The People's Railway: A History of the Canadian National

T.D. Regehr is a history professor at the University of Saskatchewan and
the author of For Everything a Season: A History of the Alexanderkrone
Zentralschule and Mennonites in Canada, Volume 3, 1939-1970.

Canadian National Railways, Canada’s first, largest and most important
modern Crown corporation, was a very unusual enterprise. It was a
publicly owned system, patched together from more than 650 predecessor
companies. Canadian National was expected to operate like any other
profit-oriented corporation, but, as a government-owned company carrying
massive debts incurred by its predecessors, it also had to respond to
unique political and developmental demands and exigencies.

The primary focus of this book is the history of Canadian National from
1923 to 1970, although two chapters deal with the history of predecessor
companies from 1902 to 1922, and a final chapter and postscript discuss
more recent developments. The author conducted numerous interviews with
senior CN executives, obtained help from at least a dozen independent
researchers and writers, and relied on the pioneering work done by Col.
G.R. Stevens in fashioning both the style and interpretation of CN
history.

This is emphatically a history written from the top down, although a
short chapter on railway people tries to deal with the experiences of
those who worked on the railway. MacKay has emulated both G.R. Stevens
and Canadian business historian Peter C. Newman in recycling the gossip
exchanged around the water cooler, on the cocktail circuit, and in
personal recollections. His account of the “retirement” of CN
President Donald Gorden is a classic example of this genre.

While all this is good entertainment, it does not increase public
understanding of the role the railway played in the lives of ordinary
Canadians, or of the problems and challenges facing those who worked for
the company. Railway buffs interested in locomotives and rolling stock
will find slim pickings in this volume, which tells CN’s history as it
was experienced, understood, and interpreted in the company’s
executive suites in Montreal.