Canadian Pacific Railway kept pace with Chapleau in community's first 50 years

By 1888 Chapleau had a public library housed in a passenger coach with over two thousand volumes of "fine literature", according to a handwritten history of the community's first 50 years in the Richard Brownlee Papers.

The books were provided by Sir William Van Horne, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, a project that he apparently undertook in other communities too.

In browsing through the article, I decided to start with the anecdote about the donation by Mr. Van Horne which showed his interest in much more than just establishing Chapleau as a railway divisional point with a station, round house, etc. His interest in providing reading material is a story in itself for another day.

Back to the railway, the article says the "round house, a necessity in a railroad town had no doors and when the snow piled up, the section men shovelled it out. The oil was kept outside and had to be heated on stoves. The railroaders had a hard winter in those early days but they were hardy men".

D. O. Payette. who arrived in 1904 put living in Chapleau in context in those early years in an interview with the article writer.

Mr. Payette commented: "At least one half of Chapleau was bush. There were no electric lights and coal oil was used almost exclusively for lighting purposes. The stores and hotels used acetylene gas. The water supply was had from pitcher pumps which drew the water from well points driven into the ground at varying depths."

However, Chapleau continued to make progress as did the CPR by enlarging the shops and round house, building station, freight sheds, large ice house and building several dwellings.

Fast forward to the 1930s and the writers decided to "tell you someting of this busy little railroad town. It had become a divisional point where entire train crews were exchanged as well as engines which filled up with coal for the next part of the journey.

in 1937 an addition was added to the shops to house new enlarged engines. A new coal chutes was built at the north end of the Chapleau yards and it was there that all engines were filled with coal.

They added that "Like all such towns its prosperity depends a great deal upon the railroad. When the railway is busy, the town booms and a slump in the 'road' means a slump in the town's commerce". 

But railroading was not the only industry and that is a story for another day. Thanks again to Margaret Rose (Payette) and Bobby Fortin for the loan of Richard Brownlee Papers. My email is mj.morris@live.ca

NOTE Thanks to all who kept me informed about the recent storm, with special thanks to Lee Martin for photos of tree in my old yard on Grey Street. I planted that tree after the forest fire of 1948.

New era in railroading arrives as first diesel locomotive purred into CPR station at Chapleau pulling transcontinental passenger train Number 3 in 1949

A new era in railroading was witnessed by a large crowd as the first diesel powered passenger train pulled into the Canadian Pacific Railway station in Chapleau pulling westbound transcontinental train Number 3, the Chapleau Post reported.

The first diesel passenger train came through Chapleau on December 5th 1949, not January 9,1950 as I had reported earlier. Thanks to Ian Macdonald for the correction.

The Post described the diesel as a large three-unit blue and cream locomotive on loan from General Motors for test purposes in this "rugged terrain" that "purred in to the station and came to a smooth stop".

It was a 14-car passenger train with Wilfred Muske as the engineer and Raoul Comte as fireman from Cartier to Chapleau. Lawrence "Ton" Comte, has told me that his father had travelled to California for courses on the operation of diesel locomotives.

As permanent refuelling facilities had not been completed, the diesel was refuelled from a tank car on a siding.

The newspaper also reported that "veteran railwaymen were not entirely at home in the new locomotive. They felt it odd to be located in the nose of the locomotive with a clear view of the tracks ahead and at both sides.

"It was so quiet in the cab that the engineer, fireman and brakeman can talk normally without raising their voices".

While researching this article, it struck me that growing up in Chapleau in the !940s and 50s, it never dawned on me me that I lived in a part of Canada that William C. Van Horne,described as '200 miles of engineering impossibilities" because of rugged terrain between Cartier and Fort William, now Thunder Bay. My grandfather, Harry Morris, was a CPR conductor, and occasionally he would take me on a trip to Fort William or Toronto, depending which end he was working. What great experiences they were.

Mr. Van Horne was appointed general manager of the CPR and in 1884 became its vice-president. Rising to president in 1888, he is most famous for overseeing the major construction of the railway, according to Wikipedia.

The November 2010 issue of CPR Tracks explains that the rugged 517 mile long Schreiber division was selected as a testing ground by the CPR for diesel locomotives.

It was part of this stretch to which Mr. Van Horne was referring.

The article notes that if the diesel locomotive could make it there, it could make it anywhere on the CPR line.

Initially, the article explains, the CPR was very cautious about the use of diesels preferring the dependability of steam locomotives. They let railroads in the United States work out the many engineering difficulties and complexities of the electrical system.

The CPR then assigned 58 diesels to the Schreiber division where there were also 77 steam locomoties working at the time.

Yard engine diesels were assigned to Schreiber, White river and Cartier, and in Chapleau it was Alco S-2 7044, and went there in 1949.

Ian Macdonald advised that CPR President Norris Crump was a fanatic advocate of diesel power and he really moved the process along much more quickly than was originally intended.

As an aside, it was a really historic moment in 1964 when J.M. "Bud" Park was the engineer on CPR Locomotive 5433 as it was pushed by the yard engine by engineer Earle Freeborn across the tracks on a specially built rail line from about the roundhouse area to its new home in Chapleau Centennial Park.

Mr. Crump attended a ceremony in Chapleau to mark its arrival in the park. Sam Chappise presented Mr. Crump with a rifle.

"I wonder if anyone could have imagined that the old fifty car freight trains would eventually transition to the container unit trains that are now more than two miles in length," Ian added. So do Ian!

ROBERT NIXON ON DOMINION DAY

Louise Cooper, the daughter of Winnie (Nixon) Rosseter, sent me the attached Nixon family photo from Dominion Day in Chapleau, circa 1918. Her grandfather Robert Nixon arrived in Chapleau from England in 1912, and worked for the CPR. All the best for the Canada (Dominion) Day weekend.

I extend special thanks to Doug Greig, Ian Macdonald, Reginald Fitzpatrick (the last Mayor of Franz), Brian Westhouse (an expert on the CPR and railways generally), and Louise Cooper for their assistance. My email is mj.morris@live.ca