CNR Financials, 1928

The historical era ...

from: History of the Canadian National Railways; GR Stevens; 1973; Macmillan.

CNR broadcasting poster from 1926.
The CNR system was the nucleus of what later became the CBC.
The Ottawa antenna location shown is the roof of the Jackson Building (Bank and Slater Streets).

from: 150 Years of Canadian Railroads: Bernard Fitzsimons; 1984; Royce Publications.

In 1928, one diesel motor is being lowered into CNR's pioneer diesel-electric 2-unit locomotive - CNR 9000.
Location: Canadian Locomotive Works, Kingston, Ontario.

from: Railways of Canada; 1973; OS Nock; A and C Black. 

Sir Henry Thornton, 1871-1933
First President of the Canadian National Railways, 1922-1932.

Born in the US, and knighted in Britain for his transportation work during the Great War,
Thornton was hounded, disgraced and dismissed by a newly-elected Canadian government for his efforts
(and spending) to reorganize and modernize the CNR.
He died less than a year after leaving his CNR post.

*  *  *

Below are three pages which outline the financial condition of the CNR in 1928.

from: The Financial Post Survey of Corporate Securities; 1928; Maclean Publishing Company.

The commentary notes that there is 'no stock investment interest' in the CNR. During the railway capital crisis - which began in earnest with the Great War 1914-1918 - every spare dollar was taken out of Canadian railways and put into more profitable investments. Companies with contracts with the British government to make tin hats, 'iron rations' for the front, and ammunition would turn handsome profits. Railway lines through the sparsely-populated Canadian wilderness would only attract 'patient investors' - and there were few of those as the war got going.

Unable to raise further capital, and without enough revenue to keep the wolf (the banks) from the door, the Canadian Northern, Grand Trunk and others had their capital stock seized. Much of it had been pledged as security for loans, for government grants and through bond indentures.

The Canadian government ended up holding the railways' capital stock. To forestall legal claims from the builders/owners/shareholders, all that was left to do was to set up arbitration panels to determine the stock's 'real value'. The whole financial mess was eventually consolidated into the Canadian National Railways.

In the statements, you can see some of the interesting and descriptive old company names.

from: The Financial Post Survey of Corporate Securities; 1928; Maclean Publishing Company.

In history, railways were important in the development of modern financial techniques - taking investors' money and, in exchange, issuing security certificates - such as shares, bonds, debentures and equipment trust certificates. Previously, there had been very few businesses which needed so much investment to become established - railways needed a lot of heavy equipment and supplies to build and to operate.

• Shares evidence ownership and generally include some influence on how the business is run. In the event of a business winding up, after debtholders are paid off, the owners get the residual.
• Bonds are usually secured on particular corporate assets - the latter may be seized if there is a default on interest payments or a default on the scheduled bond redemption. 
• Debentures (are like bonds, but) are issued on the general credit of the company. Without something to seize, these creditors may be out of luck if the company's credit worsens. 
• Equipment trust certificates are secured on a particular series of rolling stock. 

Before any paper certificates were issued by the railway companies, all of the original 'securitization' was done through appropriate legal processes to satisfy investors that their money was secure at the moment it was invested with the company. 

Below is a modern version of the process of pricing and selling bonds (debt securities) to the original investors. The issuing [railway] company uses underwriters to distribute and sell their bonds - which, at face value, are priced at $100. You can see how the underwriters buy the bonds at less than face value from the company, and sell them to investors at '$100'.

from: The Canadian Securities Course; 1990; The Canadian Securities Institute.

If a company ever hopes to issue more stock or more debt securities in the future, it must be run in a prudent financial manner ...

Once the company has the original money from the underwriters, 'the market' puts its own price on each type of security. Marketable bonds (like stocks) are generally traded between investors on a secondary 'bond market' - where their prices also rise and fall like stocks. 

The pricing of marketable bonds is very complex (it's all about the 'time value of money' and what 'future payments' are worth) but, generally, if prevailing interest rates go up, the prices of bonds already issued go down - i.e. below $100. And vice versa.

Potential bond investors in 1928 would have been interested in the financial condition of the government-owned CNR. If the bonds were backed by a government (i.e. 'government guarantees') and/or they seemed like a good risk, they might prove to be a good investment. The bonds listed were all 'Outstanding in the hands of the public'.

To buy or not to buy?

