Passing Trains: The Changing Face of Canadian Railroading

R. Douglas Francis is a professor of history at the University of
Calgary and the co-author of Destinies: Canadian History Since
Confederation.

Railroads were the technological wonder of the 19th century; they are
the technology of nostalgia of the 20th century. This coffee-table book
transports railroad enthusiasts to a time when trains reigned supreme in
Canada.

The book is organized as a cross-Canada trip. Beginning on the East
Coast, the journey winds its way through the Maritime Provinces, with a
stop at the CN shops in Charlottetown. On the Truro–Windsor line, we
join the last mixed train of freight and passenger cars to Clarkville,
which ran in 1975. “With just three revenue passengers aboard, the
1303 looked empty, but the ancient heavyweight was crowded with
memories.” Then on to Riviиre-du-Loup, through the Precambrian Shield
country of Labrador and northern Quebec, to Montreal. From here you take
the Montreal– Toronto mail run; then you pick up other trains through
rural Ontario, and head on out West through wheat fields, the Rocky
Mountains, and the treacherous Fraser Valley.

What is striking about the book’s contemporary illustrations is the
absence of people. In 19th-century illustrations of trains, there are an
abundance of passengers. Trains were the most efficient and popular way
to travel in Canada. What were technological marvels in the 19th century
are technological dinosaurs today. This wonderfully illustrated book
paints a highly romanticized but nevertheless engaging portrait of the
Railroad Age.