Extracts from
Cyril R. Littlebury's Canadian Pacific Railway
1918 to 1933 (Volume One)
and
Greyhound Canada - Its History and
Coaches
These samples will give you some idea of the detail we manage to include in our works.
It is 1931 and the Littleburys have been Vancouver residents for several years. G4a Pacific No. 2704 heads Train No. 706, the Agassiz Local, near the beginning of its 20-station, 83.8-mile journey to Ruby Creek scheduled from 5:30 to 9:05 p.m. The locomotive is hauling a wooden mail car, a wooden baggage-express car, a steel baggage car and two wooden day coaches. At Ruby Creek, there will be a wait of just over two hours for Train No. 2, The Imperial, to continue the journey eastwards.
This location was then known as English Bay Junction and, prior to the construction of the Dunsmuir Street tunnel, all trains and locomotives bound to and from Canadian Pacific’s locomotive, coach and freight facilities at Drake Street swung away from the mainline down the branch which started this side of the signal tower beside the fourth car in the train. This track was extremely busy and, as it crossed several of Vancouver’s main streets at grade level, congestion was severe. The double-slip switch in the foreground (also known as a ‘scissors’, ‘puzzle’ or ‘bull’ switch) allowed trains to be backed out of the station after the passengers had left and then moved forward to the branch. With eastbound passenger trains, the procedure was reversed. Some of the G4 Pacifics, which Littlebury knew well from his days in Calgary, have now been transferred west and have been equipped with Elesco feedwater heaters that completely altered the locomotives’ appearance. Nos. 2707, 2709 and 2717 remained on the Laggan Subdivision until 1939.
The photograph was taken from the Main Street overpass and it is surprising how many of the buildings can still be seen today although there have been major changes. The tower in the centre background is the Woodwards building and, to the right of this, on the skyline is The Dominion Building. On the extreme right is the Hotel Vancouver, then under construction. The building on the right was the by Evans and Coleman building supply centre.
As well as operating the switches in this scene, the signal tower also
controlled the electric ‘portcullis’ gates on the three crossings. The crossings
carried the traffic for the North Vancouver and West Vancouver ferries that
docked away to the right and the automobiles are waiting for the next available
ferry. Hidden by the bushes was a pedestrian underpass so that passengers could
get to the ferries when railway traffic blocked the crossings.
This second sample is from the front cover
of
Greyhound Canada - Its History and Coaches
It is 13:30 and Greyhound Canada No. 903 departs the Calgary Depot, bound for Vancouver by way of Kelowna. This is a 1990 MC-9 Special powered by a 6V-92 Detroit Diesel and it has the seven speed manual transmission. It is one of over 50 of this model that Greyhound currently operates. Greyhound received 26 in 1989 and another 26 in 1990. This is a Valley Car, meaning it will work the schedule through the Okanagan Valley to Vancouver and arrive there at 05:15 the next morning.
Donald Bain