*  *  *

Below, you'll notice that Sir Henry Thornton is also on the board of Canada Steamship Lines.

from: The Financial Post Survey of Corporate Securities; 1928; Maclean Publishing Company.

from: Canada 1935 - The Official Handbook of Present Conditions and Recent Progress; Dominion Bureau of Statistics.

By the time the photo above was taken,
the faith of the general public in the stock market and in the financial system had been destroyed ..
by the Great Crash and the ensuing Great Depression.

To Ottawa in 1965

On a CRHA Excursion - May 30, 1965.

I don't know who these people are.
You can see the convenience of having a civilized terminal with coach-floor-level platforms.

During this era, excursion steam locomotives could still back in on their trains before departing for points south or west from Central Station. However, they could not pull their trains into and under Central Station on their return - so the steam locomotives were generally cut off at Turcot Yard.

I can identify these two kids.

Arriving early is beneficial because you get to pick a good seat, reserve it with a coat or a picnic lunch ... AND if you hang around the power, you might be invited into the cab. Particularly if you dress in a 'professional' manner.

The D-1 is a self-propelled car, formerly used to maintain low-ridership passenger service on branchlines. It was retained and altered to support maintenance of the local CNR catenary. 

CPR Windsor Station is in the background and I believe that is the CP Chateau Champlain being erected.

A runpast up Vaudreuil hill.

Captain Noel of the CN Police (foreground) was a regular fixture on these fantrips.
CRHA volunteers provided passenger support during detraining and entraining.
The CNR Police were there to supervise overall safety.
The ubiquitous CN orange step box can be seen on the ballast.

Climbing over right-of-way fences for good/safe photo vantage points,
avoiding 'soakers',
and clambering up from the ballast onto the coach steps,
... were skills developed by young railfans.

Here is the watering stop at Alexandria, Ontario.
A small antique pumper truck provided the water.

Local fire departments usually did the honours for water.
Coal (needed less frequently) was usually supplied by clamshell buckets at the excursion's turn-around point.

The heavy infrastructure to re-supply steam locomotives had been demolished almost everywhere by this point.

The view from the rear of the train at Alexandria.
The clear signal notwithstanding, we are headed in the other direction.
I believe the track leading off to the right was an industrial spur.

'Coming into Ottawa.'

The steam beneath the tender is probably exhaust from the coal auger - part of the automatic stoker system.

*  *  *


A Brief Digression on 'The Railway and Ottawa's Urban Planning Process' ...

from: Ottawa Terminals Employee Timetable; Canadian National Railways; September 26, 1954, my collection.

Our excursion is approaching on the Alexandria Sub at the right
and arriving at Union Station at the top edge of the map.

For people not familiar with Ottawa's geography ...
As a convention for this post, I will refer to moving over the Ottawa River toward Quebec as 'north' 
and moving in the opposite direction as 'south'.

from: Railways in Ottawa Today; Douglas E Stoltz; Canadian Rail; April 1965; Canadian Railroad Historical Association. Collection of  LC Gagnon.

My father recorded that the entire train reversed into Ottawa Union Station
and you can see there are opportunities to wye the train on the approach to Ottawa.

The article for which this map was drawn detailed all the changes to Ottawa trackwork. For people like me who are less familiar with how the rail network was built and used, these articles are great. I'll leave all the details about Ottawa rails to experts on the subject.

Ottawa (along with other Canadian cities) was undergoing a great transformation during this period. The domination of coal-powered steam railways ... with all their refueling coal dust, street-level hazards and traffic obstructions, noises, dirty oily 'rain', and black sooty 'snow' ... had ended with the CNR/CPR official death of steam in 1960. 

Modern urban planning practices of the 1950s and early 1960s promoted the new domination of clean, quiet, rubber-tired internal combustion vehicles. Bigger wider roads, boulevards and parkways would quickly get workers and their families to their destinations - on their own schedules. 

In hindsight, it would have been nice if a mass transit node, in the form of a downtown railway station, had been allowed to survive the automotive onslaught. In this Canadian Rail article, even the planned demolition of the Union Station building was mentioned.

from: from: Railways in Ottawa Today; Douglas E Stoltz; Canadian Rail; April 1965; Canadian Railroad Historical Association. Collection of  LC Gagnon.

Our excursion was travelling from the lower right corner of this photo, to the terminal fan of tracks seen to the right of the Parliament Buildings.

