Sanford presents a unique pictorial history of the legendary Kettle Valley Railway. From its construction to its turbulent life- span and eventual demise, the magnitude of the engineering needed to build and run the line is celebrated in this classic railway history.
Streetcars in the Kootenays: Nelson’s Electric Tramways: 1899 to 1992
Born at the turn of the century out of the promise of rich mineral discoveries, one of the smallest street railways in the British Empire once operated in Nelson, British Columbia. Its streetcars carried passengers up one of the steepest grades of any Canadian system, grades which led to some spectacular accidents. Streetcars in the Kootenays recounts the eventful history of the Nelson Electric Tramway Company. It is also the story of a few dedicated volunteers who began restoring the systems only surviving streetcar, which returned to operation along the Kootenay Lake in 1992.
Sudbury Electrics & Diesels
Mining and railroading history in the Canadian Shield. This data is not available in a single source anywhere else. A definitive history covering over a century of rail service by and for the mining industry around the world's nickel capital: Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
Includes information on the Canadian Copper Company, Mond, British America, International Nickel (INCO), Falconbridge. Profusely illustrated and meticulously documented.
Extensively researched and referenced, this hard cover book starts with a brief historical outline of the Sudbury Basin's mining activity. Then it focuses on the pivotal role of the trains in the mining sector. Which trains, how big, how they were powered. Three hundred and three black and white photos, 36 colour photos, and twenty-six maps and diagrams round out this well-done book. Fascinating reading for the train lover, and the mining buff.
Tales of the CPR
The Canadian Pacific Railway forms the backbone of Canada, but few people are aware that, as well as trains, the CPR has a history in steamship service, international trade, hotel building, and many other unusual projects and promotions. David Jones has drawn on his years with the CPR archives in compiling this lively collection of stories and anecdotes about a unique institution.
From the silk trade to the role of the CPR in the "bone trade, " the "Gold Rush Sternwheeler" to CPR radio broadcasts, Tales of the CPR is filled with the strange and wonderful stories that rarely make it into traditional history books. Colorful characters, ingenuity, tragedy, humor, and rare archival photographs combine to make this a fascinating read for rail and history enthusiasts.
The Armoured Train in Canadian Service
Armoured trains were perhaps the earliest real Armoured Fighting Vehicles, and appeared in various guises and places for many years. One unusual train was designed and put into service in Canada during World War Two. As the Japanese armed forces pushed through South-East Asia and across the Pacific, there were real fears of them invading the Western coast of Canada and some areas with strategic importance needed special defence measures.
One stretch of line where Canada borders Alaska had its own armoured train for this purpose. Built using standard rolling stock, it had a protected engine which pushed and pulled carriages for troops as well as armed cars with 75mm field and 40mm anti-aircraft guns. As such it would have been a formidable oponent to land forces, though like all trains it was vulnerable to attacks on the tracks and from the air.
The story of No 1 Armoured Train is interesting and unusual. While it is easy to write this off as "a train, not an AFV" it is both and as such should appeal to those interested in either field. It may never have been called upon to fight but that does not mean that its story should not be recorded.
That story is well told here, along with the background to the need for it there is an account of the assembly of the component parts including photos of the various gun and troop cars, as well as details of how the train operated including the problems of using the same tracks as working trains.
As this was a one-off, the account can go into considerable detail and the photos would give a modeller the chance to produce their own replica which would certainly be something different though even in small scale would be a big model.
The Railway Beat: A Century of Canadian Pacific Police Service
Canadian Pacific at its apex operated the most expansive and comprehensive transportation system the world has ever seen, before or since. Vast amounts of freight and multitudes of people, including some of the 20th century's most important and celebrated personalities, moved seamlessly back and forth on the North American continent and across the oceans to the far corners of the earth in the capable hands of a single, well-oiled administration.
When the Canadian Pacific Railway was built in the early 1880s to connect the thriving cities of Eastern Canada with the fledgling communities on the West Coast of British Columbia, however, this first, tenuous lifeline of the wildly ambitious enterprise stretched across more than two thousand miles of rugged, nearly uninhabited wilderness -- with no blanket authority or viable system of law enforcement.
Initially the country's own red-coated mounted police force took up the challenge of protecting the men and women who accomplished the national dream of forging a link from sea to sea and beyond; but, inevitably, the responsibility for the security of people and goods on the "World's Greatest Transportation System" would fall to the Canadian Pacific itself and the private police force which grew up with the company. From its somewhat disreputable origins of ad-hoc groups of semi-autonomous armed watchmen and strike-breaking thugs organized at the local level to the fully-professional force created in 1913 by the CPR president himself, the stage was set for more than a century of Canadian Pacific Police Services to come. The quiet efficiency with which its officers have conducted themselves in their ongoing battles with fraud, theft, smuggling, bombings, murder and mayhem, and the degree to which they have managed to avoid controversy and public scrutiny, speak well for the men and women on the "Railway Beat."
Via Rail
Go VIA Rail and see Canada: Here is Canadas national railway, covering 14,000 kilometers of track from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Great Lakes to Hudson Bay. This illustrated history tells the story of how, starting in the early 1970s, VIA Rail became a separate Crown corporation, once and for all relieving the old Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railways of their beleaguered passenger operations. It is a story rich in historyand marked with failures and misfortunes right up to our day, when a need for convenient, fuel-efficient mass transportation holds out hope for a renaissance.
Archival and modern photography, route maps, and print ads help detail the history of VIA Rails motive power and passenger cars from the likes of General Motors, Bombardier, Montreal Locomotive Works, and Budd Company, as well such passenger trains as The Canadian, The Atlantic, The Ocean, and The Super Continental. Chris Greenlaw also explains all of the political machinations that have inevitably shaped the railroad, and delves into its connection with Amtrak via The Maple Leaf.
West of the Great Divide: The Canadian Pacific Railway’s First Century in British Columbia
Updated edition. A complete and detailed history of the CPR in B.C., from the glorious days of huge steam locomotives and elegant dining, to the luxurious Canadian and modern diesels hauling coal and containers. Included are the personal stories of the men who built this railway, and the enormous construction problems, hazards, frustrations, tragedies and engineering triumphs. Detailed accounts of day-to-day operations, endless battles with winter snows and mountain grades. The steam era of the 1920s to 1950s receives particular attention. Over 400 dramatic vintage photos capture the CPR's first century in British Columbia. Winner of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association's Award.