Trains of Recollection / Drawn from Fifty Years of Railway Service in Scotland and Canada, and told to Arthur Hawkes

by D. B. Hanna

At Fort William it is imperative that large modern yards and terminal facilities be constructed immediately. Otherwise it will be impossible materially to increase the grain traffic that can be handled from the prairies to Lake Superior. Favorable options have been secured upon suitable property, a very satisfactory tentative agreement has been made with the Township of Neebing, for the closing of streets, fixed taxation, etc., and plans have been developed.

REPAIR SHOPS:—The chief plants for repairing equipment, manufacturing material, etc., are at Moncton, N.B., St. Malo, (Quebec City), Leaside (Toronto), Transcona (near Winnipeg), Fort Rouge (in Winnipeg). Smaller plants at which a limited amount of general repair work is performed are at Riviere du Loup, Que., Limoilou, Que., Capreol, Ont., Port Arthur, Ont., Saskatoon, Sask., Edmonton, Alta., Port Mann, B.C., and Prince Rupert, B.C.

The outstanding developments were the equipment and opening of the large St. Malo Shops, Quebec, and the construction and opening of the moderately-sized plant at Leaside, Toronto. The former plant, constructed by the National Transcontinental Railway Commission, was completed in 1914, but was neither equipped with machinery nor used until 1919. The lack of adequate repair facilities in the Province of Quebec, together with the rapid growth of traffic, produced a serious situation, and the equipping of St. Malo shops was undertaken in 1919, actual repair work being commenced in the fall of that year.

There were practically no repair shop facilities on the National Lines in Ontario. A very serious situation in regard to the condition of equipment having developed, work was commenced early in 1918, at Leaside, a suburb of Toronto, upon a moderately-sized plant for the repair of locomotives and cars, which began operation in 1919. This plant is not of great capacity but the necessary land is owned by the Railways, and the design of the plant will permit of large extension. As the principal repair shops of the Grand Trunk Railway are located at Montreal, Que., Stratford and London, Ont., that Road having no important repair facilities at Toronto, it is likely that under co-ordination it will be found advisable to enlarge the plant at Leaside, to take care of some of the Grand Trunk work. It is highly desirable that a freight car shop be provided at Leaside at an early date.

It is unlikely that any large extensions will be required in the plants at Moncton, Transcona, and Fort Rouge, in the near future, but there is immediate need of a medium-sized plant at Edmonton, as there are now no adequate facilities for repairs between Winnipeg and the Pacific Coast, and only a freight car shop of moderate size at Port Mann, B.C. As the distance from Winnipeg to Vancouver is 1,565 miles, and from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert 1,758 miles, and as most of the equipment has to be hauled to Winnipeg for general repairs and then hauled back to the point at which it is to be used, a large saving can be effected. Highly suitable property at North Edmonton is owned by the Grand Trunk Pacific, and plans for a plant there are in preparation.

ROLLING STOCK:—The rolling stock owned was wholly insufficient. Very little new equipment had been provided since 1913, and traffic had grown enormously. It was impossible properly to maintain the equipment during the war, on account of the shortage and inefficiency of labor, difficulty of securing materials, and lack of shop facilities in Ontario and Quebec. The situation was aggravated by the shortage of equipment on United States railways. Canadian-owned cars sent into the United States loaded with paper, pulp, pulp-wood, lumber and other commodities, were generally retained by the American roads.

The National Railways are the originating lines for a large volume of the classes of traffic referred to. As it was generally impossible to secure a sufficient number of American-owned cars to move the products enumerated above, the volume of which had grown enormously during the war, we were faced with the alternatives of supplying cars for the export of commodities referred to, thereby incurring the risk of losing some of their equipment for an indefinite length of time, or by refusing to furnish their cars for this business, to deprive the paper and lumbering interests of Canada of the means of exporting their products, thus causing serious injury to the business of the country, and tending to aggravate the already serious exchange situation.

The policy adopted by the Canadian National Railways under these conditions was to make every effort to secure American-owned equipment for this traffic, and make up the deficiency as far as possible with system-owned cars. It was the only sound policy, but it deprived the National Railways of a considerable number of their cars, particularly during 1919 and 1920.

The National ownership of locomotives, freight cars, and passenger cars, was relatively below that of the other principal Canadian railways. If all had been available it would have been totally inadequate to meet traffic requirements. The public demand for additional train service, and car supply was most insistent and the actual need of additional equipment very great, so that many new locomotives, freight and passenger cars were ordered in 1918, 1919 and 1920, delivery being generally from six to twelve months after each order was placed.