Caption from the 1965 article:

'CNR former roundhouse and coachyard. Double track through centre of photo is CN Alexandria Sub and the line to its right is CPR M&O Sub. Where they meet is "Deep Cut" and beyond it is the coachyard and Union Station. All other tracks are now gone: NYC installations on right, CNR on left. One year ago the CNR wye area looked almost the same as in this photo - now an expressway interchange is under construction here.'

Canada was celebrating its 100th anniversary of Confederation on July 1, 1967 so there was added urgency to complete the modernization of Ottawa's infrastructure. 

If the Canadian flags in the slides which follow look crisp and new, they are, as the 'Maple Leaf' was officially flown for the first time on February 15, 1965.

Unused postcard, my collection.

I have toned-down some of the colourization of this black and white photo so the local railway details can be seen more easily. I am guessing that this photo was taken in the 1945-1950 period before intercity passenger and freight transportation went to the post-war highways.

Unused postcard, my collection.

Here is the Union Station building, looking 'south' with the Rideau Canal beside it.

In the foreground is the CPR track leading to the 'Royal Alexandra Interprovincial Bridge' and Quebec.

from: Ottawa Union Station Closes; July/August 1966; Canadian Rail; map by Tony Clegg. Collection of LC Gagnon.

Here are some early details of the Union Station terminal area.

Postcard mailed 1910, my collection.

At one point the CPR seems to have had a glorified yard ... looking 'north' of Union Station. 

Looks may be deceiving, though - 

for at least part of its life, the Alexandra Bridge carried a separate streetcar line as well.

from: The National Capital Plan Exhibit - a Guide to the Plans; no date; The National Capital Planning Committee/ J Gréber, consultant; The Federal District Commission.

My father picked up this pamphlet during a visit to Ottawa in the 1950s.

It was probably handed out at a display of models showing Ottawa's proposed redevelopment.

Notice that in this dystopia all is surrendered to the automobile.

• Union Station has been razed.
• An interprovincial road carries traffic along the canal - including between Parliament Hill and the Chateau Laurier.
• Somehow, model trees far outnumber model autos.
• No public transportation can be seen.

*  *  *

Back to the Excursion ...

"Vnion Station" in May 1965.
The 'Romans' who originally built the station did not write the letter 'U' as we do today.
(These slides are about as old as the station was then.)

Looking 'north' - the Rideau Canal locks and the bridge.

Fun on the Hill.
Those are parked cars. Parking was free, but you had to parallel park all by yourself.

Royal Alexandra Interprovincial Bridge
Although Union Station was to be closed in 1966, this bridge still carried trains at this point.
On the far (Quebec) side you can see the railway grade continuing off at exactly the same level.

Here is a look at our train before departing Ottawa.

At the Alexandria water stop there is the usual tender-top excursion train conference.
With some 'waters' chemicals were added to prevent foaming in the boiler and mineral deposits.

A frequent experience at these stops (seen above)
was a too-hot fire/boiler setting off the thunder of the high-pressure safety valve

- a deafening, technically wasteful ... but exciting demonstration of the power within.

Back at Turcot Yard, 6218 is cut off before a diesel pulls the consist in under Central Station.


Below is the CRHA flyer section offering our excursion, complete with Sunday's projected schedule.
During the summer, the railways still operated on Standard Time
so there were always addition calculations for passengers.

And here is one of many preserved CRHA excursion tickets with its stub detached.

The Victoria Bridge - An 1854 Article

From a favourite mail order used book store I once bought a copy of "The Canadian Journal" of June 1854. On arrival, it seemed to be a printer's discard as it was very roughly put together and the detached cover's table of contents had nothing do with the articles inside. The table of contents had been used to advertise the journal and I had bought it on that basis. 

However, it did include the following article and letter regarding the Victoria Bridge (There were no bridge images included). While the bridge carried its first traffic in December 1859 and was officially opened in August 1860, its construction had not always been a sure thing, as the letter by Robert Stephenson indicates five years earlier.

The Canadian Journal; Council of the Canadian Institute; June 1854; Maclear and Co, Toronto.

The Canadian Journal; Council of the Canadian Institute; June 1854; Maclear and Co, Toronto.

The Canadian Journal; Council of the Canadian Institute; June 1854; Maclear and Co, Toronto.

from: New Album of Montreal Views - no date

The Canadian Journal; Council of the Canadian Institute; June 1854; Maclear and Co, Toronto.

CNR's Montreal-Vaudreuil Commuter Trains

The Canadian Railroad Historical Association 'News Report' of June 1958 stated:

In September 1958 a 'foamer' - rather, a dribbler - is there to take in the steam power before it is too late. The location is Lachine: 45th Avenue, at Rene Huguet. The train is westbound for Dorval in the afternoon - and probably after a nap.

For the sake of future Lachine historians, the photo book also records that the 'Lachine extension' streetcar (discontinued by this time) formerly came up 45th and followed Rene Huguet west to the track's stub end at 55th Avenue. There, the operator took his control handle to the east end (making it the 'forward' end of the car) and returned to the intersection of Broadway and St. Joseph where passengers could transfer to the main Montreal streetcar system. Elsewhere, this Lachine extension route was referred to as the 92.

*  *  *

The West Island Suburban Commuter Service Originated with the Grand Trunk Railway.

As a matter of course, the Grand Trunk had local stops along the line leading westbound from its downtown Montreal terminal - Bonaventure Station - from the time the railway's operations began.

The map above, a fire insurance key map from 1907, shows the Grand Trunk Railway (later Canadian National Railways) line from downtown Montreal to Vaudreuil. The Grand Trunk/Canadian National suburban passenger service on this track segment is the focus of this post.

Without access to original timetables from its first 60 years of operation, I chose the announcement below from the April 23, 1908 Montreal Gazette to demonstrate that local transportation was an important part of the Grand Trunk's service long before the 1950s-style suburbs were built up on 'The West Island'.

Sadly, for yesterday's typesetters (and today's screengrabbers), a proper timetable was not printed in the newspaper - the GTR could have purchased an advertisement to do that. Instead, each change was labouriously presented as part of a long thin column.

Beginning with the revised timetable at GTR headquarters, and ending with the final setting and checking of type at the newspaper, one can only imagine the attention to detail required to avoid errors and subsequent complaints.

Going through the text gives today's reader an idea of the stations then in service and the relative frequency of the service. Obviously, eastbound long-haul trains would probably not be particularly dependable for commuting daily between Vaudreuil and Montreal - yours might be stuck in snow just outside of Toronto, for example. 

By the same token, with organizational efficiency, telegraph or telephone communication, and station-front chalk-actuated schedule boards .. intermediate passenger stations might have been just as good as modern transportation systems in keeping passengers informed about schedule delays. 

(To see the source of any of my purchased photos, simply 'right click, save as ..'  to read the photo's label.)

This is probably a builder's photo showing the suburban Forney as delivered by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1914. In the US, Matthias Forney 1835–1908 invented this particular configuration of steam locomotive for use on New York's urban elevated train system.

The Grand Trunk numbered the engines 1540-1545 while the CNR renumbered them 45-50 after it took over the Grand Trunk in 1923. 

You can see that the locomotive was designed to offer the engineer almost equally clear views for both forward and reverse running. On such a short run, it was faster and cheaper to run the locomotive around the coaches for the return trip - rather than turning it on a turntable (and there was no turntable at either Vaudreuil or Dorval in any case).

Here are examples of changes made to this locomotive class, which can be seen in these photos: 

• Addition of a powerful headlight for reverse operation.
• Addition of an Elesco feedwater heater - between the illuminated number boards and the stack. This cylinder-shaped device was a heat exchanger - used to preheat the cold tender water before it was injected into the hot boiler. 
• Shielding of the whistle (it was also moved forward on the boiler) and the safety valves from the cab - likely for ergonomic reasons.
• Probably - boosting the capacity of the air pumps (fireman's side) to decrease the time required to recharge the brakepipe, release the brakes, and race off to the next stop.
• Addition of a pilot (cowcatcher) on the rear end for reverse running.

Generally, the Montreal passenger terminal for the Grand Trunk was located above at Bonaventure Station (beginning in 1863. Another date: the Grand Trunk converted from Provincial to Standard Gauge in the Montreal area in 1873. And .. the line passing the old Lachine station to Dorval was double-tracked in 1892). Freight sheds were located here at Bonaventure as well. The station's history is discussed in a previous post on this website. This view is probably from the late 1920s. You can see the ghostly image of the CPR's Windsor Station headquarters in the background.

*  *  *

Many North American railways saw their highest traffic levels during World War Two. This came after the track abandonments and cutbacks arising from the Great Depression. Below is the Montreal-Vaudreuil passenger schedule from my often-scanned 1944 Canadian National Railways public timetable.

It would have been interesting to see the wartime traffic associated with Y Depot, RCAF and the airport at Dorval. A large veterans' hospital had also been established at Ste Annes near the end of World War One.

The commuter trains are shown with numbers in the 200 series. In many cases, we can conclude that immediately after arriving at Bonaventure or Vaudreuil, equipment reversed and returned under another train number.

The photo above was taken in 1944. It shows an afternoon westbound at the Lachine station.

Before 1914, a variety of small locomotives powered these local trains. From 1914 until almost the end of the service in 1960, this specially-designed class of Forney-type locomotives was used.

*  *  *

The fenced railway line through Lachine (along today's Victoria Street) was the mainline between Montreal and Toronto and trains travelled at a high rate of speed - even in the early 1960s when western Lachine was well built-up.

A Gazette article from October 31, 1932 records the consequences of not looking carefully for high speed trains before venturing across the tracks.

*  *  *

The photo above, taken at Ville St Pierre in the 1950s, shows a CNR suburban train with its locomotive reversing eastbound toward the Bonaventure terminal. In the foreground is a Lachine, Route 91 streetcar - it is travelling on the separate railway system used by the Montreal streetcars. A CNR freight train is on the far track.

CNR posed publicity photographs were often taken at Dixie station - just west of today's 55th Avenue, Lachine. The Lombardy Poplars, tangent track and clear skyline helped show off any train's 'lines'. Beginning with the club's opening here in 1890s, golfers travelling to the Royal Montreal Golf Course would use this stop.

Looking at this westbound suburban train in an undated photo, you may have concluded by now that normal procedures involved running the suburban locomotive 'forward' westbound and 'backward' (coal bunker first) when returning to Bonaventure.

Having thought about the reason for this, I think perhaps this would give the engineer the best possible view of trackside signals when operating in either direction ..

Westbound, all steam engineers on CNR engines would have to look along the long obstructive barrel of the boiler to find their signals.

Eastbound, when reversing the Forneys, only the small coal bunker would block the engineer's view as he looked from the left side of the reversing locomotive to the right side of the track where his signals were displayed. While firemen routinely assisted in relaying signals, having the engineer in the best position to read them himself was probably preferable.

At Vaudreuil, an intercity westbound passenger train is shown at the western terminal of the GTR/CNR suburban service.

*  *  *

The 'You Don't Have to Ask Twice' Department

It was surprising to find this Gazette article from November 9, 1949. Usually, today's consumers seem to want 'more competition and more choice'.

In this case, the request was made by people not served at all by the CNR line.

The extraordinary wartime demands of the early 1940s were the exception. Beginning in the 1920s Canadian railways foresaw that private autos and commercial aircraft would eat away at their intercity passenger business.

.. Eventually, they got their wish.

*  *  *

As the following extract from a CNR employee timetable from 1957 shows: In the late 1950s, the CNR 200 series trains providing commuter service to the 'West Island' went no further than Dorval. As well, their eastern terminal had become Central Station, rather than Bonaventure Station.

In the 'Train Order Office' columns above, notice how many of the stations still had (D)ay and (N)ight operators to support train operations.

A few more details on local operations follow below.

*  *  *

Doug Wright did wonderfully accurate editorial cartoons for the Montreal Star newspaper which regularly featured railway subjects. This 1950s cartoon was reprinted in CRHA's Canadian Rail newsletter in the early 1960s. My father captioned the location and identified the train.

In the cab, the fireman is watching the passengers on the platform and waiting for the highball from the conductor.

The topographic map above is updated to 1952 and shows the CNR right-of-way through Lachine along today's Victoria Street. The 'Victoria' name was not a 1960s selection - the street name already existed on a shorter segment of street which paralleled the railway line in the east end of Lachine around the time of World War One.

On the map above, I have made the following marks, running east to west:

• Green Dot - top right corner, marks the location of Bonaventure Station

• Red Dot - shows the location of the wye at St Henri Station. Its south leg led to Central Station, the Victoria Bridge etc.

• Blue Dot - marks the almost complete circle of the Turcot roundhouse

• Red Dots - four of them - are positioned beside the station buildings which are shown on the map. Notice that these stations are not located near the CPR line through 'Forest Hills' - so local residents could not use CPR commuter services as an alternative.

*  *  *

Here is detail from a larger photo of the Turcot Yard facilities. Today the Turcot highway interchange towers right over the area formerly occupied by the roundhouse. One of the CNR Forney locomotives is ready to return to service and is waiting its turn for a spin on the turntable.

We meet again.

With its main rod removed a CNR Forney awaits its fate at Turcot Yard, July 1961.